Should Juveniles Be Sentenced As Adults Essay

Should juveniles still be sentenced as adults, despite the harmful effect on their developing minds? According to Richard Mendel's Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence, research has discovered that "incarceration slows young people’s psychological maturation". Many juveniles in the United States are tried and sentenced as adults and get placed into adult prisons where they get mistreated and set up to be put into these facilities again due to their delinquent behavior that was never corrected or fixed. Due to these incarcerations, many juveniles sentenced to adult prisons become exposed to new trauma, develop many physical and mental health problems, and are not able to receive the education they are offered in

Due to being sentenced to adult prisons, juveniles have to face and experience more physical and psychological problems. Youths admitted into adult facilities face many health problems, both physical and mental problems such as "dental, vision, or hearing problems, as well as…depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal thoughts" (Mendel). Due to being sentenced to adult prisons, many juveniles have to suffer multiple physical and mental health problems as a result. Being admitted to these prisons causes more harm to juveniles that leave them with more problems instead of leaving with proper rehabilitation. Juveniles who are imprisoned in adult prisons are at an increased risk of developing diseases, oral health problems, and being assaulted, also exhibiting a higher rate of suicide than those who are incarcerated in juvenile institutions (Holland). Juveniles in adult prisons have consistently shown that being sentenced to the

Nothing changes on one's 18th birthday that merits them a different sentence for their crimes than adults. Critics argue that teenagers have recently become more aware of the consequences of their actions through better education and more access to information from the internet (Goldmark et al Newton). Many teens now understand the severity of murder, being young doesn't immediately make someone incapable of understanding murder or how to kill someone. Age should not define and alter a juvenile's sentencing rules from adults, especially if they have the same or similar understanding of murder as adults. Despite having many leading factors to criminal activity, many are still punished for their crimes, if juveniles don't share that same treatment, then "not enough is being done to serve justice" (Goldmark et al Newton). Many criminals face many different leading factors that push them to murder someone, yet still receive a form of punishment. Juveniles however, may face these same circumstances yet not share the same treatment. If juveniles have special treatment due to their age, it does not seem fair nor serve equal justice, allowing juveniles to believe they'll have more leniency in the court of law and their sentences. However, despite having knowledge of the severity of their crimes and special treatment given due to age