Summary Of Startling Finds On Teenage Brains By Paul Thompson

Teenagers lack a mature frontal lobe where cognitive thought processes, emotions, and reasoning occur. Paul Thompson, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine discovered,“These frontal lobes, which inhibit our violent passions, rash actions, and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” Because of this biological factor, teenagers, involuntarily, act upon impulse and temporary emotions. Unlike the systematic algorithm adult murderers use, the killings from teenagers are usually abrupt, personal, disorganized, and chaotic. Most homicides by adolescents are not conducted with malice of forethought, yet they are punished to the same standard as adult killers who commit first-degree murders.

Rhetorical Precis “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” The author Paul Thompson in the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,” explains that teen brains losses brain tissues in the areas of controlling impulses, risk-taking, and self-control, showing that teens are not yet adults, and the legal system (court system) should treat them as such. Thompson supports his argument by first describing a crime that a young teen did, Brazill of thirteen years killed his teacher on a middle-school without real intentions to kill him, but the jurors found guilty Brazill and they treat him as an adult in the sense of punishment. Many people protested against this unfair action saying that "A child is not a man." He then shows some searches about

The article, “The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons” written by Jessica Lahey states, “Juveniles constitute 1,200 of the 1.5 million people housed in federal and state prisons in this country, and nearly 200,000 youth enter the adult criminal-justice system each year, most for non-violent crimes.” Minors should not be tried as adults because their brains are not developed, they may come from bad backgrounds, and they have their whole life ahead of them, and their life should not be determined by the mistakes they made as a child. Juveniles who are usually 14 or older who have committed serious crimes are tried as adults and are put into adult-state prisons. This is inhumane and unsafe for the child’s physical and mental health. One of the many reasons that minors should not be tried as adults is because their brains are not fully developed, so they cannot make good decisions until they are older, far into their twenties.

For example, Nathaniel Brazill was 13 years old when he was guilty of shooting a middle school and charged with second degree murder. He says that he made a “stupid mistake” but was convicted of second degree murder not first. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” it says that, “a child is not a man.” Meaning that a child shouldn 't be getting treated as an adult no they

Paul Thompson in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” , claims that 14 year old Brazil, charged in last May’s shooting of middle school teacher Gunrow, was found guilty of second degree murder. Paul Thompson supports his by first explaining that Brazil was only 12 when the incident happen. He then says since he was only 12 , his brain was and still is not fully developed. Lastly the author says ,” teenagers are not yet adults , and the legal system shouldn’t treat them as such. Thompson’s purpose is to get the world to know , if children are not yet adults, why are they being treated like one in the legal system in order to stop it.

Thompson, in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” (2001) claims that teenagers should not be tried as adults after committing a crime because their brains are not fully developed. In this article Thompson supports all of his ethos claims by using logos and real facts that have been cited, this gives him the title to an author who uses the strongest ethos. In Thompson’s article he talks about a child named Nathaniel Brazil, who was only fourteen when he shot his own teacher at a middle-school because the teacher wouldn’t allow him to get out of class early to say goodbye to a girl. Brazil was later tried in court and found guilty of second degree murder. When Thompson writes about Brazil and his charges he claims that, “in recent

As he faced justice through the court system, advocates unnecessarily argued that he was only a child and too young to serve as an adult. To show that an individual’s age should not be used as an excuse to justify their actions, Weir states “Some juveniles commit crimes so serious, so heinous, that public safety mandates — and justice demands — full accountability in our criminal justice system. There are those who argue this is unfair and unjust. They say the juvenile brain is not fully developed until well into the

The Teen Brain The excerpt from “The Teen Brain:Still Under Construction” by NIMH, the author believes the teen brain is still developing hormonal,intellectually, and emotionally which affects teen behavior. To begin, the teen brain has growing hormones which affects their impulsive behavior. Huge horomonal changes play a factor in a teens social life and behavior. “ As with reproductive hormones, stress hormones can have complex effects on the brain, and as a result,behavior.”

Although many people view kids as a symbol of innocence and purity, many of their actions signify otherwise. The age of 18, which by law states people as adults, is more like a guideline when it comes to everyday activities. When a heinous crime is committed by one of these underaged citizens, the same punishment should definitely be applied, taking into consideration the seriousness of the crime and the victim. Thompson states that kids should not be tried as adults because their brain is not developed as an adult’s brain is. That study does not specifically explain why juveniles act the way they do.

It is debated that juveniles are committing more serious and violent crimes because the youth think they can get off easy and take advantage of the system put in place. Those in favor of youth offenders being tried as adults believe that as juveniles are punished to the full extent of the law, future youth offender will think twice before committing a criminal act. In support of this, seventy-five percent of the transferred juveniles interviewed by Redding and Fuller (2004) felt that their experiences in the adult criminal justice system had taught them the serious consequences of committing crimes. As one juvenile explained, “[Being tried as an adult] showed me it’s not a game anymore. Before, I thought that since I’m a juvenile I could do just about anything and just get 6 months if I got

In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that it is immoral to give juveniles life sentences, even if they commit a crime as serious as murder, because it is a cruel and unusual punishment. This has been an issue in America as teenagers are often treated as adults in court due to a belief that their crimes warrant a harsh punishment. Many believe that these kids should not be given such major sentences because they are still immature and do not have the self control that adults do. I agree that juveniles do not deserve life sentences because they put less thought and planning into these crimes and they often are less malicious than adults. The article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” explains that the teenagers lose brain tissue that is responsible for self control and impulses (Thompson 7).

There are differences between a juvenile court and criminal court in the United States. The focus of the juvenile justice system is on rehabilitation, in hope of deterring the minor away from a life of crime so they will not commit a crime again as an adult. In contrast, the criminal justice system focuses on the punishment and often bases the sentencing outcome on the criminal history of the youth. In a study conducted, Butler (2011) showed that the participants’ experience with adult jails and prisons show that those facilities may instill fear but are otherwise emotionally—and often physically—dangerous for youth. Many of the adult prisoners, who were minors when they enter the adult institution, felt they were forced to “grow

When children and teens commit a violent crime such as murder, courts convict them as adults. This means that children as young as eight have been tried as adults in court. Eventually, these convicts will be housed in jails with adults. Despite the federal law stating that juvenile and adult inmates must be separated, most states do not comply with these rules. Furthermore, a law that varies throughout the states is the age in which courts send the children to adult or juvenile prisons.

Some people believe that juveniles shouldn’t get sentenced to life in prison because of brain studies, age, and the way of living. Recent brain studies have suggested that teenagers suffer from brain-tissue loss, this might be the reason why they commit idiotic decisions. In Gail Garingers article “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” she states “Young people are biologically different from adults.” Then she talks about the young adolescents being sentenced to die in prison. Also how there is a myth about the superpredator and how children are hopelessly

In an age where juvenile crime has escalated from simple truancy to more serious crimes such as mass school shootings some would agree it is time to abolish juvenile courts or modify the system at the very least. Because of the seriousness of juvenile crime in this day and age, most states have already lowered the age limit for juvenile court jurisdiction from 17 years and are prosecuting more children as adults depending of the seriousness of the crime. Some criminal justice and child welfare scholars argue that younger children do not have the mental capability or experience to weigh the consequence of committing a crime and much less understand the implications of a criminal record in their future. Furthermore, they note that most juveniles grow out of criminal behavior as they mature out of the system and in