Teenage Brains Essay

Juveniles who are criminals being sentenced to life without parole can be shocking to some people. I believe if a juvenile is able to commit a crime, then they are able to do the time. The article “Startling finds on Teenage Brains” talks about how the brain can be different from the time you are teens to the time you are an adult. After, considering both sides on juvenile justice it is clear that juveniles should face life without parole because they did the crime so they can do the time. Also I believe the juvenile’s age should not influence the sentence and the punishment give. At the same time their family and home environment should not be considered.

If juveniles have a mental disability they should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole, especially when it is a non homicidal crime. When children experience neglect and abuse it can take them down a dark path, which often leads to jail. Joe Sullivan's case is an example of this. As a child, Joe suffered from childhood abuse, which included both physical and sexual assault. This abuse took a toll on his mental state and led him to be easily manipulated by older kids. From age ten until he was arrested, he had no stable home and had lived in as many as ten different addresses in the span of three years. He spent much of his time on the street, where he committed crimes like stealing a bike, trespassing, and other non-violent crimes

In the article Beautiful Brains by David Dobbs, evolutionary research conveys that during the adolescent and teenage years the brain encounters an astonishing amount of growth and transformation. Dobbs states that these developments contribute to many of the irresponsible decisions made by teens. In the past, the brain was thought to cease maturing around the age of ten, however, new investigations have found that between the ages of twelve and twenty five, the brain continues to develop, undergoing a considerable metamorphosis. During this metamorphosis, myelin insulates a greater number of neuron’s axons, increasing the speed in which messages are exchanged, dendrites branch out and become broader, accelerating the rate at which messages are received, and synaptic pruning occurs which causes the brain’s cortex to become slimmer and more adept. During teenage years, the brain is still learning to network as well as deal with day to day obstacles such as stress, exhaustion and problems. Dobbs explains that teens act the way they do because their brains are not done maturing.

In “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,” Paul Thompson--a neuroscientist at UCLA--argues that minors should not be sentenced as adults because their brains are not the same as adults’ brains. Even though Thompson believes that minors should be held accountable for their crimes, he presents evidence from recent studies to explain the differences between the brains of minors and adults. It is not surprising that Thompson uses logical evidence to defend his position, given that he is a scientist. However, Thompson frequently uses emotional persuasion--or pathos--to convince his readers that sentencing minors as adults is both unjust and uninformed. Through his use of structure and emotionally charged language, Thompson attempts to convince readers

The article “ Inside the Teen Brain” by Marty Wolner, states that recent resherchers on the human brain provides parents with shocking evidence abou there teenager that probably explains there irational, ilogical, and impulsive behavior. As it turns out, brain developement during the teenage years is radically more active than previously thought. Even though the brain is almost matured the grey matter in the thinking part of the brain is still making connections. The information proccesed in the limbic system, without benefit of higher level processing in the pre-frontal cortex may result in impulsive, egocentric,, and even risky behavior. Because of the construction of the teenage brain is that its not capable of fully processing information

“For Life?” the question that just kept replaying in Lionel Tate’s head over and over again. He never thought he would be sitting in a courtroom at the age of thirteen. Tate had just been sentenced to life without parole. He did not really know what to think as he was charged with murdering a six year old. Tate was only twelve at the time of the murder and was now thirteen. The rest of his life, his future, will be in the same place each and every day. No change what so ever. He would not be able to live his childhood dream. Nothing. To some this is what he deserved. They might believe that Tate should suffer the penalty of his actions. This is how they feel towards thousands of adolescents that are getting charged with life without

(Gangs) A deviant subculture is defined as a subculture, which has values and norms that differ substantially from the majority of people in society. When a neighborhood or community favors illegal activities, a criminal subculture is likely to develop such as gangs. Walter Miller states that deviant subcultures don’t arise from the inability of a community to achieve success, but because of a lower-class subculture whose values and norms are different from the rest of society. Subcultures can be a good thing, because they can provide a sense of belonging, interaction with people who have similar interests, and gives members the freedom to express individuality. Subcultures, though, may also be a bad thing by putting people against each other,

The article, “Bad mix for the teen brain,” by Janet Hopson, reviews many different surveys conducted by psychiatry researchers at various universities. Each survey tracked varying numbers of 12-14 year olds for a duration of time. These researchers found out that the teenage brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, has not reached full maturity. The prefrontal cortex is just behind the forehead and controls the, “ability to stop oneself from acting impulsive…” (Hopson, 2013) The effects of drinking in young adolescents is very harmful to the brain. A study conducted by Susan F. Tapert of the University of California, San Diego found that kids can diminish their ability to learn and memorize. Scientists used MRI scans to examine the adolescents’ brains. Four years later, they re-examined the same adolescents’ brains and found that there was less activity in certain parts of the brain than the original scan. This article is part of ongoing research to find out if the damage to the brain is reversible.

There have been many times over the years where a child commits a crime and they either get the punishment of a child or they get the punishment of an adult depending on their age, or depending on what the crime they committed was. If you send a child to adult prison it is a lot more harsh than juve so they have to be kept from the other inmates because it is too dangerous for them to be around them. The children transferred to criminal court were less likely to commit the same crime than those who went through the juvenile system. The children who re offended offended sooner and more often than the children who were tried in the juvenile court. In some states if the child is convicted in criminal court they can plead insanity and get out of the of the sentence they would be facing.

about the brain to help them rehabilitate? Put another way: If the brain can grow new neural pathways after an injury … could we help the brain re-grow morality?” This question poses an interesting view on how to properly rehabilitate criminals. However, rehabilitation only has the ability to play a small part in the recovery process. A majority of the recovery is reliant on the criminal and their desire to actually change for the betterment of themselves and the society. In doing this, they cannot be locked away in solitary confinement. In order to act like a normal human, they must be treated like a normal human.

An individual’s psychological maturity is an imperative factor in understanding an adolescent’s decision-making process. For years, mental health specialists and judicial decision makers have worked hard on defining youth’s cognitive and emotional capacities that influence their behavior. If researchers could pin point the key elements that would be a huge step forward in understanding why juveniles act the way they do. Kelly, Miller, Redlich, Kleinman, and Lamb, in their journal article, “A Taxonomy of Interrogation Methods,” define taxonomy as “the science of classification, organizes what is known about a phenomenon in such a fashion that is accessible and sensible to consumers of the information… it systemizes established observations that

In the article “Adolescent Angst: 5 Facts About the Teenage Brain” (2012), Robin Nixon states that during a person’s adolescent years they experience many different emotions and experiences that cause them to do certain actions. Nixon also states that brain research could also give reason as to why teens make may make certain bad or impulsive decisions. For example Nixon explains that teens face intense emotions because “the amygdala is thought to connect sensory information to emotional responses. Its development, along with hormonal changes, may give rise to newly intense experiences of rage, fear, aggression (including toward oneself), excitement and sexual attraction.” The actions of Romeo and Juliet correlate with modern brain research

Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes because it is not fair for juveniles to commit big crimes and get away with it so easily. If they want to act like adults, they should be treated.

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. These cutoffs range from 7 to 14 years old. At any rate, the current situation is one that has sparked many moral and ethical beliefs to surface, resulting in debates that have yet to be resolved. Children who commit violent crimes should not be tried as adults, because proper educational services are typically not affordable, children are more susceptible to harming themselves

Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/