Are Juveniles Considered Adults Essay

Life without parole is a waste of life. Juveniles have been sentenced to life without parole. Juveniles are never given second chances. I believe that rehabilitation is necessary it gives hope to them. In juveniles Don't deserve life by Gail garinger she states ¨nationwide, 79 young adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them¨. In on punishment and teen killer by jenifer jenkins she states ¨The juvenile death penalty was abolished here years ago and a life sentence still allows a great deal of good living to be done even from behind bars¨. After considering both sides

Finally, I believe that by being rehabilitated the juvenile will have a better chance at life because eventually they will be back in society.

Juveniles are being treated as adults when it comes to crimes, and are receiving higher sentences than adults. Furthermore, juveniles do not fully understand the consequences of their actions. Juvenile’s brains are not fully developed and experience loss in gray matter. According to the article Startling Find on Teenage Brains by Paul Thompson, he states, “gray matter, which brain researchers believe supports all of our thinking and emotions, is purged at a rate of 1 percent to 2 percent a year during this period” (Thompson). Gray matter makes up of people’s critical thinking and awareness. Juveniles are losing gray matter and are therefore forgetting the consequences of their actions. In addition, juveniles are coddled way too much by their parents and grow up without any discipline. Why is it that juveniles are segregated from adults in society in every aspect except when it comes to crimes? Juveniles do not deserve to be tried as adults when they commit heinous crimes because it is not constitutionally correct and

Juveniles should not receive severe adult sentences for the murders they commit due to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex not allowing them to fully process decisions and consequences at a young age. In fact, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain where decision making originates and does not fully develop until the age of 25. Furthermore, sentencing a juvenile as an adult while they are at an impulsive age and subject to peer pressure is resulting to cruel and unusual punishment as defined in the eighth amendment of the United States Bill of Rights. Eventually, imposing an adult verdict over a juvenile would inhibit a proper rehabilitation for the convicted juvenile. Hence, it is recommended that states that currently have life without parole or the death penalty laws, ratify a new law for juvenile convicts for proper sentencing and rehabilitation.

Today, the court system in this country is divided into two groups when comparing juveniles and adults. One is the Adult Criminal Justice System, and the other is the Juvenile Justice System. The terminology can be very different between the two systems. For instance; if an adult is arrested, they will be subject to a bail hearing. If a juvenile is arrested they must go through a detention hearing. Adults have trials which can be decided by a judge or jury. Juveniles go through a fact finding hearing and don’t receive verdicts because they are adjudicated. “They are not found guilty, but delinquent or involved” (Komiscruk). Another difference between the two is that juvenile court rooms are usually closed to the public, which

The human brain is not fully developed until you are in your mid-20s. Should people be tried as an adult for crimes they committed as juveniles, before they were even 18 years of age? Jose, only 15 year olds at the time of the crime, had a difficult life, grew up in a rough neighborhood, and was eventually arrested and brought to court for murder after participating in a deadly brawl. The first major turning point for juvenile legal rights occurred in 1966, in the case Kent v. United States, where the Supreme Court decided that a juvenile cannot be waived to adult court without first being given due process, which includes a hearing, assistance of counsel, and a statement of reasons. Another major milestone for juvenile legal rights was in 1967, in the

and why they should not be tried as adults in the justice system. It also shows the actual differences in the brain of a juvenile and the brain of an adult. In an article in the New York Times called, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” Gail Garinger explains why juveniles and adults are different. He states, “Young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not yet fully developed.” (Garinger 93). I do not believe it is fair to treat a teenager the same as an adult knowing teenagers brains are not yet fully developed and do not possess the same level of neurotic connections. In some ways it is like expecting a child with down syndrome to act and behave the same as a normal child of the same age.

According to Caldwell (1961) the juvenile justice system is based on the principle that youth are developmentally and fundamentally different from adults. According to Mack (1909) the focus of the juvenile justice system has shifted from “was the crime committed” to “why did the child commit the crime”, “how can we help the child”. When performing as it is designed and up to the initial intentions, the juvenile court balances rehabilitation (treatment) of the offender with suitable sanctions when necessary such as incarceration. According to Griffin (2008) in some cases juveniles may be required to be “transferred” to adult court. In this paper I am going to discuss the three primary mechanisms of waiver to adult court: judicial waiver

Whether Juveniles should or shouldn't be charged as adults and sentenced to life without parole is a long and deep discussed debate between two completely different parties and ways of thinking. Here in the United States things like these happen very often, and most of the times kids are charged as adults and have to spend their whole lives behind bars. I first had a different idea than the one that I have now. In fact, I thought that kids should have been charged as adults if they had deserved it. But after I got to know more about this topic my views changed.

In the article, “Are Teenage Brains Really Different From Adult Brains”, it explains how teenager’s brains are different from an adult’s. The article describes the prefrontal cortex, which is a part of the brain that weighs outcomes, creates judgments, and controls a person’s impulse and emotions. This part of the brain does not develop in most cases until the mid twenties, which proves that a teenager does not have a fully developed mind to even commit a crime such as murder and actually know that the consequences of the mistake they are making. Another article that support those statements is one from CNN, “Kids Should Never Be Tried as Adults”, this article states that teens and children are too young to process information and plan a murder. It also expresses that the teens are harmless and not exactly aware of how brutal the crime is or the consequences that go along with the

A deep look into juveniles in adult prisons. Touch bases on several smaller issues that contribute to juveniles being in and effects of adult prisons. The United States Bureau of Prisons handles two hundred and thirty-nine juveniles and their average age is seventeen. Execution of juveniles, The United States is one of only six countries to execute juveniles. There are sixty-eight juveniles sitting on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. Forty-three of those inmates are minorities. People, who are too young to vote, drink alcohol, or drive are held to the same standard of responsibility as adults. In prisons, they argue that the juveniles become targets of older, more hardened criminals. Brian

Kids should be subjected to the measures of punishment that our judicial system is giving to them. Kids who show lots of enmity should be tried as adults. It is the only way to protect the innocent children. These kids know right from wrong, but they choose to do the wrong things and violence is wrong. As the laws have gotten stricter on discipline the kids have gotten wilder. When we let society tell us how to discipline our children then violent children is the result.

According to Street Law, a juvenile is any person who is not yet an adult. In most states and the District of Columbia, individuals under 18 years of age are considered juveniles. The District of Columbia along with most states in the United States view any person under the age of 18 that has committed a crime as a juvenile criminal. Acts of a juvenile crime include but are not limited to: truancy, smoking, drinking, theft, rape, murder, defiance towards parents or guardian, etc. A juvenile criminal can only be held in a juvenile institution until the age of 21, no matter how gruesome their offense may have been.

“Research has shown that children in the adult criminal justice system are 34 percent more likely to be arrested again then those convicted of similar offenses in juvenile court.” (Children tried as Adults Face Danger, less Chance for Rehabilitation, 2014, para.10) Adolescents are also to be high candidates for rehabilitation due to their brain being under developed. Adolescents that are serving time in adult prisons and jails are also at a significant risk of being sexually assaulted and are much more likely to commit suicide. “One solution that has been proposed to ‘protect’ adolescents in adult prisons and jails is to put them in solitary confinement.” (Gunasekera, 2015, para 2) This means an adolescent would be locked down for up to 23 hours a day in a small cell with artificial lighting. These are some of the reasons why I believe that adolescents and emerging adults should not be tried the same as

I do not think it is a good idea to lock juveniles up in prisons with adults. For a child to set down and plan a murder for instance, there would have to be some kind of deep emotional problem. On the other side of this, if the child knows right from wrong and he can sit down and plan a murder, then you could say if he is old enough to kill someone then he is old enough to die. The juvenile criminal is rooted much deeper than right from wrong. It starts back from when they are small children. Most of them are usually outsiders or outcasts. Who can you hold fault for that other than society? If juveniles don't fit in with the popular kids in school they are considered an