Deserving Of Life Sentences In Prison Essay

In the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins asserts that teens are becoming more violent and starting commit more crimes because of the national television they watch.Jenkins tells the reader about “JLWOP” (Juvenile Life Without Parole) and how kids are being sentenced to life in prison without parole.Some people are trying to advocate to minimize the offender culpability because of their age.While kids are getting sentenced to life without parole, this disproves juvenile advocates reliance on the undeveloped brain.Some juvenile offenders truly understand what the victim family go through and how long it takes them to recover.There were millions of dollars spent to end JLWOP and to set convicted murderers free.

Other people argue that Juveniles may not have the mental capacity to know that this is wrong. This is, in fact, wrong in most cases. A child no matter what the age should know that killing or performing other atrocious acts on others is wrong.There are some exceptions such as mental illness and adverse effects from medications. According to https://flowpsychology.com/10-pros-and-cons-of-juveniles-being-tried-as-adults/, “because teenagers have full control over their thoughts and actions. If they do not have the moral compass instilled in them by that time, then they are very likely to commit more crimes.” This implies that, should teenagers not be tried as adults, they may never learn their lesson.Even if they don’t from harsher punishments; at least they will

He immediately goes on cite the Convention Against Torture’s suggestion that JLWOP sentences are “cruel, unusual, or degrading treatment” (p. 274). Butler also points out that “it is notoriously difficult to predict future dangerousness, especially based on a homicide committed by a teen” (p. 276). This point is one of the strongest arguments against JLWOP. It is commonly accepted that the brains and bodies of adolescents are not fully developed. As a result of this, it does not make sense for a child or teen to be treated the same way as an adult- in everyday life, minors are not expected to work full time jobs, and they cannot serve in the military, consume alcohol, or smoke tobacco products. Butler argues that the lack of responsibility attributed to them should extend to the criminal justice system, and they should be considered less culpable of their crimes due to their youth and all of its implications.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 10,000 juveniles are confined in adult prisons and jails rather than in juvenile facilities that were built for them. Josh Rovner reports in his article “Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview” that 2,100 child offenders are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole before the age of 18. In 26 states, a life without parole sentence is mandatory for first degree murder – regardless of age. Juveniles housed in adult prisons face a disturbing number of dangers such as physical as well as sexual abuse, assault, and high rates of suicide. While juveniles should be held accountable for their actions, they should not be prosecuted as adults because they are incapable of exercising the same judgement and maturity as an adult, housing them in adult facilities leaves them vulnerable to their surroundings, limits their educational growth and giving out a harsh sentence will not rehabilitate them nor deter other juvenile crime.

Crime rates for juveniles are increasing and these crimes are getting out of hand. Jurors decide the juveniles’ punishment and some want to keep them in jail without parole. In my opinion, I do not believe juveniles should get life sentences. Sentencing a kid to life sentence without parole basically means you were charged as an adult. Being charged as an adult and a kid is totally different.

A big claim that I agree with is that “It is clear that a developing adolescent brain does not prevent deliberate, thoughtful actions. It cannot be an excuse for unspeakable behavior.” (par. 12). There are some juvenile crimes that are really serious and are very very terrible, and people think that it’s too cruel and unfair to them. This isn’t in just murder cases too, things like sexting, blackmailing, or illegal purchases are also serious crimes also.

Many times in the news we hear about adolescents facing charges that can forever dictate their lives. There have been cases where children have been faced with the chance of life of prison without the chance of parole. This topic has been a discussion that has been more popular and popular with the more cases that appear. This is now a major issue in our modern society with younger adolescents becoming more exposed to violence. We now have to take teenage crimes and their punishments into consideration as we all know there will be many more cases in the future so it is only reasonable to come up with a solution on how to deal with these juveniles. I for one believe that juveniles should not be sentenced to life without parole.

Just how many juveniles are currently behind bars serving a life sentence? According to an article on Huffington Post, “Nationwide, there are roughly 2,500 inmates who killed as juveniles that are serving life in prison without parole, including 309 California inmates serving such sentences, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.” (Elias). This begs the very question if juveniles should be charged as adults. There are many factors to contemplate when considering that very argument. You have to consider if the juvenile has control over what they are doing and knows it is wrong. However, you have to also consider at the same time that it is possible that their thought processes are not fully developed and they could be rehabilitated to function in society in the future.

Juvenile justice has became a huge concern of the law enforcement. It is tragic that people of young ages take on unlawful actions that can consider their future for the rest of their life. “The juvenile justice system is a network of agencies that deal with juveniles whose conduct has come in conflict with the law. These agencies include police, prosecutor, detention, court, probation, and the Department of Juvenile Corrections.” When minors commit a categorized crime, such as homicide or rape, they are put into a position where they are tried as an adult. If a juvenile commits an unlawful crime, they should be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Being sentenced to life in prison without parole will help abolish the future acts of the criminal that can hurt someone else and helps them realize and understand the horrible crime they have done.

It is my opinion that youthful offenders should not be sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) because according the APA the adolescent brain is not fully developed making them less culpable for their crimes; as their brains are still developing into late adolescence this poses two potential ways to differentiate them from their adult counterparts (a) it is difficult to predict recidivism as their brains are growing and changing, this makes “recidivism the exception not the rule” and (b) as their brains do develop they may be more amenable to treatment. Finally, while research is limited, there are some notable findings within case law in regards to how the traditional considerations for sentencing (deterrence, retribution, incarceration,

The court stated, “A life without parole sentence improperly denies the juvenile offender a chance to demonstrate growth and maturity. As compared to adults, juveniles have a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility.” Some people believe teens should not be placed in adult prisons. They believe the courts should be lenient with juveniles and should go “easy” on the sentencing of the minors. These people argue that children are capable of learning from their mistakes and because of their age, they can be rehabilitated.

No person fifteen and younger should ever have to be imprisoned for life, with or without the opportunity of parole. For example, it costs the government of the United States a lot of money to house a prisoner for life. “A 50-year sentence for a 16-year old will cost approximately $2.25 million” (Rovner). To put that in perspective, the United States makes $2.4 trillion each year from taxes. There are currently about two thousand one hundred JLWOP prisoners. “Approximately 2,100 individuals sentenced as juveniles to life without the possibility of parole” (Rovner). The United States would spend nearly all money made on taxes in two years for all JLWOP prisoners for life. Also, some prisons do not have any jobs for prisoners to do, if they are

Regardless of age, a killer is a killer. A killer can be the daily customer you have at your job or the child you’re babysitting. “The Supreme Court justices would be wise as well as compassionate to strike a balance: Make juvenile offenders responsible for their actions but don't completely rob them of hope. And this should apply not only to the inmates who were 14 at the time of their crimes but to the remaining 2,497 who were 15 to 18 years old,” (Ellison 19). Kids make mistakes all the time, that doesn’t mean we should take their life away from them. With overlooking the listed factors in court when sentencing a juvenile, this will improve the number of children in prisons. Not all of these children partake in the act because of evil, but merely because of

Why does everyone deserve to go to the same jail for doing different crimes? Multiple people end up in prison for the randomest things that wouldn’t harm others and others go to jail for actually hurting someone. I don’t think these people should be sent to the same place. They need to be taught in several different ways on how to change and learn from their mistakes. Prison is just like a timeout, which when they get out their life goes back to the same way it used to be. Instead of taking people to prison, we should create facilities for every type of crime for different people to be able to teach and change their mindset. The people who have hurt anyone should be punished more than the person selling drugs. The prison system in America is not fair and it doesn’t make a difference.

  The punishment of juvenile criminals, specifically those between the ages of 13 and 18, in the event that they commit crimes of murder, is not severe enough. Minors between these critical ages in the teenage life who commit crimes of murder should be prosecuted as adults in all situations and locations.