Xiaolin Mai Mr. Waterman English 21 September 2015 Jail Cells are Officially the New Classrooms After the sound of a gunshot, a desperate scream, the juveniles that were children yesterday instantly become killers, murderers, and criminals. In America, juveniles who commit adult crimes are tried every day in juvenile courts, where the juveniles are leniently given shortened sentences, and fail to learn from their mistakes. The criminals turn into our next door neighbors, our friends, and live their lives in harmony, leaving the victims and the victims’ families to suffer in pain and sorrow. Young people who commit violent crimes should be sentenced as adults because of the heinous crimes they committed, the unfairness to the victim’s family, and their potential danger to the society once they return. Initially, young people who commit violent crimes should be sentenced as adults. The question here is fairly simple: when a child kills, can this very same child, at the same time, be considered as an adult for his/her own action? Children in modern society are more sophisticated at a younger age, encouraged by their parents and teachers to work as functional adults. At a very young age, children have learned to make decisions on their own. The idea of childhood, a time which the adults or guardians prepare the children for maturity, ended rather rapidly in cases of juvenile criminals. By way of example, Jordan Brown at age 11 was arrested in
A person’s mind is developing from the start of their life all the way up to when they are in their twenties. Yet the criminal justice system thinks, or thought, it was right for kids to be treated the same as adults when it came to committing serious felonies. A fifthteen year old can spend life in prison for killing someone alongside an adult
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.
Too many minors have committed violent crimes and haven’t gotten the consequences they deserved. In Time magazine article, “Children without Pity” written by Nancy Traver, it shows how the crime rates are going up and many minors aren’t getting the consequence they need. Given the violence of their actions, minors who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults.
By Phillip Holloway. The first few sentences this article says: “An 11-year old boy in Tennessee is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of an 8-year-old he shot after he asked to see her puppy and she said no. The boy used his father’s 12-gauge shotgun, taking it from an unlocked closet, according to a story in the Washington Post. The local prosecutor will decide whether to charge the boy as an adult.” In my opinion, juveniles who commit a serious adult crime should be tried as an adult, IF they knew what they were doing. If they did not know what they were doing when they committed the crime, I think they should be given choices of how they are to serve their time for their
It can often be forgotten in society that adults are not the only individuals who commit heinous crimes or sent to court and given sentences that include life in prison without the possibility of parole. Murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, these crimes being executed by not only adults, but juveniles under the age of 18. Throughout history, juvenile justice has remained an issue and the debate on whether juveniles should be tried as adults. In America, each state possesses their own laws in which they determine how a juvenile should be tried and whether they should be transferred into an adult court. During the 1990’s the rise of juvenile justice came into full swing, and the term “superpredators” was used to describe the youth as “dangerous”
There’s an old saying, “don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time”. Our youth is doing the crimes, not realizing the true consequences of their actions; hence their immaturity. “Per a 2011 report on the National Institute of Corrections, 250,000 minors wind up in the adult criminal justice system each year.” (Hannum, 2016). But that does not mean, they should be tried as an adult for their crimes. Nor should they get off easy because they are under the age of eighteen. You can pick any day of the week, about 10,000 of our children are being put in adult prisons and jails. (Hannum, 2016). Nearly every year, the FBI arrest more than 33,000 young adults under the age of eighteen for offenses.” (Khan, 2010.). It’s time for society and our
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
As more minors are committing violent crimes, the question of whether they should be tried as adults has arisen. Children as young as 13 or 14 are committing violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery. Some of these children are being tried as adults while others are being tried as juveniles and receiving milder punishments. A juvenile offender may receive a few years in a juvenile detention facility and possibly probation following his release at age eighteen. An adult committing the same violent crime will receive a much harsher penalty, often years in jail, possibly a life sentence, with little or no chance of parole. The only difference between the two offenders is the age at which they committed the crime. Juveniles over
There are many similarities and differences between the adult and juvenile justice systems. Although juvenile crimes have increased in violence and intensity in the last decade, there is still enough difference between the two legal proceedings, and the behaviors themselves, to keep the systems separated. There is room for changes in each structure. However, we cannot treat/punish juvenile offenders the way we do adult offenders, and vice versa. This much we know. So we have to find a way to merge between the two. And, let’s face it; our juveniles are more important to us in the justice system. They are the group at they
One of the most controversial questions in the juvenile justice system today is, "Should the death penalty be applied to juveniles?”. A lot of people think that the death penalty for juveniles is cruel and unusual punishment and should only be used for adults. The crimes that juveniles commit are as dangerous and as violent as adult crimes. People argue that the adolescent brain does not mature until the late teens or early twenties, and that death penalty should not be the resolution. Some studies show that childhood abuse or neglect can causes the child to commit crimes when they grow to adulthood. Debate about the use of the death penalty for juveniles has grown more intense because of the crimes they are
Teenagers’ crime is one of the biggest problems that the United States is facing these days. We are living in a society where teenagers easily has access to firearms where their parents do not give the education they need or simply they grow up in an unsuitable environment This is the case of many teenagers who became murderers at an early age. Juvenile offenders should not be tried as adults because there are differences between a teenager and adult. Juveniles do not have the well- development cognitive skills that an adult possess.
In our society, a juvenile is eligible to vote at the age of 18, allowed to drive in some states at the age of 16, and permitted to drink at the age of 21. Therefore, it is logical to determine that a juvenile under the age of eighteen is mature enough to be charged as an adult when they commit violent crimes (Chiou, 131). According to the Justice Department, about ten percent of homicides occurring in the United States are committed by juveniles under the age of eighteen (abcnews.go.com). When the question of whether or not juveniles who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults arises, debates always surface. The debaters have a difficulty resolving this conflict because there are multiple perspectives on
Did you know, that in the United States alone, Over 200,000 children are charged and imprisoned every year as adults? Early in the 20th century, most states established juvenile courts to rehabilitate and not just punish youthful offenders. The system was designed for children to have a second chance at their lives. “A separate juvenile-justice system, which sought to rehabilitate and not just punish children, was part of a movement by progressives to create a legally defined adolescence through the passage of child-labor and compulsory education laws and the creation of parks and open spaces.”(How to reduce crime Pg 1) Although the view on juveniles committing brutal crimes is nearly inconceivable, it is not a solution to give juveniles adult consequences because the effects of the adult system on juveniles are not effective.
A common assumption about young people who commit violent crimes is that they are simply born evil and that nothing good can come of their lives. From this perspective, the only solution is to punish these young offenders by locking them up, either in prison or in a place for teenagers designed to make their lives as miserable as possible. Such an approach suggests that young people who hurt or kill others are untreatable. It also suggests that more prisons must be built to make our communities safe. This assumption, however, is a false one. Research shows that violent young offenders can be treated and reformed. In addition, it shows that when young people fail to receive treatment,it does
It is essential that kids get charged as adults because they are committing crimes an adult would make, they don’t stop their actions when they know they should, they know the crimes that they are doing. So now, when a kid is killing a kid that hasn’t even be able to live their whole life yet how should you punish the kid? Putting the kid in juvenile will send them a message saying it is okay for them to kill another kid and they will be forgiven, but when they are sent to prison with adults they will then learn their lesson and why they should never commit a crime. All over the world at least one kid will kill another kid everyday and you may ask what is their punishment. Well their punishment is simply don’t do that and a smack on the hand. The government needs to track down these naughty kids and stop them before they commit a crime and the only way they will be able to do that is by giving them a bigger punishment and changing them as adults so they learn their