Juvenile Crimes Should Be Tried As Adults

Whether juveniles should be tried as adults in the justice system or not, has been an ongoing debate for many people. There has been many cases throughout time where people under the age of 18 have been tried as adults in the justice system. Information about this debate can be found in articles, novels, and podcasts. Typically people who are under the age of 18 are identified as a juvenile delinquent and go through different procedures after committing a crime. There is many examples and evidence of why juveniles should not be tried as adults. A juvenile is typically considered a person who is under 18 years of age.

There are many controversies that surround juveniles being rehabilitated rather than going through the adult justice system, but studies show that juveniles are not fully developed to be tried as an adult. One of the main questions that it always boils down to is “should juveniles be tried as adults?” in my opinion juveniles should not be tried as adults because of their age.

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

Kenzie Houk had everything going for her. She was twenty-six, engaged to the love of her life, and was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. In the late winter of 2009, her four-year-old daughter waddled in her bedroom, hoping to surprise her mommy with a good morning smile. Instead, she found her mother with a bullet through her head. Eleven-year-old Jordan Brown, the soon-to-be stepson of Kenzie Houk, was arrested and charged with homicide, pulling the trigger before he went to school. There were two counts of homicide, one for Kenzie Houk and the other for her baby. Brown was tried in juvenile court and sentenced to a residential treatment facility until the age of twenty-one. To Kenzie Houk’s family, Brown’s sentence would never live up to that her four-year-old and seven-year old daughters would have to serve. “The day Kenzie was murdered, the whole family was served with a life sentence,” said Debbie Houk, the victim’s mother. “[Her daughters] are serving life right now. They are never going to see their mom” (Chen). Serious juvenile crimes, similar to this, cannot be properly justified in the juvenile justice system. Juveniles should be tried in the adult criminal court system for serious crimes because of the lack of severity in the juvenile court system, increased youth crime and recidivism rates, and the mental maturity of juvenile offenders.

In today's society, there are many crimes going on. Adults are not the only ones that commit crimes. One issue today is that juvenile offenses and whether juvenile offenders should be tried as adults in criminal court. A common phrase that is often used in this case of young juveniles committing crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." This phrase should be cleared to people that juveniles are not adults, and with this being said it will not make them one. "It has redefined juvenile offenses by treating most of them as delinquent acts to be adjudicated within a separate juvenile justice system that is theoretically designed to recognize the special needs and immature status of young people and emphasize rehabilitation over punishment" (Steinberg). While juveniles should be responsible for their actions, and should be held accountable for the crime, then the juvenile justice system is design to determine the consequences. Youths are still minors and are less mature. They often face a lot of negative peer pressure. Therefore, juveniles should not be tried in courts as adults.

Juveniles should not be tried as adults because it is proven that children are incapable of making a rational, mature decision on their own. Adolescents have a shorter experience in the world, their brains are still developing, they do not have the same responsibilities or rights as adults and they are easily influenced at this age. Let 's say a child around the age of twelve is playing with two other friends at his house. His mother and father both work constantly so these children are alone. They are snooping around in his dad 's room and find a gun. Not being old enough to understand or realize it 's not a good idea they begin to play with it. One of the children pulls the trigger not considering what could happen. He accidentally shoots on of the other children and he was instantly killed. They decide to call 911 and before they arrive the child that accidentally shot the other tells his friend to tell them that it was his fault because hed get in trouble by his mom. The boy agrees and tells the police it was his fault and he is sent to adult prison for the maximum sentence. Children are both easily influenced and not as intelligent compared to an adult. These children are so immature and underdeveloped they should not and cannot make rational decisions on their own.

Natalie White English II Research paper March 22, 2016 Trying Juveniles as Adults Trying juveniles as adults is a highly debated topic. Some people think juveniles should be tried as adults, while others think they should not. They think if adolescents are able to commit the crime, they should be able to serve the time for it. There are things that teens can not handle in adult prison. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because they are not yet adults, they do not get the chance of rehabilitation if they are sent to prison, and prison it too harsh.

Despite their young age, many states continue to try teenagers as adults, often resulting in harsher adult penalties than youth processed in the juvenile system. As teenagers are still in the process of developing into an adulthood and are still learning about what they want to do with their lives, they deserve to be tried as teenagers and not adults. Although the crimes that teenagers commit can be just as bad as those of adults. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because their brains are not fully developed, most have mental disabilities and mental illnesses, the punishment is dangerous and traumatizing for the juvenile, and there is an age restriction that protects them from being tried as an adult.

First, Juveniles should be trialed because at any age people know what they are doing. The quote “since 1965, the number of twelve year olds arrested for violent crimes has doubled, and the number of thirteen and fourteen year olds has tripled” (“The Juvenile system is too lenient on violent offenders” 2) illustrates that juveniles are starting to participate in more violent crimes, and it also shows that if thirteen and fourteen year olds are capable of doing violent crimes they are capable of understanding it is wrong. Another example, “an offender who lived in the eighteenth century and was seven or older would in all likelihood have been treated as an adult by the courts”

The judiciary system should not make exceptions that surround age, and the reasons being is that the juvenile system holds a belief that juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults, being due to the brain's development and growth being affected, largely shapes their well-being if their tried as adults. This is an obvious problem, because if minors aren’t tried as an adult, and treated with rehabilitation, it doesn’t fix them as criminals, and allows the juveniles to be repetitive offenders, and if the juvenile system continues to reform offenders crimes, the probability of relapse is taken into place, and the situations that allowed them to not be tried as an adult , arise when they shouldn’t have arisen in the first place, if the juvenile system

Juvenile rehabilitation is a process that attempts to restore a troubled minor to one who can grow up to be an asset to society. With this process we can guide these troubled teens and shape them into successful adults without ruining their lives forever like prison would. Juveniles are still developing mentally, physically, and emotionally, and creating their identities. Therefore, juveniles who break the law need to be treated differently than the adults that do. They need to get help, not be thrown into a prison cell for the rest of their lives.

There has been much talk to whether or not juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes. Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes because they are old enough and know right from wrong, have a trial by jury and a crime is a crime no matter the age.

Juveniles can be tried as adults for crimes ranging from kidnapping, murder, rape, arson, robbery, torture, assault, and more. Some of the cases that are sent to adult court are petty crimes, such as: underage drinking, possession of a controlled substance, and other minor crimes. The question is whether they should be tried as adults. These are all adult actions, on one hand, and may lead a person to wonder what brought a child to commit these crimes. One might further inspect that if a child or teenager is engaged in so-called “adult” activities, what kind of activities might a child choose to be involved in adulthood? What is the child’s background? Can you blame the child of a heroin addict for having access to drugs at a young age? Can you blame the child of a murderer for acting out? Yes, everyone has a choice even a child.

Over the past 100 years juvenile crime has had its ups and downs and has changed quite a bit. Not only has the types of common crimes changed over the years but also as the type of punishment teens are receiving. Juvenile crime has slowly shifted from theft and petty crimes to being much more violent, children are quick to imitate things they see from television and video games and in todays society where violence is one click away it is easy to see why this is the case. In 2008 about 60% of children who were surveyed in the United States were exposed to violence either through crime, or abuse in their homes, schools, and communities, and approximately 46% of these children were assaulted at least once in the past year (Crimesolutions.gov).

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