Juveniles Should Not Be Prison

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.

One of the most debatable topics in today’s justice system is whether or not juveniles should receive waivers to adult court. There are three methods that are used to transfer a juvenile to adult court. Juvenile waiver, statutory exclusion, and Concurrent Jurisdiction are the three different methods used to transfer a juvenile to adult court. Statutory exclusion is when the juvenile is transferred immediately to the adult court. Concurrent Jurisdiction is when the juvenile may be tried as an adult and a juvenile at once. Throughout all three methods juvenile waiver is the most common one that is used throughout juvenile courts and used in mostly all states. The only states that do not provide judicial waivers are Nebraska, New York, and New Mexico. When a judge transfers a juvenile to adult court, he or she is denying the protections that the juveniles receive. The judge makes the decision of whether or not the juvenile is tried as an adult. Double Jeapordy laws protect the juvenile from being tried in juvenile court and then adult court because of the fact that a juvenile would be tried twice. Most times 17 or 18 year olds are the youngest age limits that can be waived to adult court, but in some states ages low as 13 or 14 can be waived. It depends on the crime that a juvenile commits on whether or not he or she is transferred to adult court. Once the juvenile is tried as an adult, he or she will be affect in the community for a lifetime versus having his or her records

America is again divided by something that we need a solution for right away. Today, it is between the people who believe mandatory life in prison for juveniles should be abolished and those who believe the opposite. If a teenager committed murder and any other heinous act they indeed should be sentenced to life. We cannot let people get away with that. They took the life of another, so they should see how it feels. There are many reasons why you should believe juvenile life sentences should still be legal such as the effect it has on the victims families, the accountability these teens should have, and just how ludicrous any other counter argument can be.

Society views minors as immature and naïve. Until they reach adulthood, they are incapable of thinking through their decisions. This is certainly what Greg Krikorian believes as he makes his argument in his article, “Many Kids Called Unfit for Adult Trial…”, that minors are incapable of defending themselves during trial. Krikorian states, “The study… found that one-third of the eleven- to – thirteen year olds studied and 20 percent of those fourteen to fifteen years old had levels of reasoning comparable to those of mentally ill adults judged not competent to stand trial.” It is important to remember that these teens are not mentally ill, and it

This question has caused a number of debates between scholars, law makers, psychiatrists and laypeople. When the juvenile justice system was created over a hundred years ago, it was because the lawmakers at the time decided that children should not be tried as adults because their lack of maturity meant that they should not be held to the same standards as adults (The National Academies Press, n.d.). This meant that children under the age of 12 were unlikely to be charged with a crime as they were seen not to be accountable for their actions. However, as the number of crimes that juveniles were committing along with their severity increased, it became necessary for the courts and lawmakers to institute stricter punishments for juvenile offenders. The problem with sentencing children as adults is that they will not be rehabilitated.

Should Juveniles offenders ever be sentenced life without parole? Many kids commit riskless crimes and later have to face the harsh reality of their actions. In the book “Just Mercy” the story of Trina a fourteen years girl who accidently burned down a house with no intention of murdering anyone is sentenced to life without parole, she is an example of juveniles who should receive parole. I don’t think Juvenile offenders should be sentence to life without parole but only in extreme causes for those who don’t show no remorse for the crime they commited.

Court systems are left with difficult decisions. A controversial decision courts are faced with today is whether or not juveniles are to be tried as adults. The increasing number of incarcerated children in adult jails raises questions as to why. Adolescents sentenced to prison are more likely to be abused, commit suicide, or reoffend, thus committing more serious offenses. The statutes requiring juveniles to enter adult prisons are inhumane and in-just. Nevertheless, sentencing children to adult prisons continues regularly today. When adolescents commit crimes, they should be tried as juveniles rather than adults.

Sara Kruzan was sixteen years old when she shot and killed thirty-six year old George Gilbert Howard (Sara). She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in adult prison without the possibility of parole. Sara was the victim of sex trafficking and George Gilbert Howard was her long time pimp and sexual abuser. However, this information was not taken into consideration when her fate was decided. Sara, just like hundreds of other juveniles, was unfairly sentenced to adult prison. Her horrific story shows how the Department of Justice has failed juveniles time and time again. The United States Department of Justice has failed to acknowledge extensive scientific research that proves the distinct psychological differences between juvenile and adult minds

There has been a lot of discussion regarding juveniles and incarceration. One of the bigger questions is should juveniles receive life without parole or the death penalty. In my opinion, it depends on the crime and not the age of the suspect at the time of the crime. I believe all murderers should be given life without parole at the very minimum, regardless of the age of the suspect. I understand the law, but I do not necessarily agree with the law regarding punishments and protecting suspects while the victims have to fight for justice. With that being said, I believe in, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

A murder is a murder, no matter what the age. Today, teenagers are committing crimes no one should be committing. They are stealing cars, lying, ruining property and killing. These juveniles all go into different categories. Some commit crimes for the thrill and do not regret it and some act on impulse and wish it never happened.

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.

Others may think that juveniles should be sentenced to life without parole because if they are old enough to commit the crime, then they are old enough to serve the time. These individuals may think that teens who commit crimes need to take responsibility for their own actions. However, most teens who are convicted of crime live in a community where they eventually learn that crime is something typical rather than something inhumane. A juvenile serving life without parole mentions in an article, “ I looked to the gang in the streets for love and support…I stopped going to school because I was not learning or getting special help with my learning disability” (qtd. in Nellis 9). This quote demonstrates that these teens who live in a community full of crime, tend to see crime as something that is rather acceptable.

An aspect we should be aware about when it comes to dealing juveniles is that they are still growing up and should not even be in the same conversation as an adult who has more development in their

On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court spoke that juveniles who committed a serious crime such as a murder could not be sentenced to life in jail.This all due to the Eighth Amendment on cruel and unusual punishment. The Juvenile justice system has caused controversy since then about to sentence minors to life sentence or not. There are many sides and strong opinions about it. Many authors concerned about Juvenile justice agree or disagree about minors treated into an adult justice system. The argument has targeted young juveniles such age as seventeen to be treated as an adult or to be still treated as a minor. My opinion about this controversial issue is to treat these juveniles as adults but trial them as actual adults until they have reached

Every juvenile who commits a severe crime should be tried as an adult. Juveniles should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Most kids that are 15 and older are the ones committing the worse crimes, by that age they should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Every person in the world should be able to think before they do, being able to think before you do will help you understand what you're doing and help you understand the difference in between both the good and the bad. The parents of the juveniles should also understand that some crimes are severe and have severe punishments. Juveniles need to know that