Juveniles Should Not Receive Life Sentences

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

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.

They are many different article that talk about teen killers but Garinger is the most accountable in her work and uses the most and best ethos. She wrote the paper called “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences.” In her write she argues about how kids are just kids and don’t have a fully developed brain. They don’t deserve to be given a adult sentence and deserve to have a second chance to have a life of no crimes. One step she uses to make us think that she is credible is the way she uses how teens are just tempted by other to do something they shouldn’t. “Peer pressure also makes them promising candidates for rehabilitation”(8). This use of works makes the reader feel that if they are peer pressured to do something then maybe the tens deserve

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.

The article “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by jennifer Jenkins, the author talks about a personal own story of a family member getting murdered by a juvenile who is now serving three life sentences and believed to be kept in prison because of violating the law. The author concurs that any juveniles that are imprisoned tend to commit a different crime after release, and people who fights for juveniles who are sentence life in prison should be kept. The advertisements of the media and legislator “ feature propaganda photos of 7- and 8- year- old child models on the cover, with misleading headlines that the United States was “sentencing children to die in prison”(Jenkins 92). This quote talks about the media’s way of misleading people on what the juveniles in prison truly

Murder is always a devastating sight, juveniles who commit homicides is another story. Sentencing a juvenile to life without parole isn’t the best punishment for a child that is developing in life. Juveniles are full of built up steam and emotions, they aren't comprehensive with the actions they take.

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.”

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.

When dealing with a topic as controversial as is, we must take into consideration all aspects since there is a human life a risk. A life many may consider to not have even started yet. For a child to get sentenced to life in jail makes absolutely no sense. I agree with the Supreme Court justices who are for the eradication of mandatory life sentences to prison for juveniles because teens are still developing and changing everyday. We should take into account this proven biological fact as well as the environment of which they are exposed to every day.

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

There are more than two thousand cases of teens where they are sent to prison for life without parole after murdering other people. Most cases were of juveniles killing their parents or guardians after their knowledge of abuse. Juveniles that get sent to either juvenile hall or to be tried as adults do not receive fair defense teams, have prosecutors that are very manipulative, and experience physical and emotional trauma, which affects them for a very long time. Juveniles that get punished and sentenced do not have a very good source of rehabilitation or a place of rest after their crime. They are sent to trial within six days of their crime, out of shock and previous physical and mental trauma. Considering the potential dangers of juveniles

Many young children in United States are imperiled by abuse, domestic and community violence, and poverty. Without help, these children suffer, struggle, and fall into despair and hopelessness. Usually minors cannot manage emotional, social, and psychological challenges of adolescence and eventually engage in destructive and violent behavior. Today, juveniles are lucky enough that death penalty was abolished and said to be and cruel and unusual punishment by the Supreme Court. However, juveniles who commit murder can be put in a prison for life without a possibility of a parole.

Adult prisons are too extreme to have a child of 13 years of age contained in. Also be sentenced for life in prison can destroy a young adult’s mentality that is still going under development. Juveniles that commit crimes should be sent to facilities where there are other of the same age so it wouldn’t be so extreme on them. A way of also handling not having juveniles serve their entire life in prison is putting them in special programs to why they did that in the first place. In that program they can find answers to their rehabilitation so they can clear their confusion and start over with their life. It also not is always the child’s fault because sometimes they can be diagnosed with illness they have or a disorder. It can cause them to act rash and make them have the sensation to kill and destroy.

On February 2009 an 11 year old, Jordan Brown, murdered his soon to be stepmom and her fetus. Jordan was sentenced to an adult punishment, life in prison with no parole. In prison children collect bad habits and get negative affects. The minors mind is not fully developed therefore it is not entirely the minors fault. Juveniles should not be punished as adults for violent crimes.

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