Juveniles Tried As Adults

No matter their age, when it comes to serious offenses juveniles should be tried as adults because the understanding of what is right and wrong is known by young children, if they have the ability to commit a crime they should be charged as adults, and without them being trying

They’re not only being put away from others but they’re being placed in a dangerous environment. Children are defenseless compared to adult criminals. They can be sharing a cellblock with a rapist, pedophile, or a serial killer to where they wont be able to protect themselves from harm. In the article “Juvenile justice: Speakers at California parish strip away illusions of fairness of the U.S. system”, a speaker named Leslie Neale who filmed a documentary called “Juvies” experienced an emotional rollercoaster when seeing what these powerless kids go through. Neale said, "I've heard the fear in the voice of a young man telling me he was tied up to the bunk for fun by his adult cellmates, the fear as a kid describes listening to the cries of someone being raped, girls who take 'wives' so they can be taken care of with sundries such as shampoo and soap." No one ever thinks this far when placing a child in prison. They only think of locking them away incase they commit another crime. In prison, couple things that are rarely provided are rehabilitation programs and education. Children who want to get help are usually left hopeless. When juveniles are placed in adult prisons, they’re sent without knowing that there is no future for them. Neale stated, “I've talked many through suicidal thoughts, knowing that if I told the authorities the kids would be locked in solitary rather than spoken to with heart and love.” This shows that juveniles have to face their problems themselves and are led to desperate decisions because prisons don’t seem to care or show any sympathy towards them. In the article, “Juveniles don’t deserve life sentences” by Gail Garinger, it states “79 young adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison—a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world.” The author also mentions that these children were

While some individuals feel that exposure to an adult sanction will have a negative effect on the health of juveniles, the major crimes committed by these minors are the same as those committed by their surrounding adult inmates. The threat of adult incarceration will also repel juveniles from committing serious crimes. According to Professor Morgan Reynolds from Texas A&M University, “Between 1980 and 1993 juvenile crime rose alarmingly, and as the states toughened their approach during the 1990s, it declined just as steeply” (2005). In addition, incarceration lowers the chances of reoffending (Schneider cited by Reynolds, 2005). Enforcing laws that discourage juveniles from executing major crimes are effective in reducing crime rates and implementing public safety. Also, those that have already committed severe crimes are less likely to reoffend after exposure to adult sanction. Like Christopher Simmons, juveniles are aware of the crimes they are committing, and may even be proud of their actions. Regardless of the motive, teens committing major offenses should be placed in adult sanctions because their actions are no different than adult offenders. The intimidation of adult detention is successful in both deterring juvenile crime, and appropriately holds minors accountable for their severe offenses.

Approximately two million adolescents a year are arrested and out of that two million, 60,000 of them are incarcerated according to the American Journal of Public Health. The 60,000 incarcerated adolescents each year are being tried as adults in court because of the serious crimes they have committed. The crimes they have committed are anything from armed robbery to murder. Some juveniles might be first time offenders and others might be repeat offenders. Crimes have always been a major issue in the United States and can cause controversy in the criminal justice system. Charging a minor as an adult in criminal court varies from state to state based on each state’s jurisdiction. Some states consider anyone up to the age of 18 still a juvenile and would not be charged as an adult in criminal court, but other states may charge a juvenile as an adult at the age of 16 or 17. Jordan (2014) states, “Although states already had methods for transferring youth to the adult system, as a result of the growing fear of juvenile violence, most states implemented new laws to increase the number of youth entering the adult criminal system’ (Bernard & Kurlychek, 2010; Torbet et al., 1996)” (p. 315). While it sounds beneficial to incarcerate more adolescents in the adult criminal justice system to avoid juveniles from committing crimes in the future, that is not always the case. Incarcerating these juveniles can be life changing in a negative

Youth incarceration is a growing dilemma in the United States that populates facilities as well as ruins lives at an alarming rate. As a society we cannot expect our kids to be the future of this nation when we are placing them in facilities where they become victims of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that is far worse for them than adults. Michelle Alexander is a professor at Ohio State University and a graduate of Standford Law school. She states in her award-winning book, The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness "Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted once being placed into a facility" (Alexander,123).  Adolescents being detained causes many problems that are much more detrimental to them than adults. Some of them will now have exposure to drugs and gangs. Others will become victims of sexual abuse from other older inmates or staff members and risk transmitting sexual diseases. Most young juveniles have a mental illness that has not been treated or they become suicidal when staying in a facility.  These young people are still adapting to their environment and should not be treated as adults.  They are unable to grow and develop when we are punishing them like adults and trapping them in the US justice system.  The families of these children will now suffer knowing what their child faces in these facilities. As a nation we cannot consider ourselves civilized when we are placing these young people in facilities that punish them like adults.

When juveniles are being abused in adult prisons it gives yet another reason why they should not be tried as

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.

Most of the time, the system has proven itself to be unsuccessful in dealing with juvenile crimeMost often, the system is unsuccessful. “There are kids who are five times more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities. The risk of suicide is likewise much higher for juveniles in adult jails.”(How to reduce crime Pg 3). When juveniles are sent to jail, they are still relatively impressionable from people in the prison, and may go back into crime after they’re released, hindering rehabilitation and just creating another violent criminal in the world. The court sentencing the criminal is also at

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.

Juveniles in adult prisons witness or go through so many life threatening and life changing situations. Once in the adult prison, “Prisoners witness inmate on inmate violence, they are also more likely to be victimized sexually” (Children Tried as Adults). That puts fear in juveniles leading them to search for protection; “The fear of being victimized or assaulted produces a need for security, which leads many young prisoners to rely on gangs and weapons for survival” (Scott). If this is the case not only will juveniles not rehabilitate but they will become more aggressive towards other people. Many juveniles forget the rehabilitation and just focus on surviving among the adult criminals.

As a juvenile there young and they deserve to be in a counseling office or therapy and do not go to the extremes of putting a juvenile on a prison. Maybe that juvenile has problems at home or is mentally ill (Howell, 2007). Juveniles confined in jails and prisons they face very serious threats like for example their health. But not only that as a juvenile they think that because they were in jail everything is

Throughout the United States juveniles have been repeatedly tried, and punished for their crimes committed as young adolescents. In the juvenile system, they are rehabilitated for their offenses rather than being punished in adult prisons. To other people it may seem like America is a great place to come to be free, and valued by our peers but in reality, children are placed in unsafe, unregulated facilities with adult criminals, where adults stay because of the crimes they committed. Their actions influence the lives of these young juveniles. Juveniles should not be tried as adults because it violates the 8th Amendment, the adolescent’ brain is undeveloped, and lastly, it empowers them to commit more crimes.

While being incarcerated, they only get worse instead of them learning how harsh the consequence can be if they were to commit the same crime, they become ruthless. It is a commonly believed idea that while being incarcerated adolescents are sent to solitary confinement to get away from the harmful criminals. Most adolescents are put in solitary confinement, giving them the isolation they need to ponder. On the contrary, isolating them can cause them to suffer and get damaged mentally and possibly physically. According to the NAMI Foundation, “Placing juveniles in solitary confinement can permanently impact development and increases risk of suicide.

Teenagers should not be tried as adults. Due to the lack of cognitive development, outcome of going to a prison, and the vindictiveness of taking someone’s life away. Unless a legal no one should be tried as an adult. It is unjust to push someone - that is in no sense an adult other than their physical features - through a system that is for

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