Juveniolent 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.

Juveniles should be tried as adults when they commit serious crimes as opposed to rehabilitation or various forms of lesser sentencing. The rate of juveniles in prison has increased over the years. Many young adults and children often seek for attention which leads them to cause trouble out in the streets. There are risk levels that officers have to make in order to help the juveniles or if committing a serious crime, they should pay the consequences. Many may oppose and think that young adults and children are not adults, but they should be punished for the crimes they have done.

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.

On May 9th, 2001 Lionel Tate, at the age of fourteen was sentenced to life in prison from a Florida judge. He was charged with the beating that resulted in death of a six-year-old neighbor girl, Tiffany Eunick (Where It All Began: 14-year-old Gets Life 1). Lionel claimed he was performing professional wrestling moves on Tiffany when she stopped breathing (Where It All Began: 14-year-old Gets Life 2). Lionel, along with many others, do not dispute the fact that his actions were the cause of Tiffany's death. The disagreement arises when one looks at the sentence Lionel was given. Did Lionel realize that his actions would result in the death of Tiffany Eunick? Should Lionel or any other juvenile be held responsible in the same manner as an

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.

Minors that do serious crimes, like assault or drug trafficking, shouldn’t be charged as adults. Some people say,”Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time”,but sending them to an actual adult jail, will make them much more worse, rather then giving them the help they need. According to the Centres for Disease Control, young people who are charged as adults are nearly 35% likelier to be rearrested than those who are tried as juveniles. Minors tried as juveniles are less likely to be rearrested because, they get the help they need. The minors in a juvenile facility receive counseling and other support they need to turn their life around. From The New York Times Upfront magazine, a 17 year old who was charged for attempt of murder was send to a juvenile facility and really turned his life around, having a bachelor’s degree and planning to graduate high school.

There are many controversial issues in the United States the idea that children of ages 10-16 years old should be tried as adults. I say that if the child is capable of knowing what they are doing at the moment, they should be punished the same, not given light punishments just because of their age, many people may not agree with this statement because they think that children are rebels and if you warn them once they will understand the next time. Yet, some individuals will not care what is told to them and will keep on doing what they want because they believe that they will never get caught for their wrongdoings. Many youngsters are stubborn and do not like to admit that they are wrong, so they fall into the wrong path because it is easier and faster to get what they want.

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.

Should a teenager that murdered his entire family go to prison? How about a kid who rapes his sister and her best friend? Criminal defendants under the age of 18 are sent to juvenile court. In this court, you will not be tried in front of a jury. Instead, the judge will look at the evidence presented and decide on whether or not you have commited the crime.

Juveniles need to be held accountable for their crimes, however, they should not be sent to life in prison. With an increasingly growing amount minors being trialed as adults for heinous crimes, people would ask “why would they commit it?” The answer lies within each juvenile's background, mental health, age, immaturity, and morality. Therefore, it is my belief that juveniles should not be trialed as an adult. Juveniles such as Manny, Shawn, Marquese, and José interviewed in PBS’ “Frontline” were involved in gangs, familial neglect and abuse, or drugging.

Did you know that 16% of the crimes committed, were between the ages of 13-15 years old? Kids within that age limit, and any age limit should be tried as adults because they should be aware of what is good and what is not. An estimated 59% percent of the crimes made were under the of 18. That is over half of the crimes committed. That is why they should be tried as adults. In certain states most juveniles have to be 16 years of age to be eligible to be able to sign a adult court waiver. Also in a number of states minors from the ages 13 and above can also be subjected a waiver. However, in order for a minor to be charged as an adult they have to have a partially lengthy record amongst them. Another reason they would end up being tried, would be if the went to rehab and it didn’t work and they did something bad again. Next, laws will be addressed.

Juveniles committing crimes is not a new issued being introduced to society; actually, it has been an issue for centuries. However, the big question is, should juveniles be tried in adult courts? Before answering, take into consideration every possible scenario that could have led them to commit the crime. For instance, were they the leader in the act? Did they participate in the crime? Was the juvenile even aware of what was taking place? Were they peer pressured? Did they have any other choice at the time? There are so many other questions we could consider when making a decision here.

In the United States “according to national estimates calculated with data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in September 2016, law enforcement [has] made more than 50,000 violent crime arrests involving youth under age 18 in 2015, compared with 100,000 ten years earlier” (Butts, Search and Evaluation). Although the rate is decreasing on a positive note, it still does not justify the amount of juveniles we have in America. Juvenile justice is the field where criminal law is suitable to teenagers not old enough to be held responsible for crimes. I think juveniles who are committing accidental crimes should not be held for a lifetime sentence, but should still take responsibility and time for their actions.

High school students who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults. Students that commit atrocious crimes should take full responsibility for what they did. Teenagers that commit a crime should be tried as adults as long as it is a heinous crime. The juvenile system is not enough for a teenager that has committed a violent crime. Trying juveniles as adults has resulted in fewer crimes. Since the government has started being harsher on students that commit violent crimes, the juvenile crime rate has dropped considerably. Secondly, the juvenile crime center cannot offer help to those who commit violent crimes. If a student has a mental illness, they should be helped and a juvenile center cannot offer that. Lastly, if you are tried as an adult you have more constitutional protections. The juries could be more sympathetic to a minor in an adult court. Trying students as adults has resulted in fewer juvenile crimes, the juvenile crime center cannot help teenagers that have mental illnesses, and being tried as an adult gives you more constitutional rights, are some of the reasons why a high school student that has committed a violent crime should be tried as an adult.

I do not think it is a good idea to lock juveniles up in prisons with adults. For a child to set down and plan a murder for instance, there would have to be some kind of deep emotional problem. On the other side of this, if the child knows right from wrong and he can sit down and plan a murder, then you could say if he is old enough to kill someone then he is old enough to die. The juvenile criminal is rooted much deeper than right from wrong. It starts back from when they are small children. Most of them are usually outsiders or outcasts. Who can you hold fault for that other than society? If juveniles don't fit in with the popular kids in school they are considered an