Kids Brains: Are Kids Committing Crime?

This paper will look at the importance of Preventing Juvenile Delinquency and what different ideas, concepts and methods are available to those adolescents that are either at-risk already or those that can be in the future. Early prevention is the best method of slowing down the statistics of crimes among adolescents, by keeping them off of the streets and out of the justice system by providing the means to teach them to be productive rather than destructive.

In cities like Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, the worst cities for urban youth, teen crime is not extraordinary. The poverty-ridden towns further provide reason and excuse for crime. Now this can be caused by many things, but the key ones are for money to provide basic needs and a way to obtain material goods that could not be obtained lawfully. In “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore, two impoverished teens growing up in Baltimore experience very different lives, one will find himself on top of the world, and the other far below in a state prison.

The question that is always asked is, what age do teenagers become adults? What should we use to determine the consequence of violent crimes. Juveniles should be convicted as an adult if the crimes that have been committed are violent crimes because teens know right from wrong, brain development , and use crimes as a problem solver.

While in the article“Kids are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes” by Marjie Lundstrom (2001), tries, but fails to show to most Ethos. Lundstrom asserts that all minors be tried through the juvenile justice system and not through the adult system because they are only kids. The article shows barely if any credibility of where the facts came from that are constantly shown through the entire article. A line from Lundstrom says, “Hey, they're only kids” (4). In the mind of Lundstrom, it is safe to assume that there is not much ethos in this article rather than the author's opinion to persuade the reader using pathos. While in the article, Lundstrom brings a few trials attempting to help the argument, but does not show any credibility of her resources.

When it comes to kids, we tend to baby them. We organize their lives and set limits on everything. If they want to do something outside those limits we tell them they are not old enough or they have not experienced enough of the world yet. After all, what can they possibly know about love, major decisions, and what is best for them? Yet somehow, despite all this, when they commit a crime we turn into hypocrites. Magically, they are geniuses who know everything about the world. In society’s eyes, they are no longer a child, but a monster.

Juvenile Delinquents are being incarcerated at earlier ages as time progresses. The term delinquent speaks of two or more youths, typically amongst the ages of ten and seventeen years old, who are involved in doings well-defined as illegal. The study of juvenile delinquents in inner city Chicago have been studied for many years and the rates continue to sky rocket as juveniles are being locked down by the justice system. Cases of violence amongst juveniles has been increasing rapidly in the past 20 years, juveniles are now linked to severer crimes, and it can be speculated that regardless of efforts of rehabilitation that the recidivism of juveniles relapsing is very great. Thus leading to physiological and mental problems that can be damaging to the youth as

juvenile delinquency is most likely to have a negative impact on society. The second characteristic is that if the hostility towards “youths” increases, they will eventually become “folk devils” therefore creating a division (Cohen 1973:16). The third is a form of consensus although concern is not nationwide; there should be global acceptance that the youths pose a threat to society. The fourth characteristic is formed up of disproportionality and the action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group. The final characteristic is instability; moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quickly due to a lack of public interest or other rising news reports (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994:57).

The evidence that is provided expresses that prisons should be a place to “conduct health education, screening for disease and treatment” however, right now prison is just a place where disease is allowed to spread back and forth between the general public (p.123). The fourth topic is educational management which covers how the education system can decrease youth crime by making a small change in the time school starts. This section states that if school started later than youth would have less opportunities to commit crime. At the moment the only thing that is hindering this from occurring is the inconvenience it would bring adults (teachers, parents, etc.). This section also discusses peer on peer (mainly bullying) crime and how it should be treated as regular crime not something that can be overlooked. This sections ends stating that we should hold schools more accountable for the crime rates of their students.

“Kids Are Kids Until They Commit Crimes” Talks about Lionel Tate, was he a man or a boy? Lionel beat up a six year old to his death. He spent probably life in prison he was convicted with first degree murder at the time he was 12 but since he was 14 they considered him as an adult. There were 2 other crimes , a 15 year old named thomas was mimicking a TV program about little girls and got sentenced with 26 years to life in prison term , and a 13 now 14 year old named brazil shot and killed his teacher and was charged as an adult with first degree murder. Lionel was later then sent to jail which still doesn't understand bothering inmates is a bad thing. Should adults and teens get the equal amount of jail time ?

In today’s society there has been an increase in the crimes committed by juveniles. Most juveniles have underlining factors that have caused them to choose this type of lifestyle. Many children in the juvenile system have come from impoverish stricken neighborhoods and are festered with gang activity which has made them a product of their environment. The minds of adolescents do not allow them to see how they are affecting their lives. A study was conducted, and according to the article, “Adolescents in Adult Court: Does the Punishment Fit the Criminal?”, when children mature, they will look back at their past and possibly leave their surroundings. Think about two people committing the same crime, both with the same thought process and ability to make decisions, except one is a juvenile and the other is grown. Due to the lack of experience in decision-making or the time to evaluate the situation like the adult, the youth should be viewed as irresponsible. The fact that a child’s mind is still maturing should reassure people that they will not be the same person incarcerated a few years later.

In the article of “Kids are Kids -Until They Commit Crimes” Marlie Lundstrom talks about kids being treated as adults when they commit a crime.For example Lundstrom said “Hey,they’re only kids. That is, until they foul up.Until they commit crimes.”So in other words he is saying that kids should be treated as an adult when they have committed the mistake of their life.Then there's others who say kids shouldn’t be treated as an adults because their brain isn’t fully developed and still have lot to learn. But then the people who do say kids should be treated as an adults say that maybe when they sentence them to prison and how it would be to be there for life it would teach them right to wrong.

In every city there is something that goes wrong, be it a theft or a bursting fire hydrant. Sometimes, in those cities, children are the subject of a real prison. After reading the article, "When Children Become Criminals" By the New York Times Editorial Board, I knew that this was the case.

Juvenile crime is a major problem in today's society, nevertheless it's one of the most

Many children become familiar with the Juvenile Justice System without knowledge of why they continue to commit crimes. Many of them suffered years of being abuses, which caused socialization changes that pushed them to withdraw or act out. This research is important because it shows the long terms effects child abuse has on children that become juvenile delinquents. Statistics show increasing numbers of children who are the victims of child abuse and neglect, although they decrease in delinquency may reflect a greater nation focus on the issue and the use of more effective programs to attack the problem. This research is important to me because the Criminal Justice System doesn’t address the causes of deviant behavior in juvenile delinquents to its full potential. They rather just focus on policing and tough sanctions. Hopefully with this paper and many others child abuse can be prevented along with the long-term effects of child abuse and better programs can be invented to treat child abuse victims. The Office of Justice Programs came up with a “Safe Kids Safe Streets” Program, which acknowledge the correlation between child abuse and juvenile delinquency and is aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood victimization and later delinquency (Safe

Youth crime has always been a concern in societies around the world. People try to determine the causes to which these problems stem from. This topic intrigued me, so I decided to write an essay on the question relating to this topic, "What are the social causes of youth crime?" The theory that I am going to examine and use to answer this question is the labeling theory. This theory is also known as the societal reaction theory. The labeling theory will often examine the offender in the situation. This theory not only examines the offender, but also the victim and the situation as a whole, instead of breaking it down. This theory claims that a "deviant" is only what the society around him/her describes him as. It also goes on to