Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults in the Justice System

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

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.

First, I believe that juveniles should not be tried as adults because their mentalities are not fully developed.

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

A trend analysis of juvenile homicide offenses shows that since the mid 1970's, the number of homicides in which no firearm was involved has remained fairly constant. However, homicides by juveniles involving a firearm have increased nearly threefold. In addition, during this same period, the number of juvenile arrests for weapons violations increased 117 percent. When guns are the weapon of choice, juvenile violence becomes deadly.

Juveniles should be tried as adults because they only serve a few years in prison, they deserve a harsher punishment, and they are committing crimes at a younger age.

News studies show a number of serious crimes being committed by children and adolescents. Criminologists' see warnings of vicious juveniles with general belief that young people are increasingly violent and uncontrollable and that the response of the juvenile justice system has been inadequate. Reacting to evidence of increases in juvenile violence, state and federal legislators have proposed, and most states have passed, laws that make the juvenile system more punitive and that allow younger children and adolescents to be transferred to the adult system for a greater variety of offenses and in a greater variety of

I believe adolescents should be tried as adult because from a young age humans know the difference between right or wrong. There have been many instances all over the world where juveniles commit crimes that are unexplainable and unexpected. 3 heart wrenching stories where juveniles commit the most horrid of crimes, are in the last 5 years a 10 year old boy was accused of fatally stabbing his 6th grade neighbor. While in the UK Daniel Bartlam is charged for killing his mother at the age of 14, and lastly, in the USA, an 11 year old boy is charged for killing his father's fiancee while she was pregnant. These are some example of why juveniles should be tried as adults, because if they are old enough to commit these murders they are old enough to face the full force of the justice system.

Should juveniles be tried as adults? No , I think juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults because it’s too harsh to put them in jail on their first offense.

Juveniles should be tried as adults when they commit serious crimes because their punishment should fit their crime and they should know right from wrong. Punishments towards juveniles should be equivalent to the crimes they should be responsible for

Juvenile crime statistics show that offenders under the age of 15 represent the leading edge of the juvenile crime problem. "Violent crime grew some 94% among these youngsters from 1990 to 1995- compared with 47% for older youth (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).

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

Teenagers in this age group do kill others, old and young alike. The rate at which juveniles were arrested for murder rose 177 percent between 1978 and 1993 (NBER.org). This shows that there is a need for stopping or at least slowing this trend in homicidal acts. Statistics clearly show that juviniles between the ages of 14 and 17 during the years of 1976 to 1994 are increasing in numbers

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

In truth, the problem isn't quite as pressing as it was a few years ago. With crime rates dropping, so is juvenile crime. But felonies by kids had exploded over the previous 10 years, a legacy of the crack trade and armed gangs, so the recent decline is still a dip in a high plateau. From 1985 to 1995, juvenile arrests for violent crimes rose 67%. Perhaps a fifth of all violent crimes is the work of teens.