Should Teens Have Pay For Being Insane?

In the article “Kids are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes” Marjie Lundstrom states “Hey they’re only kids, that is until they foul up. Until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager we are to call them adults.” If teens seem to commit the same crimes as adults, they shouldn’t get less time. A child should be tried as an adult because a crime is a crime no matter who commits it. … Teens that

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

In today's society, there are many crimes going on. Adults are not the only ones that commit crimes. One issue today is that juvenile offenses and whether juvenile offenders should be tried as adults in criminal court. A common phrase that is often used in this case of young juveniles committing crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." This phrase should be cleared to people that juveniles are not adults, and with this being said it will not make them one. "It has redefined juvenile offenses by treating most of them as delinquent acts to be adjudicated within a separate juvenile justice system that is theoretically designed to recognize the special needs and immature status of young people and emphasize rehabilitation over punishment" (Steinberg). While juveniles should be responsible for their actions, and should be held accountable for the crime, then the juvenile justice system is design to determine the consequences. Youths are still minors and are less mature. They often face a lot of negative peer pressure. Therefore, juveniles should not be tried in courts as adults.

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.

Adults, on the other hand, are fully developed and fully conscience of their actions and the consequences that follow. However, because teen brains are not fully developed, this allows their brains to grow and learn from mistakes and experiences. In the article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, author Gail Garinger talks about her first hand experience with juveniles in the justice system. She has seen the potential for them to grow and change over the years, and how being tried as adults and serving life sentences has had severe impacts on many. Gail believe adult prison is not the place for a teen. Placing juveniles in adult prison substantially inhibits their potential for

Teens should be spent to adult jail for the crime they committed! In the late 1980s juveniles have been committing crimes during the period of this time, many of them were getting in trouble more often, crimes were getting more violent by this time. On June 25, 2012 The Supreme Court justices who agrued to abolish mandatory sentences to life in prison for juveniles who commit murder or any crimes reflecting the will of Americans society should be punished as an adult . Justice Alito noted that , “Even a 17 ½ -year-old who set off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teacher is ‘child’ and must be given a chance to persuade a judge to permit his release into society…” In other words I agree that teens should be sentenced to life in prison, if I did the same crime I should be punished the same way as an adult who has committed the same crime because during this age I know what I am doing wrong and right. I believe that teen should be sentenced to life in prison because the victim's family reactions, rehabilitation, they should understand the consequences of their actions, mental health issues, and heinous crimes.

The truth of the matter is a "kid", "teens" or however you want to call it; are not a grown ups we aren't given the same rights as grown-ups and majority of the time are ignored because we ar not grown-ups; however when it come to crimes we are most definitely taken into considerations. After considering both sides of the debate on juvenile justice, it is clear that juveniles should not face life without parole for the reason that we aren't taken in consideration most of the time as well as our immaturity.

In the United States, New York State is one of two states that automatically prosecutes 16-year-old adolescents as adults. If arrested as an adolescent, New York State detains 16-year-olds in jail with adults while awaiting trial (Governor.ny.gov, 2015). In New York City, incarcerated adolescents reside on Rikers Island with adult criminals. This injustice compromises youthful offender’s safety and mental health. New York State must change the legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility. Prosecuting and sentencing adolescents like adults must end.

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.

Americans today tend to believe that the juvenile crime rate in the United States has risen in the last decade. June 25, 2012 was an important date for this chaotic standard, because this was the day the Supreme Court declared juveniles who had been tried as adults for murder could not be sentenced to life in prison without parole. With this decision the U.S court system gave individuals who are serving life in prison, as teenagers, a chance for a better life. Adolescents should not be sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in a prison cell because of the imprudent decisions they made as minors.

Juveniles should not be tried and sentenced as adults because their brains are not fully matured thus making the process impossible to undergo the experiences of being tried and sentenced as an adult. The juvenile justice system needs to be revised and start to work towards helping the juveniles find the right path and not setting them up to fail. Some people might say that these adolescents need to just fall silent and do the time in adult prison. The problem is, youth cannot do the same time like an adult would, because they are not adults, no matter how much society would like them to carry themselves as so, they simply cannot. The public should put themselves in the juvenile’s shoes and become aware of all the trauma and abuse the juveniles live through while being tried and sentenced as an adult.

Teenagers should be tried as adults. There are plenty of teens that are being tried as adults or are being considered being tried as adults. Even though the teens are underage which are younger than 18, they are still being considered for being tried as adults. Despite the fact that these teens are only teens, still underage, felonies committed by teens such as aggravated assault, rape, murder, and other malicious acts deserve consequences for what teens have done and should be considered for being tried as adults because it is diabolical and relentless to do acts like that, especially because it is from teens. Being a teen and breaking the law like that does not give the teens the right to commit felonies, and if still the teens are not given any consequences, it will then lead to acts of more crime.

When teens are tried they are either tried as juvenile or adults. If they are tried as minors then they go to a juvenile facility to get the help they need and go to school. Some teenagers are tried as adults and go directly to adult prisons just as any other person over eighteen would, however kids are not subject to the death penalty. Some kids may commit these crimes because they have undeveloped brains or mental issues ( Thompson 89). People are released from prison after short amounts of time because they committed a terrible crime as a minor instead of an adult. Most of these former criminals will repeat their actions putting our society at risk of assault, rape, or even murder. When someone commits a crime, and the crime is truly immoral and should deserve to pay the consequences no matter what their age is. Teens should be held accountable for their actions and tried as adults for heinous crimes they commit.

First of all, teens should not be spending their life in prison, because it will change them in many different ways. If they're sentenced for life they will never be able to experience life and will never know what it’s like to live life as a normal person. Most teens who commit crime are in the wrong state and should be

Imagine sitting in a courtroom, hoping the the judge will not give a harsh sentence. Unfortunately, that’s the case for many juveniles, some as young as 13! A juvenile is subject to a more severe sentence with the limited sentencing available. It is estimated that 250,000 youth are prosecuted as adults, each year. This number should change, as juveniles are not adults, both mentally and physically. Juveniles need an environment surrounded with guiding adults, education and the resources to help them. A juvenile is not an adult, and should not be tried as one.