Teen Criminals Should Be Tried As Adults Essay

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.

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.

In the court of law many difficult decisions are made, and one is whether juveniles should be tried as adults or not. Many teens today are being placed in an adult prison for crimes they have committed. The crimes these teens commit are not necessarily their fault, but a poor choice they made. Teens should not be tried as adults for the risk of being sexually abused, not having a well developed brain, and having a higher risk of them committing suicide.

To Be An Adult Depending on factors of the offense, age and past criminal history, some juvenile offenders should be tried as adults – if not to be placed in jail, to receive the help that they desperately need. There’s already a system in place, but ultimately it all comes down to the judge and the jury. Of course it’d make life simpler if we were to just throw them aside and send them off to where they can no longer do us any harm, but even though it sounds like the very best idea for our own self-preservation; it doesn’t help them, in fact it only hinders. Life is far too short, and if we choose to give up on our nation’s youth because of their misdeeds at such a young age then what hope should we have for their generation and the future of this country? None, because we have set them all up for failure.

However, most of the young offenders commit severe offenses as a result of influence by drugs or having a family with a criminal history among others (Finley, 2011). Consequently exposing the young people to prison life full of adult convicts who have committed more serious offenses will most likely add up to their deviant and violent behavior. The criminal justice system that expects the young people to change and be good people once they have left the prisons end up convicting them again when they are adults. This is because once the offenders are out, they are likely to participate in more offenses as a result of the hardships they have endured in prison (Marion, 2011). The young offenders should thus be judged in the juvenile courts and also be punished according to the juvenile

Today in society crimes are majority made by minors, I believe that when they investigate about the person looking at the background of the adolescent being tried. They see that they came from a bankrupt family, they live in a segregated area,and have high rates of learning disabilities, mental health and abuse problems.But also being tried like an adult when making a violent crime I don't think is truly effective for these juveniles to understand what they did was wrong giving them the right help and giving them the chance to turn around their

Have you ever thought about how severe juvenile crimes are and how they should be tried? Some juveniles commit crimes that are so bad that they could be tried as an adult. But, should they be tried as an adult depending on how bad the crime is?

Juvenile Delinquents being charged and tried as adults Could you imagine your child being thrown into a jail with many older adults who have committed harsh crimes? Many of the nations debates are whether juveniles should be tried and charged as an adult. Like every debate there’s two sides to the story. In many cases there has been young children being charged as an adult to life in prison. With taking in account to brain development and the reasoning to what they did, many would argue that it was an unfair decision to make.

Much controversy exists on the question of whether a juvenile criminal should be punished to the same extent as an adult. Those who commit capitol crimes, including adolescents, should be penalized according to the law. Age should not be a factor in the case of serious crimes. Many people claim that the child did not know any better, or that he was brought up with the conception that this behavior is acceptable. Although there is some truth to these allegations, the reality of this social issue is far more complex. Therefore we ask the question, Should childhood offenders of capitols crimes be treated as adults?

In the article, “Are Teenage Brains Really Different From Adult Brains”, it explains how teenager’s brains are different from an adult’s. The article describes the prefrontal cortex, which is a part of the brain that weighs outcomes, creates judgments, and controls a person’s impulse and emotions. This part of the brain does not develop in most cases until the mid twenties, which proves that a teenager does not have a fully developed mind to even commit a crime such as murder and actually know that the consequences of the mistake they are making. Another article that support those statements is one from CNN, “Kids Should Never Be Tried as Adults”, this article states that teens and children are too young to process information and plan a murder. It also expresses that the teens are harmless and not exactly aware of how brutal the crime is or the consequences that go along with the

Do you remember when you were scolded by your parent after you stayed beyond your curfew or scratched your their car? You were probably in trouble but then given another opportunity to redeem yourself. Just as a parent forgives his child when they did something wrong after they face their consequences, our judicial system should not sentence juveniles as adults since adults can face life in prison. In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced as adults and serve life sentences. They argued that life sentences would be unconstitutional because they would violate the 8th amendment regarding the ban of cruel and unusual punishments. Juvenile should not be sentenced as adults when they commit heinous

Teenagers should have to go through a juvenile facility to give their life’s a second chance. Teenagers make mistakes all the time. It wouldn’t be written off as a slap on the wrist, but an opportunity to a new a better beginning of their life. Trying and sentencing teenagers as adults, takes away their life. They do not get to live their life.

It is not just about culpability or how much blame these youthful offenders can shoulder. In the event a youthful offender is in fact guilty of committing a crime there are two ways to further differentiate them from adults (A) it is difficult to predict recidivism as their brains are growing and changing, making “recidivism the exception not the rule” according to Alex Piquero, PhD in his article The Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice: Transfer of Adolescents to the Criminal Court. (B) As a result of not having completely developed brains they may be more amenable to treatment, compared to their adult counterparts, and are more likely to change.

As more minors are committing violent crimes, the question of whether they should be tried as adults has arisen. Children as young as 13 or 14 are committing violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery. Some of these children are being tried as adults while others are being tried as juveniles and receiving milder punishments. A juvenile offender may receive a few years in a juvenile detention facility and possibly probation following his release at age eighteen. An adult committing the same violent crime will receive a much harsher penalty, often years in jail, possibly a life sentence, with little or no chance of parole. The only difference between the two offenders is the age at which they committed the crime. Juveniles over

Now i’m not saying that every teen should just get help, it all depends on the crime. Like if they are selling drugs or they steal from a store they should not be tried as an adult because that is normal teen behavior. But at the same time that doesn’t mean that it’s okay, but it is something that you will hear a lot about that thats what teens get in trouble for. Now, if they kill someone, or stab, or shoot someone then they should be tried as an adult because then something is really wrong with you. But even then, It”s not a good idea to put them in a place where people have had experience with stuff like that. That would do nothing for them and they would keep doing the same thing.Too many people have been to jail and back, for drugs and stealing, and that does nothing for them. Reporter from CNN News Mathew Roden “ Some young teens cannot manage the emotional, social,