In past times, the majority of criminals were over 20 years old, but nowadays the situation has quite changed. Not only adults, but also children commit murders and other serious crimes. We, as a society, recognize that children, those under 18 years old, cannot and do not function as adults, but I believe the harshest punishment should be given to the worst offender.
Teenagers may not be as developed as adults, but they can make decisions. Especially important ones. Killing somebody is definitely a huge decision. While children may be more impulsive than adults, in the cases I have read about, the teenagers contemplate killing the person many times before they actually do it. In November 2001, Alex and Derek King hatched a plan where they would kill their father so they could move in with Rick Chavis, a friend of their dads who Alex was also having a sexual relationship with. Firefighters responded to a call at the King residence and there they found the body of 40-year-old Terry King on the couch with his skull open and his face bashed in.
I believe if a killer has the ability to
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If you take a life it cannot be given back and in my opinion our parents, the tax-payers of this country shouldn’t waste one penny on a murderer in for life. If you take away someone's life, if you take away someone’s family member you should live miserably or not at all.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention states, “Known juvenile offenders were involved in about 610 murders in the U.S. in 2013, representing about 7% of all known murder offenders.” These kids, these murderers, they get a second chance at life but what's to stop them from doing it again? Especially when they know they can get away with it because the law is protecting them? I support the death penalty for juveniles because I believe that every victim deserves
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
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.
For example Jessica Wilde when she says, “All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard, it not to punish heinous acts, then to provide justice to the families of victims (Wilde 2). As a child myself, I was raised in a family who believes in punishments, spankings, and repercussions for the actions of the children. Some say morals are learned, others say we inherit morals at birth, either way, a criminal is a criminal and must be punished as such. Should we punish all juveniles as adults? Probably not with lesser crimes, but some crimes are certainly more terrible than others, and those crimes like murder and rape are adult crimes. It really doesn’t matter the age of the criminal, it they are committing crimes that are inherently adult in nature, then yes, these criminals absolutely should be punished as an adult regardless of their age. Our courts, our schools, nor our
Other people argue that Juveniles may not have the mental capacity to know that this is wrong. This is, in fact, wrong in most cases. A child no matter what the age should know that killing or performing other atrocious acts on others is wrong.There are some exceptions such as mental illness and adverse effects from medications. According to https://flowpsychology.com/10-pros-and-cons-of-juveniles-being-tried-as-adults/, “because teenagers have full control over their thoughts and actions. If they do not have the moral compass instilled in them by that time, then they are very likely to commit more crimes.” This implies that, should teenagers not be tried as adults, they may never learn their lesson.Even if they don’t from harsher punishments; at least they will
In August of 2004, Robert Acuna was sentenced to the death penalty. His crime? Shooting his two elderly neighbors, James and Joyce Carroll, "execution style" and then proceeding to steal their car (Liptak). This heinous crime only adds to the current debate: should juveniles be sentenced as adults? The answer is yes, there should be no leniency displayed towards minors who commit the same serious crimes as adults. Although young, juveniles should be capable of understanding the serious extent of the crime they commit. Sentencing juveniles as adults will prevent perpetrators of major crimes, such as mass murder, from walking free. Furthermore, judges have enough experience to know whether to try a minor as an adult or not. Juvenile sentencing as adults is not a wrong but rather a form of justice in the face of rising teen violence.
If a ruthless fifteen-year old killed your mother, how would you want the inhumane murderer to be punished? How would you feel if you never got to see your mother alive again while her killer served only a short sentence before being released from jail? Clearly, one would want the worst violent punishment for that murderer to experience. We have to have a system where juveniles, even young juveniles, who commit extremely sophisticated violent criminalities, are not beyond the reach of the law. Truly, children are children. They are reckless and naïve when it comes to their actions, however if one commits a crime, moreover a violent crime, must be punished impartially according to what he/she deserves regardless of the age. Children who commit violent crimes should be held accountable for their actions and tried as adults.
Should children be given their sentence based on their age or should they be treated the same as adults since they commented the same crime?
Over the last few decades there have been more and more violent crimes committed by children and young adults. Some of these children are under the age of 15, committing violent crimes such as robbery, rape, murder, gang violence. Some of these children are being tried as adults while others are tried and punished as juveniles. A juvenile offender may receive a slap on the wrist being sentenced to house arrest or parole while others are being sent to adult prisons without the possibility of parole. An adult committing these same crimes would receive a more sever sentenced.
On any given day, you may find over 10,000 children cohabitating with grown-ups in adult prisons. Approximately 3,000 children nationwide have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Children as young as thirteen have been tried as adults and sentenced to die in prison, typically without any consideration of their age or circumstances of the offense (EJI, 2017). Many argue that this type of sentencing is unethical since these young individuals are not fully developed mentally to understand the significance or full consequences of their actions.
Every juvenile who commits a severe crime should be tried as an adult. Juveniles should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Most kids that are 15 and older are the ones committing the worse crimes, by that age they should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Every person in the world should be able to think before they do, being able to think before you do will help you understand what you're doing and help you understand the difference in between both the good and the bad. The parents of the juveniles should also understand that some crimes are severe and have severe punishments. Juveniles need to know that
In the article, ¨Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crime,¨ by Marjie Lundstrom explains that if kids/teens should be in prison for a crime. The crime kids commit depends on how big the crime really is then they should should be called adults. In the article there was examples of cases that kids commit of a twelve year old girl Lionel Tate who beat to death a six-year-old girl. Now Lionel will be charged as an adult and a first degree murder. Adolescent don't know what they get into until they commit the crime in jail they will be treated the same way as an adult. Sometimes they will regret it because they aren't teens no more they won't be able to do normal things anymore, no more toys, playing with friends their conscious won't be the
Studies show that in modern day murder is punishable by a life sentence in jail with or without parole or can be punished with death sentencing. Grand Larceny is punishable by more than six months in jail and usually a fine. Homicide is punished with 30 to 85 years or life in jail. I think a kid should be tried differently because if they get sentenced to life in jail they will be in jail usually way longer than an adult would because of the difference in age. Children learn when they are young, they do not know right from wrong because they haven't had much experience in the world like adults have so how will they be able to learn and be helped if they are locked
If a juvenile, over fourteen has the ability and willingness to commit a violent crime they should be tried and punished as an adult. A fourteen year old knows right from wrong. He (or she) is able to tell whether they are committing a crime. If a juvenile is mature enough to commit an adult crime, they should be treated as an adult, and punished justly according to the adult law. The difference in age in two people should not determine their punishment if they have committed the same crime under the same or similar pretenses.
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
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