Children are not Adults The controversial issue of juvenile crime is a frequently intangible topic. Naturally, most people find the idea of a young child committing a severe crime very appalling, as no one expects a wide-eyed child to engage in such a heinous act of misconduct. In the essay “Adult Crime, Adult +30Time”, Linda J. Collier affirms that children who engage in adult conduct should undoubtedly be sent to an adult prison (Collier 608). Clearly, a child should be penalized for a corrupt act such as murder, but, Ms. Collier’s solution is considerably harsh for a child of such a young age. In the order of criminal justice, a young child should certainly not be disciplined in the same manner as an adult. The immaturity of children, harshness of adult prisons, and the ability of juvenile prisons to efficiently rehabilitate child offenders are a few reasons why young children should not be sent to adult prisons. …show more content…
In “Should Juvenile Offenders Be Tried as Adults,” psychologist Laurence Steinberg poses the point that it is logically impossible to make the age of the offender irrelevant when analyzing criminal justice policy. The approach that is taken when implementing laws should lawfully be altered when the case at hand concerns a defendant whose knowledge of the law is limited by intellectual immaturity (Steinberg 602). Unlike adults, young children are not capable of fully recognizing the concept of “right and wrong.” For example, an