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Argument Essay: Putting Children In Jail

788 Words4 Pages

When Nathaniel Brazil killed his favorite teacher, he received a life without parole sentence even though he was 12 years old when he committed this crime. Is this fair? I believe, no! I agree with the majority of Supreme Court Justices that juveniles, ages 17 and under, should not receive a life sentence without parole, even if it is mandatory. Youth and/or children are always known to be human beings who most likely act without thinking about the consequences. Authorities don’t understand how putting a child in jail can affect them emotionally and can even affect what type of adults they will become in the future. They don’t know the scientific evidence for how a juvenile delinquent’s brain is not fully developed. Putting children in jail for that much amount of time is inhumane and just plain unfair. …show more content…

For example, in the article “Kids are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes”, in paragraph 4 & 5, it 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.” I chose this example because I believe that it shows that people are easily convinced that if a juvenile commits a crime, they are branded as an adult. This is unfair. How are they suppose to fix what they did wrong if everyone jumps to conclusions? They simply can’t. Another example that I find useful is found in the same article, in paragraph 8 & 9 where it states “You want to throw the adult book at kids? Fine, says Democratic state Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston. Lower the voting age to fourteen.” This statement is a perfect example of what unfairness is. Why should juvenile’s suffer consequences like an adult, if they can’t even live or act like one in their daily lives? Or in this case, can’t even vote. I believe that the authorities do not care about what happens to a child when they receive an unreasonable

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Most of these offenders are now adults and have spent most of their life in the same place. These people could have went to college and become something, like a doctor, chef, and so much more, but instead they were left sitting in a cell. These children are in the midst of still growing and learning. They need to learn from their mistakes not just sit on them their whole life. The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth states that more than eighty percent of juveniles serving life have had a past that reflected their choices.

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Should a twelve year old like Nathaniel Brazill who killed his teacher when he made him angry be locked up in prison for the rest of his life? I do not agree with the statement that teenagers that commit a murder should get life without parole in prison. I do not agree with this because it is unfair to everybody not just the victim. Obviously if someone commits a murder the rightful thing to do would be to pay for their mistakes, but in most cases like in Nathaniel Brazil’s the victim did not deserve to be murdered, but the murder had no self control either. Everybody should be more considering about people because you never know what they go through at home, it’s not an excuse for what they have done, but to understand why.

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Juveniles Justice Juveniles who are criminals being sentenced to life without parole can be shocking to some people. I believe if a juvenile is able to commit a crime, then they are able to do the time. The article “Startling finds on Teenage Brains” talks about how the brain can be different from the time you are teens to the time you are an adult. After, considering both sides on juvenile justice it is clear that juveniles should face life without parole because they did the crime so they can do the time. Also I believe the juvenile’s age should not influence the sentence and the punishment give.

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