Comparison Of Punishment And Teen Killers

“An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.” In this day and age children have seem to lost the views on what is right and what is wrong. As a result, these “children” are willing to do things that someone five years older than them wouldn't even dream of doing. All the while, many adults are less likely to punish said children as severely as someone five years or older than them. This includes a majority of the members of the Supreme Court, who view life in prison to be a cruel and unjust punishment when enforced upon children who have committed heinous crimes such as, but not limited to, murder or rape. I for one stand with the minority. Quite frankly not sentencing a murderer to life is rather idiotic, even if they're under 18. When a crime

Jennifer Jenkins, author of the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers”, emphasizes on the effective that murder has on the victim's family and friends. “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to the victim’s family... Some never recover.” Sometimes all the victims family wants is to see the ones responsible for the crime punished. Removing life in prison from being a punishment on a child murderer will stop this from happening.

Next comes logic. If a child is willing to harm another and even take the other person's life they should be treated as if it was an adult who committed it. Jenkins also states, “We in America have to own this particular problem, with weapons so easily available to our you and the violence-loving culture in which we raised them.” Violence appears in every medium of entertainment. And yet, we deny that it's a cause of juvenile delinquency. This shows our lack of willingness to admit the flaws within our society. And even more so shows how lenient we are on

So they may commit a crime while not realizing that they have committed said crime. Marjie Lundstrom, writer of the article “Kids are Kids - Until They Commit Crimes”, mentions a case involving a 15 year old boy who stabbed a mini mart Clerk to death. “He was mimicking a television program about little girls who rob a bank.” If this is true, then perhaps television is the culprit. And maybe instead of punishment, we should just censor tv.

Life in prison is, without a doubt, not only a fair punishment but a just one as well. Granting juvenile delinquents who have committed murder a lesser punishment gives them the chance to go back to the streets. It allows them to commit more crimes. Perhaps even murder another victim possibly your child. Even though the Supreme Court has made their decision, it does not mean that it is a correct