In the past weeks, a court case from 2004 has gone viral. The case of Cyntoia Brown has recently gotten the attention of celebrities and petitioners across the United States. In 2004, 16 year old Cyntoia Brown was picked up by a man while she was working as a prostitute. When the man suddenly reached under the bed she grabbed her gun from her purse and shot and killed him. Before fleeing the scene she stole two guns and some money from the man’s house. Before Brown committed this tragic act she ran away from home and was forced into prostitution. Brown was abused mentally and physically and forced to do drugs. Brown was a child in a confused place and feared for her life and sadly this resulted in a murder. Brown was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced 51 years to life in prison. Brown will be eligible for parole when she is 69 years old (Ramsey, 2017). This case is a prime example of a juvenile tried as an adult in the criminal justice system that has left everyone questioning, was it the right thing to do? U.S. states want to try juvenile offenders as adults for two reasons, young offenders will receive harsher and more proportional sentences to their crimes in the adult criminal system and …show more content…
Courts focus on punish solely for adults found guilty of a crime while the juvenile court system focuses on rehabilitation. Incarceration is the most used form of punishment. Courts also use parole and probation as diversionary programs. Another difference between a juvenile and an adult is that juveniles are accused of delinquent acts and adults are accused of crimes. This is because the minor has believed to have committed an act of less serious nature. Juvenile cases are also decided by a judge instead having a public trial by jury (Hirby,