Andy was just 11 years old when he started hanging out with the teenage gang members in his neighborhood. They used him as a lookout when they wanted to sell drugs. One drug deal turned violent and two people were shot. This is how Andy ended up facing a charge of murder. Andy could just admit that he was there, testify against the others, and face a few years in juvenile detention. Otherwise, he would be transferred to adult court and if he was found guilty, he would spend a much longer time in detention and prison. He decided to take the risk and go to trial (Steinberg).
Trying juveniles as adults has always been a controversial topic to the public. There are many different statistics that show different percentages of juveniles being tried as adults. Many people would say that we should be protecting the children and not taking out vengeance on them and they are too young to take on such a weighty legal responsibility. If the child is old enough to commit the crime, then they should be punished for it. Several reasons explain why they should be tried like they will understand the
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Violent crimes receive the harshest punishments, and it is said that the same should carry forth and continue for children as well. Many people believe that the age factor is taken into consideration rather than focusing on the crime factor when it comes to the juvenile courts. This is the wrong approach because it does not focus on the main problem which is the crime that has been committed. It is also said that the juvenile courts do not aim to punish, they are just merely to guide and treat. This is believed to not serve any purpose because this no way guarantees there will be no crimes committed henceforth (Borkar). Eighteen is when a child is no longer considered a child so therefore the children that fall at the higher end of this range should be tried as an