Explain Why Juveniles Should Not Be Tried As Adults

1250 Words5 Pages

“I, personally, am not willing to send anyone but the worst criminals to jail, because I do not believe in judicial rape. The punishment does not fit the crime”- Ian Welsh (Cognitive Dissonance). Everyday teens are being tried as adults and are going to adult prison with life sentences. Teens who haven't even lived a third of their life yet, are about to spend the rest of their life in prison getting rapped on the daily, are suffering from mental trauma, and being brutally beaten by prison gang members. All this can be avoided if it wasn't so easy for teens to be tried as adults. In the juvenile system teens would receive numerous amounts of help, to help them mature and hopefully get them released when they turn 18. Teenagers 18 and younger accused of violent crimes should not be tried and sentenced as adults because …show more content…

Teenegers who are tried as adults and are put into an adult prison, are opened to all types of physical abuse. In prison they’re vulnerable to rape from inmates and officers as well as gang attacks. Philip Holloway, reporter for CNN, states the difference in rape abuse between juvenile and adult prison. “These are kids who are five times more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted than in juvenile facilities. The risk of suicide is likewise much higher for juveniles in adult jails.” (Holloway). Teenagers are at a much higher risk of getting rapped in an adult prison rather than the juvenile prison. Dayana Gomez, reporter for Huffington Post, reports the higher rape rate in adult prisons. “Youth are also five times more likely to experience sexual assault in adult prisons versus juvenile facilities” (Gomez). T.J. Parsell, human rights activist, talks about a 17