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Explain Why Teenagers Should Not Be Tried As Adults

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It is well known that teenagers are generally reckless and incompetent. When it comes to violent crimes, when should a teenager be tried as an adult? When a person turns eighteen, they are considered an adult and face the same responsibilities and consequences. They must be able to make their own decisions. Minors accused of violent crimes should not be tried and sentenced as adults due to their childlike behavior and instead should be remanded in juvenile hall until they reach the age of eighteen. Under the law, any person under the age of eighteen is considered a minor- not an adult. Minors are usually oblivious to the consequences of their actions mainly because of their undeveloped brains (Holloway 2). Many teens who are tried and sentenced as adults are not yet fully capable of knowing their consequences to the crimes they commit. From an excerpt from the article entitled “Should 11-year-olds Be Charged with Adult Crimes”, it is stated that in order for there to be a crime, there has to be a “guilty act” and a “guilty mind”, also known as “criminal intent” (Holloway 2). However, common law has found that children are not …show more content…

Therefore, they cannot be held accountable for their actions in court as an adult. In addition, it is scientifically determined that the brain of a human is not fully developed until their mid 20s (Holloway 2). How then is it possible to blame the actions of a child who does not have ability to distinguish right from wrong? Most children are taught about morals and some are not.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

The article, “The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons” written by Jessica Lahey states, “Juveniles constitute 1,200 of the 1.5 million people housed in federal and state prisons in this country, and nearly 200,000 youth enter the adult criminal-justice system each year, most for non-violent crimes.” Minors should not be tried as adults because their brains are not developed, they may come from bad backgrounds, and they have their whole life ahead of them, and their life should not be determined by the mistakes they made as a child. Juveniles who are usually 14 or older who have committed serious crimes are tried as adults and are put into adult-state prisons. This is inhumane and unsafe for the child’s physical and mental health. One of the many reasons that minors should not be tried as adults is because their brains are not fully developed, so they cannot make good decisions until they are older, far into their twenties.

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988 Words | 4 Pages

In British Columbia, the juvenile justice system accepts offenders ages 12 and 18 because this system believes that since their brain is not fully developed, there is a good chance that they can learn from their mistakes and gain more awareness about the consequences and how they can affect you in the long term. In certain cases, if the crime committed is very serious, the judge can decide whether or not they should be tried as an adult, even if still a minor. For example, in this book the judge wanted Richard tried as an adult since Sasha was left in horrendous conditions. This example should have been laid out in a different way, no minor should be put in adult confinement no matter the crime since adult confinements are much more intense and violent than juvenile confinements. Teenagers and youth should not be introduced to the violence held in these confinements since it can create new bad habits that can more so affect their life and make it worse whether then rehabilitation which is the main focus in juveniles.

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157 Words | 1 Pages

1. Do children/juvenile have the capacity to understand the consequences of their crimes? Are the children/ juveniles able to be rehabilitated? Answer: Juveniles are between the ages of fifteen years and seventeen years of age. So, no they should not be tried as an adult because they are not eighteen years of age.

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505 Words | 3 Pages

Juveniles Should Not Be Tried For Violent Crimes Imagine a boy living a part of their life in a prison. Every day they must follow orders from someone of higher ranking than them. Life is harsh in an adult prison. Juveniles are tried as adults for violent crimes in several states.

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847 Words | 4 Pages

Juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults. First, they are too young to understand and to perceive the problem. Second, the punishment is too harsh for juveniles to handle. Lastly, we should give them a chance to change as they still are young and be able to change. Would you put your kids in jail for the crime that they cause at the age of developing, the age of teenagers?

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547 Words | 3 Pages

For these reasons, this is why juveniles should be tried as an adult, regardless of the situation that led them to do it. Teenagers that commit a crime such as murder, robbery, or beating up someone

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1250 Words | 5 Pages

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

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649 Words | 3 Pages

Juveniles are different than adults obviously, but they should know from right and wrong at this point. “Kids are kids-until they commit crimes” written by Marjie Lundstrom says this, “Until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager we are to call them adults.” The point she makes here is that they are kids up until they commit a crime they are viewed as young adults not kids anymore but young adults. “We’ve created this image that teenagers are something to be feared.”

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout American history, anyone who has committed a crime has the right to a trial by jury. However, in recent years, youths have become a major issue in the legal justice system. The problem is that youths are being tried as adults instead of juveniles, regardless of their age. The practice of charging youths and adults have drastically increased throughout the years which is costing states a lot of money and this method has lots of inadequacies for youths to learn from their mistakes and from committing another crime. Even though juveniles, who commit heinous crimes, should be tried for their wrongdoing, they should not be charged as adults and they should receive different treatments than adults.

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964 Words | 4 Pages

As people might argue that teens should not be tried as adults because they are only children and they do not realize their actions;

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1777 Words | 8 Pages

When should juvenile offenders be tried as an adult This is important topic because juvenile that commit bad crimes such as rape, murders and robbery should be tried Juvenile offenders should be tried as an adult at the age of 14 teen years old. A child at 14 is old enough to know right from wrong, and if they commit a crime at the age of 14 then they should go thought a adult court and be tried as an adult .If you're a juvenile and you committed a serious enough crime you can be can be tried charged as an adult ."if

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1160 Words | 5 Pages

Juveniles should be tried as adults due to being aware of their crimes and having an intention to kill, however, brain development and maturity can play a role into the reason why teens kill. With being tried as an adult juveniles should be granted the opportunity of freedom pending on their rehabilitation status and if requirements are not met, convicts will have to complete the remainder of their sentence. People have long argued that juveniles who commit a murder should not be tried as an adult due the juvenile not being aware of their crime. Awareness, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is “the knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists”. Having the perception to comprehend the occurrence of an event is not a dumbfounded characteristic.

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1979 Words | 8 Pages

Those in favor of trying juveniles as adults believe that it deters and minimizes crimes being committing by all minors. That trying juveniles as adults will bring the greatest good to the most amount of people. According to an article posted by the American Bar Association by Nicole Scialabba, “the increase in laws that allow more juveniles to be prosecuted in adult court rather than juvenile court was intended to serve as a deterrent for rising youth violent crime.” It is no secret that youth commit crimes in our society. In 2014, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made an estimated 1 million arrests of persons under age 18 (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention).

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964 Words | 4 Pages

Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Teenagers are not perfect, and their irrational behavior can lead to poor decisions that could potentially be dangerous and unlawful. A debate has now occurred for many years that deals with the issue of sentencing teens that have committed serious crimes such as murder and robbery. Many people argue that if juveniles commit these crimes that their punishment should be equal to an adults punishment for serious crimes, but juveniles shouldn’t have to worry about their lives getting ruined. Most juveniles and teenagers do not have enough maturity to survive in the adult prison system, and recent brain development research shows us that teenagers brains are not even close to being finished developing. Therefore, teenagers and youth under the age of eighteen should

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