How Does Jail Affect Young Adults

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If you are a parent, how would you like to watch your child grow up behind bars? If you are the child, imagine growing up behind bars for a mistake you once made. A courtyard in a college or high school differentiates a huge amount from a courtyard in a prison. America should raise the minimum age a juvenile can be tried as an adult to twenty-one because the prefrontal cortex in ages twenty-five and under is still developing, the behavior of young adults is not completely mature, and prison or jail has a tremendous amount of negative effects on young adults. “The front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, is remodelled last. The prefrontal cortex is the decision-making part of a brain” (Raising Children Network) . Due to this being underdeveloped, it leads to making poor and impulsive choices (RaisetheAge). This means that an adolescent can be paying time in prison for a choice that wasn’t completely thought out. Some people think that young adults are old enough to make their own decisions when they don’t have a clue with what is going on in young adults brains. During the process of your prefrontal cortex developing, your brain has something that scientists call grey matter which weakens the strength and connections of the brain …show more content…

“The back-to-front development of the brain explains why behavior sometimes seems immature, illogical, or impulsive. Teenagers are working with brains that are still under construction ” (Raising Children Network). This way of behavior, leads up to minor crimes that harm the lives of future adults. Studies show that the older a person gets, the more likely they are to grow out of negative actions (Raising Children Network), and by raising the age to 21 adolescents would have more time to develop . We expect young adults to be mature and make the right decision. Yet, their brains are not physically capable to do