Some juvenile cases can be transferred to adult court through a process called "waiver”. Usually juvenile cases that are subject to waiver involve more serious crimes and incidents.. Although being tried as an adult has its pros and cons. A juvenile being tried as an adult has more constitutional protections then a juvenile case. However there is more potential for a more severe sentence and the possibility of serving time in an adult correctional facility.
The Supreme Court ruled that the eighth amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment means that juvenile offenders who haven't been convicted of murder shouldn't be sentenced to life in prison without any chance of parole. Some say that juvenile offenders who commit heinous crimes should receive the same consequences as adults. However, it could also be argued that it is unjust for minors to face the same consequences as adults, when they are not alloted with the same privileges as adults. Adolescents are not allowed to drink, drive, or get married. Minors are not given such privileges because many of them do not have the life experience to consistently make well-processed decisions.
Juveniles take up a large percentage of prisons in the U.S. every year with some having long adult sentences. According to njjn.org 250,000 juniors under the age of 18 are charged in an adult court and sentenced to prison with an adult sentence. Many states still allow kids as young as ten to be tried in an adult court with a jury rather than be in a juvenile court without one. Adult prison sentences are too harsh for juveniles. There are many different crimes that can put a junior in an adult court.
Why are juvenile being tried as an adult?Ever since 1990 and 2010 many juveniles have been tried as an adult and been sent to adult jails or prisons. Some minors are transferred from a juvenile facilities to the adult system but when they are transferred,juveniles must be separated from any adult inmate and not interact with them. However,some states either refuse to follow those laws or stated that they will comply only to stall on progress. Juveniles that are being held in the adult system at a young age can have a lot bad experience there. There might be some things that made a juvenile being tried as an adult like how they committed an act of violence,if one of their family member are in prison or jail and had maybe been influenced by them,how their background surrounding is,or the people they hang out with.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States Supreme Court issued a number of decisions that expanded the rights of children in juvenile court proceedings. The Court began extending due process rights to juveniles in Kent v. United States. The Court no longer accepted the premise that children should not have constitutional rights because of the special nature of the juvenile court. According to the Kent Court, "the child receives the worst of both worlds: that he or she gets neither the protections given to adults nor the solicitous care and regenerative treatment postulated for children" "(Kent v. United States 383 U.S. 541 (1966)", 2015, para 35).
I do not think it’s a good idea to incarcerate juveniles because there is a large amount of evidence that shows the negative effects this has on the juvenile. This incarceration can stunt their growth not only physically but also mentally. There is also evidence that shows that incarcerating juveniles can cause them to become more criminal. However I also believe that it is important to create a safe community for everyone.
In 2020, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. estimated that they made 424,300 arrests of people under the age of 18. Juveniles can be as dangerous as adult criminals and should be tried as adults in a criminal court of law. If juveniles do not receive harsh punishments, such as a year-long sentence, they may continue to commit more crimes, potentially escalating the severity of their offenses. Therefore, it is important that juveniles are tried as adults in a criminal court of law. Juveniles should be tried as adults in a criminal court of law because they are just as dangerous as adult criminals, and maybe even worse.
Life Over the years minors are being sentenced as adults and sent to adult prisons, however they should be juveniles should be tried as adults because they committed adult like crimes and they need to be punished for it and spend the rest of their life behind bars just as the saying goes “you commit the crime now you do the time. Minors should be charged as adults based on the crime they commit.minors should not be tried as adults because of their size and will not fit in with adult inmates.if a minor takes another person 's life they owe that person family their life.minors should go to adult prisons so it can sink in there little brains what they have done.minors who take a life should be
Children are not adults and will never be. Even if they need to be punished when an illegal act is done, David Berger, attorney and Amnesty International’s researcher for this report, said that children still can change their lives and their future for the better even if they have committed crimes. To try them as adults could affect their future in a really bad way, and that’s why I think that juveniles should not be tried as adults when they are judged for a crime because of a possible lack of judgement from the children’s part, a facility to be influenced by others and because it does not reduce the number of crime made by children. Laurence Steinberg, professor of psychology at Temple University noted that children around nine years old have the capacity for intentional behavior and can understand the difference between right and wrong, which proves that children that age can be hold responsible for a bad conduct. However, according to Ruben Gur, neuroscientist of the University of Pennsylvania, the part of the brain that is use to control unprompted behavior only starts to mature at seventeen years old.
Admittedly, in the United States, there are a large number of inmates currently on death row that have a psychological disorders due to correctional institutions programs. In the article, Death Row Inmate Characteristics, Adjustment, and Confinement: A Critical Review of the Literature by Mark D. Cunningham and Mark P. Vigen (2002) conducted a study to review research on death row inmates and the long-term effects of being incarcerated while waiting on death row. Additionally, the authors examined research on juvenile offenders on death row in the United States, finding that juvenile offenders are mostly executed around the age of 17 years old. According to, the study conducted the authors that argue “Approximately 70% of juvenile offenders
Dear Ms. Reader, I hope this letter finds you in well. I want to discuss Juveniles being charged as an adult under certain circumstances. Juveniles are individuals under the legal age for routine criminal prosecution, while in some cases these minors could be sentenced with an adult charge. I want to discuss the relevance and consequences of charging children who commit big crimes with these charges. The significance of the crime, as well as its impact on the defendant's family and themselves, must be considered.
This means that ones they killed somebody and they can get out from it, they’ll see that other’s life ain’t precious. In their mind, they’ll think that every time they do a crime they can just get out from it again. In addition, juveniles should be treated like adults when they commit any crime because they will learn from it and regret what they’ve done. In the article “Study: Throwing Kids in Jail Makes Crime Worse, Ruins Lives” it’s stated that “Young offenders who were incarcerated were a staggering 67% more likely to be in jail again by the age of 25 than similar offender who didn’t go in prison.”
For these reasons, critics of juvenile court system maintain strongly that the judicial system should ensure and put in place a uniform sentencing structure similar to adult courts for young offenders. Evidently, they revealed that imposing minimum sentencing for juveniles has been so far ineffective deterrent. Furthermore, the court has failed in its rehabilitation mission. Furthermore, according to critics, it could also be said that, there is strong evidence juvenile offenders commit crimes with malicious aforethought.
The justice system is extremely different for juveniles and adults. Different rules apply to adults that don’t for juveniles. Minorities in the justice system aren’t treated the same as adults in the justice system. They do have some similarities such as the right to an attorney, the right to cross examine and confront the witnesses against you, and the right not to incriminate yourself. However, they still have their ways they treat adults and ways they treat juveniles.
In our society, crimes are being committed not only by adults but by juveniles as well. By law as soon as a person turns 18 they are considered to be an adult. So what if an adult and a juvenile were to commit the same crime yet were sentenced differently simply based on the fact that one is a child and one is an adult? Juveniles are committing violent crimes just as adults and should be given the equal treatment and sentencing as adults receive. Juveniles aren’t completely ignorant as everyone seems to think.
