Teenage Juvenile Crimes

Adults push young people towards responsibility and fairness; trust in put upon adolescents to raise the economy and continue living with society’s morals for the sake of past and future generations. But then why does America lean towards harsh punishment without question when a minor commits a mistake? In the 1980s the U.S. experienced an increasing rate of adolescent committed crimes which led the justices on the Supreme Court to formulate difficult decisions on how to charge juvenile felons. The results was an increase in punishment, which led figures to see minors as adults in court and be sentenced with life without parole for heinous crimes like the taking of a human life-a crime that was punished with life without parole. However,

Teenagers absorb everything they see and hear one of the many reasonable answers as to why juvenile crime arose in northern Canada in 1980 when television was introduces to their culture. Peer pressure and new introductions make teenagers easy targets to addictions and actions they act out. The plasticity of young people’s brain could help explain the actions of Lionel Tate. Lionel tried to act out wrestling moves from his World Wrestling Federation heroes on a six-year-old girl. Unfortunately, his desire to simply act out moves turned into manslaughter. This significant effect of their development transition is one more reason why the legal system must ensure that teenagers are not held to the same responsibility as adults and sentenced justly, even to homicidal

The eight amendment is use to take into account a seriousness of the crime to make the sentence fit. In the case of Roper v. Simmons, Roper showed the Supreme Court significance of the adolescent brain when taking into account a child’s verdict of the death penalty-abolished at the end of this case. The Supreme Court taking into account their decision on Roper, the limitations set on teenagers and their difference in comparison to adults due to brain development saw life without parole to also be unconstitutional. In abolishing the death penalty for juveniles the Court should also consider abolishing life without parole because it is no better than the death penalty. Sentencing teenagers to life without the possibility of parole goes against human rights and the eight amendments by making the punishment cruel and unjust, because teenagers are not adults. Their immaturity, lack of responsibility, impulsive reactions, and brain plasticity make them vulnerable. Committing a heinous crime should not lead them to life without parole, rather to restoration. Their plasticity makes them perfect candidates for rehabilitation and the legal system should put these factors into account, because it is up to them to protect and execute the right justice for