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Life Sentences For Juveniles Essay

1300 Words6 Pages

Jett Ellis
Ms. Geoghegan
English 10A
25 January 2023
Murders the only reason why Juveniles should not be given life sentences if they have a chance at being rehabilitated, like if they are a repeat murderer they deserve the life sentences but if they aren’t severe major crimes related multiple times they deserve a second chance at a good life. In the articles I have read there are many examples of evidence in why they don’t deserve a life sentence and they deserve a second chance at life. The sources used are (source A) “Remember the Victims of Juvenile Offenders” (Bishop-Jenkins) as well as (Source B) “Do Juvenile Killers Deserve Life Behind Bars?” (Totenberg) as well as “Justices Bar mandatory life terms for juveniles” source C Juveniles …show more content…

But there are rare cases when older teens demonstrate heinousness and culpability and carry out truly Horrific crimes. For those few a couple years of detention and programs are not enough. These individuals can be appropriately tried as adults. They need to grow older before release. They need long term evaluation to see if they will ever be able to rejoin society. And we should not rule out a sentence of life without parole in extreme cases. We must balance the victims’ families’ right to some legal inality with the likelihood that the offender will ever qualify for release. It’s a sad fact that some sociopaths start young and remain dangerous all their lives.” (Bishop Hankins) (Source A). This quote perfectly exemplifies how the vast majority of young people only need juvenile to rehab them to get them to the point where they can rejoin society. But in rare cases they commit heinous actions that deserve a life sentence but that is what this article entails, young people do not deserve life sentences unless they commit a Obscure crime. The people of America have to trust that the juvenile system can rehabilitate the majority of these kids who commit crimes and if it cannot then unfortunately they deserve a life away from society. A life sentence . This quote makes the whole argument that Juveniles do not deserve life sentences unless they cannot be rehabilitated to a point where they can join life again and if they cannot they deserve a life sentence but it takes time like it said in the article they need to grow older and develop so we can

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It also has to be taken into consideration that children who commit these crimes should not be placed with adults as it will severely hurt their rehabilitation. In the article Juvenile Justice: Can Young Criminals Be Reformed? On Commonlit and Written by Carl Stoffers published by The New York Times Upfront December 11, 2017. This article mentions Noah Schultz, a teen who moved out of an adult jail to a juvenile center "Most of my clients had never heard of life imprisonment without parole and had no capacity to appreciate what it would mean," (Stoffers 35-36).

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The article “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” argues that children in prison need to be given a chance to mature and be rehabilitated (Garinger 9). Because these killers likely committed these crimes on impulse, they would often realize after the fact that they were wrong to do such an action. Therefore, when they are released, they will be more careful and think about their actions before committing. If they are given a life sentence, they will never be given this chance to fix their life. Older people who commit murders are less likely to learn from their mistakes since they put more thought into the killing than adolescents

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They say this because if the juvenile courts are accommodating than the minors may not understand the severity of their actions opposed to if they were to be put through a one-size-fits-all method that they may respond better. However, if minors are tried in juvenile court it may be more effective. They should do this because there they can be given methods of rehabilitation that may help them. In conclusion, juveniles should not be treated the same as adults when it comes to committing crimes so that they have a better chance to rehabilitate. Minors should not be treated the same as adults when it comes to committing crimes.

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