Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults

Juvenile Justice System. As the years go on, the debate of whether or not juveniles should be tried as adults, or if they should be sentenced to life in prison seems to become more of a bigger issue everyday. Many believe that adolescents who commit heinous crimes should face consequences no matter the circumstances. Others however, find it unfair and argue that these young criminals have yet to fully mature, and due to their lack of brain development, should be tried as juvenile criminals. Personally, I believe that children are children. They make mistakes, as we all do, but I do not think that they should be given the same responsibility as adults when it comes to the criminal justice system, when we don’t give them the same rights as adults out in the real world. The lack of maturity can be a result of loss of brain tissue in the controlling impulses area of the brain in early teen years. (Sacramento Bee). Because of that, teens are more likely to have drive to take bigger risks, have less self- control, and have shorter tempers. With all the loss of brain tissue, juveniles have less of a conscious to keep them from committing a crime. Not only are these adolescents less mature, but often times research shows these young criminals to be victims of

I do believe they should face the consequences of their actions, but I think there can be changes in how we try these juveniles that do not involve life in prison, death sentence, etc. We need to take to consideration that these young criminals have yet to experience the real world. The bigger, more serious the crime is, the more anxious people are to agree to have the juvenile be tried as an adult (Sacramento Bee). Many believe that by forcing the adolescents to go the adult system, that we are preventing from any more violence, but they are more likely to become more violent than other adolescents who went through the juvenile system (Sacramento