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Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults

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Juveniles Should Not Be Tried as Adults
In February of 2009, police found the body of “twenty-six year old Kenzie Houk... with a bullet in her head” (Chen). The murder suspect: eleven year old Jordan Brown, her future step-son. At the time, Jordan was an energetic, little fifth-grader. He was just like any other boy. He loved riding his bike, reading Harry Potter, playing football, and spending the weekends hunting with his dad. Jordan was always smiling, and he never showed any violent behavior in the past. Now, if Jordan is convicted as an adult, he might face life in prison without the chance of parole. He was only eleven, and his attorneys said he still does not fully understand what he did or the trial process he has to go through now …show more content…

Juveniles are still in the process of growing up and finding where they belong. If they spend this time growing up in prison, then the influences around them will not be positive. Hayden, who had received a 3.7 GPA in high school and was on his high school wrestling team, is now serving four and a half years in prison, and his father said, “If he[Hayden] was in the right kind of environment, he would have a real chance of straightening out his life and going forward” (Villa). It is hard to know if a juvenile is truly going to change, but research by the Human Rights Watch suggests, “children are in the process of growing up. … Their forming identities make young offenders excellent candidates for rehabilitation- they are far more able than adults to learn new skills, find new values, and re embark on a better, law-abiding life” (“Minors Are Not…”). Juveniles can rehabilitate from their mistakes and change their lives. They may need a little help to change, but the help and resource they need are not found in prisons. Sentencing juveniles as adults causes them to lose hope in their future. It makes these teens feel as though they can never accomplish anything in the future because of their one mistake; however, that is far from the truth. Juveniles can still choose to turn their lives

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The article, “The Steep Costs of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons” written by Jessica Lahey states, “Juveniles constitute 1,200 of the 1.5 million people housed in federal and state prisons in this country, and nearly 200,000 youth enter the adult criminal-justice system each year, most for non-violent crimes.” Minors should not be tried as adults because their brains are not developed, they may come from bad backgrounds, and they have their whole life ahead of them, and their life should not be determined by the mistakes they made as a child. Juveniles who are usually 14 or older who have committed serious crimes are tried as adults and are put into adult-state prisons. This is inhumane and unsafe for the child’s physical and mental health. One of the many reasons that minors should not be tried as adults is because their brains are not fully developed, so they cannot make good decisions until they are older, far into their twenties.

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In Gail Garinger’s, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences,” she argues that juveniles have great potential in being able to change their lives for the better. Garinger starts off with the superpredator theory which involves kids who will commit crimes in groups, and in response, laws were made to easily try kids as adults in court. Even with the superpredator prediction never coming true, the laws that were made still exist. Garinger then moves on to describing how teens are different than adults in many different aspects. Garinger states, “As a former juvenile court judge, I have seen first hand the enormous capacity of children to change and turn themselves around” (Garinger par.

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In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, who is an attorney, guides us through his life in Alabama and how he helps defend innocent, poor people and children on death row who were wrongly convicted. Nearly 44,000 youth are incarcerated in juvenile justice facilities. Currently an estimated 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year across the United States. While some may argue that young adult offenders should be tried and punished as adults to ensure that their actions do not reoccur, the United States Justice Systems should implement rehabilitation and less harsh punishments for younger offenders to fully develop and mature.

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970 Words | 4 Pages

Many people complain about how juveniles lack brain development and this should be an excuse. It makes others uncertain about trying them as adults since they lack decision-making and impulse control. Despite the lack of development, it’s ideal to recognize that for certain violent crimes, “there have to be consequences to actions” (Ford). Allowing juveniles to simply avoid adult punishment doesn’t help to promote public safety or give adolescents the responsibility they need in the future. But most people believe that juveniles still have room for rehabilitation and change.

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Teenagers committing a serious crime is something dangerous out the world, having them being tried as adults when they aren’t even fully developed only shows how corrupted the systems

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They May Seem Young But Not Always Throughout recent years in the United States there has been several homicide cases involving juveniles under the age of eighteen. At such a young and rather undeveloped age, they are considered as minors however, in the eyes of the justice system nearly all are punished as adult victims and given life imprisonment without parole. These decisions have unintentionally ignited a dreadful controversial debate across America.

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847 Words | 4 Pages

Juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults. First, they are too young to understand and to perceive the problem. Second, the punishment is too harsh for juveniles to handle. Lastly, we should give them a chance to change as they still are young and be able to change. Would you put your kids in jail for the crime that they cause at the age of developing, the age of teenagers?

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547 Words | 3 Pages

In many cases throughout the world, there has always and will be a controversial argument whether a “kid” should be trialed as an adult or not. The Supreme court has to take into action, whether the case was severe and how they will punish the teenager for whatever crime they committed. In, my opinion I highly agree that juveniles should be tried as adults no matter how old they are because they were aware of their actions and knew exactly what they were doing at the moment. Even, though some people might think otherwise, like they’re just ‘kids” and don’t know from right or wrong. Honestly, this is so, absurd because you can’t be that idiotic to not know what you’re doing.

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Should juveniles be charged as adults In the novel Monster, Steve is charged with the murder of Mr. Nesbit. When Steve is sixteen years old, he is tried as an adult. He is still in a time of development which is from twelve to seventeen years old. The same goes with many other juveniles guilty or not there are being tried as adults, and treated like them.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

Juveniles should be trialed as adults because they cannot commit more crime when they are in jail, hey cannot commit worse crimes, and itm is safer for the community. I think that juveniles who are under 18 should get trialed as adults. In 2012 the supreme court ruled that Juveniles under the age of 18 can not receive a life sentence or be put to death without parole (lauck). But what if some one under 18 committed a crime that a 23 year old committed why should one get life or be put to death while the other one gets a smack on the wrist and gets away scot free, the under aged person can be just as bad as someone who is over 18.

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Imagine that you are 17 and assaulted or killed a person by accident. They have found you guilty and decided to put you in an adult institution with level 4 maximum security, which is very violent. How would you feel? This has happened to juveniles before, they were tried as adults and some sent to life in prison. Juveniles should be rehabilitated and given a second chance instead of being tried as an adult and placed in jail or sentenced to death because a kid’s brain has not yet fully developed and it could help make them a better person.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

We have seen today in society of how crime rates have been rampant and how statistics show that most of the crimes were being made by minors. I believe that when most of them look at the bottom of these young offenders come disproportionately from impoverished single-parent homes that are located in the neighbourhoods desinvertido and have high rates of learning disabilities, mental health, and substance abuse and problems with the help of the system of juvenile justice that can make a great return on a successful transition to adulthood. Their ages ranged from 20 and under, most are under fifteen years of age. Juveniles tried as adults must assume the same consequences as any other criminal and are subject to state prisons with inmates much higher and that have probably committed crimes much more tortuous then you could ever have. These minors between the ages of nine to twenty according to the offence committed or of the number of times that are prosecuted and believe that it is immutable.

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636 Words | 3 Pages

Juveniles in prison face increased violence and sexual abuse, and are at much higher risks of committing suicide than juveniles in juvenile prisons. In addition, the number of released prisoners that turn back to crime is much higher for those that were juveniles in adult prisons. Juveniles will face the consequences of their actions in juvenile prisons, but will also be given a second chance to change their lives through rehabilitation. It is time to stop failing this nation’s juveniles and build a system that benefits not only these children, but society as a whole through the end of a vicious criminal

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1160 Words | 5 Pages

Juveniles should be tried as adults due to being aware of their crimes and having an intention to kill, however, brain development and maturity can play a role into the reason why teens kill. With being tried as an adult juveniles should be granted the opportunity of freedom pending on their rehabilitation status and if requirements are not met, convicts will have to complete the remainder of their sentence. People have long argued that juveniles who commit a murder should not be tried as an adult due the juvenile not being aware of their crime. Awareness, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is “the knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists”. Having the perception to comprehend the occurrence of an event is not a dumbfounded characteristic.

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1979 Words | 8 Pages

In today’s world there are countless crimes committed every single day. “In 2015, there were 1.42 million total arrests, at a rate of 3,641 arrests per 100,000 residents” (State of California, Department of Justice). Grown adults are not the only people being arrested every year, there are also juveniles, children, being arrested every day. One topic of controversy today is whether or not juveniles who commit these crimes should be tried as adults in criminal court. There are many differences between the justice system for adults and the justice system for juveniles.

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