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Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults Essay

499 Words2 Pages

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. “After being arrested in Ohio at 17, Callahan was sentenced to a long sentence for a drug conviction. However, he gained early release after more than a decade in prison, and less than two years later, Callahan murdered his ex-girlfriend and her two young children,” says William G. Otis, a former federal prosecutor and now a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, …show more content…

“The high court’s rulings also took into account new scientific research, including findings that the areas of the brain that deal with decision making, impulsiveness, and consequences are often not fully developed until people are in their 20s,” says Carl Stoffers, publisher of Article Juvenile Justice, Scholastic. Even though people under 20’s brains are not developed, they still make bad decisions, and we cannot speed up the process of development or control them so they do not. They still made that decision and are fully responsible, then they will think twice before committing a crime because they will know that there is a harsh punishment that will encounter them. Juveniles should be completely responsible for the crimes that they themselves make and must go to an adult criminal court of

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People argue that some juveniles are “too young and they don’t understand” but either way, they still broke the law and should be fairly punished. A fact stating “There are approximately 6,000 juveniles in adult jails and prisons in the United States” shows that people who have broken the law with felonies have been confined by law, no matter the age. People need to learn before they act in a similar manner, again. A similar case is a boy named Craig Price from Rhode Island who had committed multiple felonies, such as four murders and was charged as a minor, meaning he was arrested around age 16 and would get out and have his criminal record sealed at age 21. Because of this, a law was changed so that juveniles could be tried as adults with serious crimes.

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This doesn’t mean adolescents can’t make rational decisions, but it does mean that they are more likely to act impulsively. Juvenile offenders should not be tried as adults because they lack the ability to fully comprehend their actions, and this process of conviction does not encourage adolescents to become functional members of society.

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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.

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In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that it is immoral to give juveniles life sentences, even if they commit a crime as serious as murder, because it is a cruel and unusual punishment. This has been an issue in America as teenagers are often treated as adults in court due to a belief that their crimes warrant a harsh punishment. Many believe that these kids should not be given such major sentences because they are still immature and do not have the self control that adults do. I agree that juveniles do not deserve life sentences because they put less thought and planning into these crimes and they often are less malicious than adults. The article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” explains that the teenagers lose brain tissue that is responsible for self control and impulses (Thompson 7).

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According to, “Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?” it states that,”Most young offenders do not become adult criminals. But when we punish them as adults, we change those odds.” This tells us that the young offenders learn their mistakes but if tried as an adult and punished as if the minor was an adult, then the outcome of it could be much worse. The article also states that their education and future employment chances are marked worse.

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Nothing changes on one's 18th birthday that merits them a different sentence for their crimes than adults. Critics argue that teenagers have recently become more aware of the consequences of their actions through better education and more access to information from the internet (Goldmark et al Newton). Many teens now understand the severity of murder, being young doesn't immediately make someone incapable of understanding murder or how to kill someone. Age should not define and alter a juvenile's sentencing rules from adults, especially if they have the same or similar understanding of murder as adults. Despite having many leading factors to criminal activity, many are still punished for their crimes, if juveniles don't share that same treatment, then "not enough is being done to serve justice" (Goldmark et al Newton).

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Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain's rational part. The Information shows that a juveniles brain still isn't fully developed so when juveniles commit serious crimes they are still not aware of what their consequences might be. Clearly this shouldnt be used in every case. Court rooms should go case by case and use a fair justice system to penalize them for their actions.

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When teen felons choose to act without thinking, they are putting other people’s lives at risk. They need to be charged as adults because the victims of the crimes will not be given the justice they deserve when they have to worry about that criminal harming them again. Although some people think that sending a juvenile through adult court gives them no hope, they should have given this a little thought before committing the crime. Teens need to think about the consequences and how their actions affect others before they act. When choosing between putting a violent adolescent in prison and taking the chance of letting them commit that crime again, it is most suitable to let the teen be tried as an adult and to place them in prison.

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The criminal justice system was created in order to punish people who choose to break the law. Some people believe they are above the law and decided to do whatever they like regardless of the consequences. Children and adults are both responsible for the actions they commit. The criminal justice should tried children as adults for committing felonies because a crime is a crime regardless of the age of the individual. This can be fulfilled by punishing juvelives with the correct sentence, by seeing that they know their actions lead to consequence and they have the proper process for a teen to be tried as adult.

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Children as young as 14 can be tried as an adult for a harsh crime . If a young adult commits a crime they should be tried as an adult

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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

Those in favor of trying juveniles as adults believe that it deters and minimizes crimes being committing by all minors. That trying juveniles as adults will bring the greatest good to the most amount of people. According to an article posted by the American Bar Association by Nicole Scialabba, “the increase in laws that allow more juveniles to be prosecuted in adult court rather than juvenile court was intended to serve as a deterrent for rising youth violent crime.” It is no secret that youth commit crimes in our society. In 2014, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made an estimated 1 million arrests of persons under age 18 (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention).

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1291 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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Juvenile Justice Should juveniles get treated as adults that’s one of the biggest controversy in our nation now days, with many juveniles committing crimes that are inconceivable according to their age. Judges have the last word on how to treat this young people. Many people argue that “the teens that are under eighteen are only kids, they won’t count them as young adults, not until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager this people are to call them adults” (Lundstrom 87). This is why people can’t come to a decision as how these young people should be treated like.

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Can you imagine waking up behind closed walls and bars? Waking up to see your inmate who is a 45-year-old bank robber and you are a 14-year-old minor who made a big mistake. This is why minors who have committed crimes should not be treated the same as adults. Some reasons are because the consequences given to minors in adult court would impact a minor’s life in a negative way. If a minor is tried through a juvenile court, they have a greater chance of rehabilitation.

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