Analysis Of Startling Finds On Teenage Brains By Thompson

Thompson, in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” (2001) claims that teenagers should not be tried as adults after committing a crime because their brains are not fully developed. In this article Thompson supports all of his ethos claims by using logos and real facts that have been cited, this gives him the title to an author who uses the strongest ethos. In Thompson’s article he talks about a child named Nathaniel Brazil, who was only fourteen when he shot his own teacher at a middle-school because the teacher wouldn’t allow him to get out of class early to say goodbye to a girl. Brazil was later tried in court and found guilty of second degree murder. When Thompson writes about Brazil and his charges he claims that, “in recent

In this article ethos is weakest, due to the fact that Jenkins was too emotionally attached with the event that had taken place because it was her younger sister and her unborn child who were shot by a teenager for the, “thrill kill” and to see what shooting someone would feel like. Jenkins goes on to talk about how the victim’s families are not taken into consideration at all when it comes to the impact that losing someone beloved to a family is murdered by a child. She does not use any ethos to make claims about any other incidents that have occurred with teen murders, or any proof that research has been done on the teen brain that shows teens experience loss of brain mass which leads them to do rambunctious acts. By talking about her own personal experience, Jenkins is creating pity for not only herself but also her family, who is mourning the loss of a beloved sister, daughter, and unborn grandchild, or niece and nephew. By using more pathos than ethos when explaining how victims should be considered when a teen commits a heinous crime Jenkins creates pity upon herself.