Should People Less Than Eighteen Years Old (Minors/Juveniles/Adolescents) Ever Be Tried and Sentenced as Adults?

In the court of law many difficult decisions are made, and one is whether juveniles should be tried as adults or not. Many teens today are being placed in an adult prison for crimes they have committed. The crimes these teens commit are not necessarily their fault, but a poor choice they made. Teens should not be tried as adults for the risk of being sexually abused, not having a well developed brain, and having a higher risk of them committing suicide.

Juveniles should be tried as adults when they commit serious crimes as opposed to rehabilitation or various forms of lesser sentencing. The rate of juveniles in prison has increased over the years. Many young adults and children often seek for attention which leads them to cause trouble out in the streets. There are risk levels that officers have to make in order to help the juveniles or if committing a serious crime, they should pay the consequences. Many may oppose and think that young adults and children are not adults, but they should be punished for the crimes they have done.

Some juvenile delinquents are being treated like adults and being sent to adult prisons instead of juvenile prisons. In an article called “ADULT PRISONS: No Place for Kids,” by Steven J. Smith, Smith presents an argument against treating juveniles like adults. His argument states that minors shouldn’t be trialed and placed into adult prisons because instead of being rehabilitated, they typically come out worse because of the daily exposure to already hardened criminals. Smith provides reasons why juveniles are convicted as adults, the drawbacks of placing adolescents in prisons with adults, and an alternative punishment for juvenile criminals.

Many people believe that kids are kids until they commit violent crimes. Juveniles who commit violent crimes were tried as adults and had equal punishment, the number of violent crimes committed by youths would decline. Individuals who commit a crime do not think about the consequences they have to face. They are well aware of their surroundings and the actions they chose. Nehemiah Griego a fifteen year old who killed his parent and three younger siblings was sentenced as a juveniles and released from state custody by the time he turns twenty one (Article, p.1).

Imagine a loved one being ripped from your life through a violent crime only to learn that it was a juvenile who stole your loved one from you. Would you want this juvenile to be prosecuted as an adult or would you want them to serve a child sentence? When it comes to the topic of violent crime, most of us will readily agree that those who commit the crime should be persecuted. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of juveniles committing the crime. Whereas some are convinced that they are unable to make rational decisions.

It is being argued if youths should be charged as adults throughout a heinous crime. It is said that kids brain development hasn’t fully grown to it’s full potential such as adults and by that they don’t know from right and wrong. Also, another argument brought up was the age of teens being prosecuted in adult courts. But if you do the crime, shouldn’t you do the time? From my point of view, teens should be prosecuted in the adult justice system.

I believe adolescents should be tried as adult because from a young age humans know the difference between right or wrong. There have been many instances all over the world where juveniles commit crimes that are unexplainable and unexpected. 3 heart wrenching stories where juveniles commit the most horrid of crimes, are in the last 5 years a 10 year old boy was accused of fatally stabbing his 6th grade neighbor. While in the UK Daniel Bartlam is charged for killing his mother at the age of 14, and lastly, in the USA, an 11 year old boy is charged for killing his father's fiancee while she was pregnant. These are some example of why juveniles should be tried as adults, because if they are old enough to commit these murders they are old enough to face the full force of the justice system.

Approximately two million adolescents a year are arrested and out of that two million, 60,000 of them are incarcerated according to the American Journal of Public Health. The 60,000 incarcerated adolescents each year are being tried as adults in court because of the serious crimes they have committed. The crimes they have committed are anything from armed robbery to murder. Some juveniles might be first time offenders and others might be repeat offenders. Crimes have always been a major issue in the United States and can cause controversy in the criminal justice system. Charging a minor as an adult in criminal court varies from state to state based on each state’s jurisdiction. Some states consider anyone up to the age of 18 still a juvenile and would not be charged as an adult in criminal court, but other states may charge a juvenile as an adult at the age of 16 or 17. Jordan (2014) states, “Although states already had methods for transferring youth to the adult system, as a result of the growing fear of juvenile violence, most states implemented new laws to increase the number of youth entering the adult criminal system’ (Bernard & Kurlychek, 2010; Torbet et al., 1996)” (p. 315). While it sounds beneficial to incarcerate more adolescents in the adult criminal justice system to avoid juveniles from committing crimes in the future, that is not always the case. Incarcerating these juveniles can be life changing in a negative

In 2005, the supreme court banned the death penalty for youth offenders, because of them being undeveloped, immature, and irresponsible. But they haven’t used that same logic when they send juveniles to violent adult prisons. “In my observation, the incarceration of young prisoners in adult prisons has an extremely destructive effect. Young prisoners are more susceptible to negative influences than adults” (Scott). When a young prisoner is in this type of environment, they will try to do anything they can to fit in.

Every juvenile who commits a severe crime should be tried as an adult. Juveniles should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Most kids that are 15 and older are the ones committing the worse crimes, by that age they should understand the differences in between both good and bad. Every person in the world should be able to think before they do, being able to think before you do will help you understand what you're doing and help you understand the difference in between both the good and the bad. The parents of the juveniles should also understand that some crimes are severe and have severe punishments. Juveniles need to know that

As more minors are committing violent crimes, the question of whether they should be tried as adults has arisen. Children as young as 13 or 14 are committing violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery. Some of these children are being tried as adults while others are being tried as juveniles and receiving milder punishments. A juvenile offender may receive a few years in a juvenile detention facility and possibly probation following his release at age eighteen. An adult committing the same violent crime will receive a much harsher penalty, often years in jail, possibly a life sentence, with little or no chance of parole. The only difference between the two offenders is the age at which they committed the crime. Juveniles over

Serious crimes such as murder, burglary and rape have raised questions as to whether the young offenders should face severe punitive treatment or the normal punitive measures in juvenile courts. Many would prefer the juveniles given harsh punishment in order to discourage other young people from engaging in similar activities and to serve as a lesson to these particular offenders. However, results from previous studies indicate such punitive measures were neither successful nor morally acceptable. Instead, the solutions achieved have unfairly treated the youths and compromised the society status (Kristin, page 1).

Many young adolescents who have committed horrendous crimes have been a huge topic amongst the Supreme Court. Whether young adolescents are viewed as innocent, naive children to the public, this not changed the fact they can commit brutal crimes. In spite of the fact that adolescents have committed brutal crimes such as murder, one needs to understand that their brains are not as fully developed as an adult brain would be. Adolescents should not be trialed to a life sentence or attend adult prisons; however, they should be punished for their actions and undergo rehabilitation programs to help them be prepared to fit in with the rest of society.

Kids seem to be growing up earlier as the years go by. Serious crimes committed by juveniles have stayed pretty much the same in the last twenty years, but that is not to say people have not concluded differently. A thanks to laws passed in the ninety’s and more specifically between ninety two and ninety seven, It is easier to try juveniles as adults in the court system. There are multiple pros and cons to juveniles being tried as adult. These arguments range from a crime is a crime to they are not mentally developed enough to understand completely. These are just a couple of the things to consider when asking if a juvenile should be tried as an adult.

Should juveniles get adult jail sentences? In today's society juvenile offenders are facing the law to full force, in two court systems. Not only are they tried in the juvenile justice system, but also charged as adults. The issue of charging juveniles as adults has stirred various views owing to the violent crimes committed by the young offenders. Politicians comment that the best solution is to lock up juvenile offenders for a long time and ignore rehabilitation. However, prior researches on the topic of juvenile delinquencies suggest that trying young offenders in the adult legal system and putting them in adult prisons will only lead to increased crime, higher costs, and increased violence(John & Jiangmin 568).