Makenzie Carlson
Mrs. Gutzwiler
BTC English 12
Unit Six
30 March 2018
Juvenile Justice
There are more kids committing murders than you think. There a lot of of teenage killers, like as young as eleven years. Some think that if they should be convicted as adult. There are people out there that think that the child murders should be given a second chance and be tried as juveniles. Children that are committing murder should be tried as adults. A phrase that is used in this case of juveniles committing heinous crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." Here has been a whole lot of teens being tried as adults but there are a few cases where the crime was so horrific that they were give a life or multiple life sentences. Youngsters are seen by society as
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On that decisive day, the disturbed young men were playing hooky and meandering around a bustling shopping center, taking desserts, batteries and a thing of paint – that were later to be found at the murder scene. Calmly watching kids, they were searching for a kid to take. The plan was to lead the kid to the bustling street and push him into the way of approaching vehicles. James Patrick Bulger was conceived in 1990 to Ralph and Denise Bulger - a couple who had beforehand lost a stillborn little girl. Contently happy and healthy, James filled them with delight and kindness. His life was simply beginning.Everything changed on February the 12th, 1993. James was out shopping with his mom in the New Strand Shopping Center close Kirkby, England. His mom Denise was quickly diverted inside a butcher's shop on the lower floor of the mall. A moment later she noticed her child had vanished. James had been walking by the open entryway of the shop when Thompson and Venables got his eye and baited him out of the shopping center at 3:42 pm. Sometimes he ran ahead, other times he fell behind. The boys were walking around until they reached a canal closeby and went under a bridge to an
Throughout and for many years there has been a lot of controversy on how to trial someone who has committed a crime under the age of 18. A lie will be a lie even if it 's serious or innocent and that 's why just like a crime will always be a crime, no matter what the situation is. The age of a person who has committed murder shouldn 't be an issue or a complication. Many advocate that the juvenile is just a child, but despised that I believe that is no justification or defense for anyone who does a crime. America and the nation need to apprehend that juveniles that are being conducted to life in prison is not just for one small incident or crime, but for several severe crimes according to Jennifer Jenkins, Juvenile Justice Information
Many people assume that teenagers should not be sentenced as adults, because their brain is not fully developed. On the other hand, people believe if teenagers commit crimes then they need to have consequences for their actions. According to the Campaign for Youth Justices, about 250,000 teenagers are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year in the United States (Campaign for Youth Justices 3). Therefore, charging teenagers as adults is fair, because they are human beings just like adults.
Kids should be subjected to the measures of punishment that our judicial system is giving to them. Kids who show lots of enmity should be tried as adults. It is the only way to protect the innocent children. These kids know right from wrong, but they choose to do the wrong things and violence is wrong. As the laws have gotten stricter on discipline the kids have gotten wilder. When we let society tell us how to discipline our children then violent children is the result.
Juveniles are more than just kids. They are capable of doing anything an adult is capable of doing. One has probably heard the saying, “If you want to be treated like an adult, then act like an adult.” If they’re going to do crimes that “only” adults are capable of doing, then they should treated like an adult and be tried and sentenced like one. Imagine being close to a murder victim, wouldn’t you want them to feel hell? “How would you feel if you never got to see your child alive again while their killer served only a short sentence before being released from jail?” (hchs1259). This quote hits hard. One can only imagine being in the position of a parent whose child was murdered.
The Criminal Justice System’s main goal is to “deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent” (Garside). Juveniles who murder, steal, etc. are guilty. It does not matter their age because they have
Age is a factor in why Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison. As Paul Thompson states in his article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains from the Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001 “ ...These frontal lobes,which inhibit our violent passions, rash action and regulate our emotions are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” he also says that “The loss[of brain tissue] was like a wildfire, and you see it in every teenager.”. This loss of brain tissue plays a role in the erratic behavior of teens, they cannot properly assess their emotions and thoughts. During this period of brain tissue loss teens are unpredictable, adults do not know what their teen’s next move will be, teens themselves do not even know what their next move will be. As we grow our brains develop, therefore teen brains are not fully developed, so they cannot be held to the same standards as adults.
once the minor has committed a violent crime, they are no longer a kid. The minor had the ability to know right from wrong, but he still chose to commit the heinous crime anyway. Choosing to commit this violent crime means that the minor chose to act as an adult and must be held accountable. Once the minor has made the decision to act as an adult, they must be treated as an adult. If we do not teach minors that what they did has consequences they will never learn. Arguments can be made that minors should not be treated as adults and while these arguments do have merit, they are not my beliefs. In my opinion, minors who commit violent crimes need to be tried as adults. Justice does not discriminate when it comes to age. Right is right, and wrong is wrong and the wrong should be punished equally.
Teenagers do not have what we call “adult” rights therefore they should not be sentenced as one. For example in the Article “Kids Are Kids - Until They Commit Crimes” by Marjie Lundstrom she said “It’s a glaring inconsistency that’s getting more glaring by the hour as children as
There has always been controversies as to whether juvenile criminals should be tried as adults or not. Over the years more and more teenagers have been involved in committing crimes. In some cases the juries have been too rough on the teens. Trying teens as adults can have a both positive and negative views. For example, teens that are detained can provide information about other crimes, can have an impact in social conditions, and serve as experience; however, it can be negative because teens are still not mature enough for that experience, they are exposed to adult criminals; and they will lose out on getting an education.
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
In juvenile court, the judge must decide if the teen gets tried as an adult or minor. If the juvenile gets sent to a juvenile detention center for murder they will live their lives there until they are twenty one, but if tried as an adult they will serve so many years in prison. There is a grey area of law for certain teens that commit serious crimes. In this case of the grey law, each state gets to decide upon the particular state how they person is tried. For most cases pertaining to the juvenile courts are case by case bases. Many believe that it isn’t fair for the teens to be locked up with adults. The U.S. House of Representatives made the Juvenile Justice Act encouraging states to find alternatives to having the teens go through such a process with people much older than themselves (Locked Up…).
Is it fair to give juveniles life sentences? On June 25 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate the risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him and from which he cannot usually extricate himself no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.” Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison or adult jail until legal age. Due to the facts that many are still young and aren’t over eighteen.
He never made it to the park. That same day, the little boy's savagely beaten body was discovered outside the park area (Seifert 98). Jon Venables and Robert Thompson of Liverpool, England, made international headlines in November 1994, when they were convicted of murdering James Bulger, age two. The two boys, both ten at the time of the slaying, lured James away from his mother in a shopping mall, took him to a nearby railroad track, beat him brutally and left him to be cut in half by a train (Seifert 56). Many experts do not accept that biology alone creates children who kill.
Juveniles commit different crimes because they want to murder people for revenge, peer pressure and many other reasons. The results of committing crimes have consequences and punishments. Juveniles can be sentenced to prison or be sentenced to a mental hospital. Depending on how small or big the crime is, juveniles can be sentenced to prison or mental hospital for a few years when committing a minor crime or for many years when committing a huge crime like murdering people . When teen’s brain are not fully developed as adults, it causes them to have revenge, peer pressure, and many other reasons.
One reason why juvenile offenders should not be tried as adult is because they are far from adulthood. Many teenager who have committed a crime has a different background. For example, they have suffered sex abused, their parents have been drug addicted , or have been in prison for many years. There are many factors