Should Juveniles Be Treated As A Crime?

In a world where crime occurs every second of the day on every street, the effort to prevent our youth from witnessing such things has grown nearly impossible. The duty those who are older than juveniles have is to place them in a positive place to grow, away from violence. Since the youth may not recognize right from wrong, someone must do so for them. The juvenile is looked at by the Judicial System almost as the child of the state. By this the state has the best interest for the child and will act in whatever manner necessary to accomplish this. Although the State does understand that juveniles should be treated as if they are less to blame for a crime than an adult, there have been many counts of juvenile cases that raise questions about current laws. When a juvenile commits a crime that would normally see an adult face serious time in prison, the sentencing process falls nowhere in the same category. This is because of the certain rules and regulations for courts in the Juvenile System that limit the juvenile sentencing drastically. Just for the reasoning that a juvenile is a growing human being with an undeveloped brain, does not condone a juvenile to commit gruesome crimes that will conclude in no way near the punishment deserved.

The article introduced a thirteen year old african american male who lives in the town of Warwick Rhode Island by the name of Craig Price. Price one night had the urge to leave the premise of his house, past curfew to travel two houses away to a neighbor 's house. Once inside of the house the thirteen year old boy acted upon an urge to attack a helpless and asleep victim by stabbing her a total of fifty-eight times in the chest. After completing the murder Price walked back home in the middl...

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...at the juvenile brain does not develop enough to make logical or mature decisions until their mid twenties. This means that the brain may not know to resist theft, or the consequences of a minor crime. Nowhere does it mention stabbing a human being multiple times as a result of an undeveloped brain. It is not being said that a juvenile 's should have to face his entire life behind bars for a crime he committed when he was a teenager, but a sentencing with more consequences should be in effect to avoid a murderer from striking a third or fourth time.

In conclusion, the idea going forward for the Juvenile Justice System is that consequences for more serious crimes should have a serious consequence. You can’t have a juvenile be behind bars for their entire life, but then again a serious crime such as murder should result in a heavier sentence than a slap on the wrist.