Should Juvenile Criminals Be Tried As Adults?

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Crimes are most associated with adults. Murder is especially most associated with adults. When a teenager commits such a crime such as murder they must be tried, and they should not be treated with leniency and coddling, but with the full force of the law as an adult. A seventeen year old Robert Acuna, a Texas high school student, was being tried in court as an adult to determine the outcome of his sentence. He was going to find out whether he would live or die. Robert Acuna murdered his two elderly neighbors named James and Joyce Caroll. Robert Shot and killed both of them “execution style”, and then he stole their car and drove off. Adam Liptak wrote “Mr. Acuna’s youth should have counted in his favor. Instead, his brooding and volatile adolescent behavior may have hurt more than helped, and the jury sentenced him to die.”(Liptak pg.1) People against putting violent juveniles on trial as adults use the research of Paul Thompson who says that the loss of gray matter in the brain during teen years may impair a teen’s judgment and thinking.(Thompson pg.2) Aft...

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