Adult Crimes Deserve Adult Punishment
Thursday, May 21, 1998. In Springfield, Oregon, 15-year old Kip Kinkel opened fire in the cafeteria
of Thurston High School. Two were killed and 25 others were wounded. Tuesday, March 24, 1998. In
Jonesboro, Arkansas, 11-year old Andrew Golden and 13-year old Mitchell Johnson pulled the fire
alarm and shot at the students filing out of the school. Five were killed and ten were wounded.
Monday, Dec. 1, 1997. In Paducah, Kentucky, 14-year old Michael Carneal pulled out a pistol and
began firing on a student prayer group. Three were killed and five others were wounded.
These incidents are only a tiny sample of the school shootings that have been committed by juvniles
in the United States. More shootings have happenned in Onalaska, Washington; Johnston, Rhode
Island; Endinboro, Pennsylvania; St. Charles, Missouri ... the list continues on and on, not to mention
Columbine!
Lynbrook junior Stephanie Tsai disagrees with this saying, "At the age of 18, teens are allowed to
vote because people believe that by that age they can think rationally and sensibally. Until kids are
18, they cannot be held responsible for their actions." Let's examine this age 18 issue more closely ...
Granted, our or society does give juvniles the right to vote at age 18. However, many states give them
the right to drive at age 16 and the right to drink at age 21. The fact is that declaring an 18 year-old an
adult is an arbitrary standard to determine maturity as far as prosecuting crime goes.
The juvenile court system was orginially implemented to protect juveniles from the "harsh" adult
court, for juvenile criminals were thought to be more mentally "immature" than adults. This may very
well be if we were speaking of a 6 year-old. However, 17 year-olds classify as juveniles as well. Are
we to say that 17 year-olds are significantly more "immature" and should "not be held rsponsible for
their actions" than that of an adult 18-year old? I wonder........
Furthermore, if our justice system uses mental incompetency as the reason juveniles have their own
separate and more lenient court, why aren't 40 year-olds with the mind of a 10 year-old prosecuted in
the juvenile justice system? Are they not mentally "immature" as well?
An incorrect assumption about this controversial matter is if the juvenile were to be prosecuted in the
adult court, he would be condemned with an adult sentence.
On May 4th 1970, when rallies surfaced again in the commons area, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. The conflict between students and the National Guard had begun to expand, and the cursing and rock throwing were increasing the tension in the air. The Guard ordered the students to retreat and as the crowds began to break up, it appeared the Guard was also retreating. Then shots were heard. The Guard for reasons unknown had to turn back and open fire at a crowd of students. Within thirteen seconds, four students were dead and nine wounded. One student who was killed was Allison Krause, who had been the only one of the four killed that was actually involved in the demonstrations.
The shootings that occurred at Kent State University, Ohio, on May 4, 1970 have been a dark spot in American history for almost 36 years. It is a day remembered by many names, THE KENT STATE SHOOTINGS, MAY 4 or the KENT STATE MASSACRE. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, all of America suffered.
At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.
1999) stated that 25 people were killed at the High School by two heavily armed
The most infamous and deadly act of violence to occur in a U.S. school were the events of April 20, 1999. In Littleton Colorado two teens went on a shooting and bombing spree that left 15 dead and 24 wounded before they shot and killed themselves. During the rampage, the two fired about 900 rounds of ammunition from two sawed off shotguns, a 9-mm semiautomatic carbine, and a semiautomatic handgun. Police also later found more than 30 bombs placed throughout the school (Brock, 2001).
Thousands of kid criminals in the United States have been tried as adults and sent to prison (Equal Justice Initiative). The debate whether these kids should be tried as adults is a huge controversy. The decision to try them or to not try them as an adult can change their whole life. “Fourteen states have no minimum age for trying children as adults” (Equal Justice Initiative). Some people feel that children are too immature to fully understand the severity of their actions. People who are for kids to be tried as adults feel that if they are old enough to commit the crime, then they are old enough to understand what they are doing. There are people who feel that children should only be tried as adults depending on the crime.
Shawn was 16 in 1998 when he violently stabbed his father in his sleep, was tried as a juvenile because of his pre-existing parasomnia, and was sentenced to juvenile hall until his 19th birthday. Jose, 15 in 1998, engaged in a deadly brawl with four other teenagers, tried as a juvenile and sentenced to 208 days in juvenile hall. Marquese, 17, considered a “frequent flyer” of the juvenile system, reoffended on parole by stealing a car and breaking and entering, was tried as a juvenile and paroled in 2001. Manny, 17 in 1999 attacked a family in his neighborhood with a baseball bat alongside two other gang members. One of the victims was six months pregnant. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to nine years in prison. Jordan Brown, now 12, is currently awaiting trial for the murder of his father’s pregnant girlfriend, where he will be tried as an adult for both the murder of the woman and the fetus. What were the factors that decided Manny and Jordan’s case would be tried as adults? Manny and Jordan’s case went to adult court, while other children and teenagers are tried and sentenced in the juvenile system. The court systems have criteria for trying children as adults, taking into account different factors within the crimes themselves. How exactly does th...
Adolescents under the age of eighteen are too young to stand trial and are not fully aware ...
The series of so-called copy cat school shootings started on February 2nd, 1996 in Moses Lake, Washington at Frontier Junior High when Barry Loukatis age 14 opened fire on his algebra class in room 15. Home and family conditions of this child were bizarre and would later be used as mitigating circumstances. Barry’s early childhood was described as “happy” by his mother Jody. But life changed for Berry around age 11 when he moved from Iowa to Moses Lake and his parents separated. The documentary depicted Barry as mentally disturbed and fixated on the idea that his father was having an affair. Berry had a plan for revenge. Berry and his mother conspired to tie up his father and his girlfriend and then his mother would shoot herself while her estranged husband watched. Berry’s mother told her son that she planned to do this on February 14th.
"Criminal court doesn't care they are kids," said Melissa Sickmund, Chief of Systems Research at the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Once they are there, it's just another case." There have been many debates on whether teens should be tried as adults. There are many exceptions to trying teens as adults. Various factors must be considered such as, how serious is the wrongdoing and if teens aren’t given adult responsibilities, then how can they be tried as an adult?
18 and under increases more and more as the years go by. People are assuming that the
Today in America, less than half of young voters between the ages of 18 and 24 vote (TheBestColleges.org). What most of these new adults fail to realize, is that their government depends on them to vote and elect new leaders to represent their country. Many of them make excuses to avoid voting, when really, they benefit most from voting.
On April 20th, 1999, two seniors that attended Columbine High School in Colorado entered the campus with a number of weapons including two 9mm pistols, 2 12 gauge sawed-off shotguns and a number of explosive devices. (Johnson, 2012). They successfully shot and killed 13 people and injured 24. The
Unbelievably, the United States citizens trust their sixteen-year-old children to drive three thousand pound vehicles. We require our working young to pay taxes. We trust the decision-making abilities of eighteen year olds in public elections, with the right to smoke, and with the choice of marriage without parental consent. Our young adults are encouraged to join the army and fight for their country. We however believe that until the age of twenty-one our young adults can not handle alcohol.
On April 20 1999, in a small town of Littleton, Colorado, two high-school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris dressed in trench coats began shooting outside of columbine high school. The two boys then moved inside the school and gunned down many students in the library. Upon investigation it was found that the two boys arrived in two separate cars. At first they went into the school with two duffle bags filled with bombs set to the time 11:17, placed these bags in the cafeteria aiming to kill hundreds of students and faculty. They set these bags in the cafeteria without anyone noticing and came out to their cars to watch. When the bombs failed to detonate Dylan and Harris went on a shooting spree.