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Should juveniles be sentenced to life
Should juveniles be sentenced to life
Juveniles and life sentences
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This just in. The Eighth Amendment’s mandated rule advocates for juveniles who committed murder to not be sentenced to life in prison. After listening to stories after stories on the news you may decipher whether or not putting them in prison for life is the right choice. After all, they committed the unthinkable right? But analyzing the situation is a vital part of the decision. Within reason, it is not imperative for them to be put into life in prison without parole because the expectations of a young mentality contradicts those of a life sentence in a facility made for adults; where no guidance is received to furthermore improve as individuals.
Any type of possible punishment should depend on age, background, and mental state. Compared to an adult, a juvenile’s impulse forces them to want to end whatever situation they’re in therefore committing the heinous crime. Although the situation does not give someone the right to commit murder, their pain and suffering should mean something and they should be given more chance. On the other hand, if there was no reason behind the crimes, for example, a juvenile kills a person or vast amounts of people because they find joy in
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“Hey, they’re only kids. 5 That is, until they foul up. Until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager we are to call them adults”. They are depicted as children until they are able to show responsibility and are forbidden from things like alcohol, drugs, and voting; primarily because of the youth impulsivity, but once they commit a terrible crime they are all of a sudden expected to be adults on behalf of what their punishment will be. Although the general idea of this article supports abolishment for mandatory life without parole, the examples provided are not reliable reasons for a juvenile to be liberated from prison at a certain time
Day after day in this country there is a debate going on about the death penalty and whether we as people have the right to decide the fate of another persons life. When we examine this issue we usually consider those we are arguing about to be older men and women who are more than likely hardened criminals with rap sheets longer than the height we stand (Farley & Willwerth, 1998). They have made a career of crime, committing it rather than studying it, and somewhere along the line a jury of their peers decided enough was enough. They were handed down the most severe and most final punishment of them all, death. Behind all of the controversy that this issue raises lies a different group of people that are not so often brought into the lime light, juveniles.
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
“Criminal Law and Procedure -Eighth Amendment- Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentences: Graham v. Florida” (2009) Harvard Law Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
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.
The article ‘Kids Are Kids Until They Commit Crime’ by “Hey, they’re only kids.That is, until they foul up. Until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime, the more eager we are to call them adults.” We are eager to prosecute juveniles as adults because it's quick and easy. Just because it's fast and easy doesnt mean its the right thing to do. “We’ve created this image that teenagers are something to be feared,’ said Dan Macallair of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco.” Teenagers are always made out to be viewed as villains. But they aren't, they are just moody beings that are going through a lot of
... rape or treason was committed ("8th Amendment to the Constitution – U.S. Amendment VIII Summary"). However, there are some cases where the death penalty is unacceptable regardless of the crime. In the Supreme Court case of Roper v Simmons the court decided that the execution of someone for a crime they committed when they were a minor violated the eighth amendment . The court case of Atkins v Virginia established that the death penalty is not an acceptable punishment for mentally ill felons (Lemieux, "The Supreme Court's Empty Eighth Amendment Promise"). The Supreme Court has also ruled that executing anyone under the age of 18 is an act of cruel and unusual punishment ("8th Amendment to the Constitution – U.S. Amendment VIII Summary"). The death penalty is the worst punishment a person could get, and because of that there are many restrictions on when to use it.
Juveniles are killing. In the American juvenile system kids are not being charged as adults after commenting these horrible crimes. The system is not being fair they argue that the juvenile brain is not fully developed. Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes because the system should be fair, they should be given the same consequences and some juveniles do not show remorse which means they'll do it again when they get out, juvenile crime rates are rising. Children as old ad 15 are not being charged as adults for violent crimes some are killing doing robberies.
In the article, “kids are kids-until they commit crimes” is about how kids are considered kids until they commit a crime. In other words, people say that kids are not kids because they commit crimes. That is why a lawmaker, Ron Wilson, had had enough with those statements. Wilson said if kids were being trialed as adults then so be it. But you have to lower the age of voting to 14. And really in light of things, how crazy would that be. The group of 18 and under, is what people usually write off as “only kids.” It is the reason why they can't drink or smoke. Why? Because they are only kids. It's like saying, ok, if you want to trial kids as adults, then let them smoke and drink and drive and all the things an adult is able to do.
Claim: Juveniles should not receive life sentences without parole. Argument: Adolescents, specifically, should not be given the sentence of life without parole. This is on the basis that all juveniles are not aware of the impact of their actions and furthermore, the possible consequences. “Children are not adults” (Ferriss) and therefore should not be dealt a sentence that is equivalent to an adult’s sentence.
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.
A suggestion to the Supreme Court was to evaluate the juvenile’s cases individually (Barnes). I think that this would be the best thing to do because if you look at the cases that involved juveniles individually more carefully then you could see which minors should be truly tried as adults. No matter the age in any case where a minor takes a life they should be tried as adults because if they are let out on probation some could revert back to their old ways. Though this is not the case for every individual some reflect on what they did and take responsibility and change for the better others on the other hand, they fall back into the same bad patterns when given the chance. For example there is a story of a seventeen year old kid getting released two months after killing a child only to be accused of killing a elderly woman and robbing her (“Released 2 months”).
I believe that juvenile kids that commit first or second degree murder should not receive a mandatory life sentence without parole. I feel that it depends on what type of actions that juvenile delinquent did that can determine what type of sentence he/she could get. They are only kids and they don’t really know how to stop and think about an action that they are going to commit. Since they are not an adult and still considered a teenager, study show that teenagers still do not have a full mental capacity so this will for sure determine that a young teenager actions don't always mean how they are. On the other side, author Gail Garinger believes that kids that have committed the serious crimes are seen as “super predators” and “wolf packs”.
I think they are wrong. In the constitution it states under the eighth amendment that,”Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This says point blank that your can not give someone a cruel and unusual punishment, life in prison is not a cruel or unusual punishment. In one of the articles given, On Punishment and Teen Killers, it states, “The offender in our case was a serial killer in the making”(Jenkins 1). They could tell by the way he was going about his crime.
Juveniles who commit crimes, violent or nonviolent, can be treated so that as adults they can be mature adults, due to the fact that their brains are still
In today’s generation there are many children and teens that commit crimes to satisfy their self being. Every day we see in the news about the reasons why children or teens commit crimes like murder or homicide. Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is not a right response to prevent homicide and serious murder, because their brains are not fully develop and the bad environment they live in. Teenagers or children need to be remain unformed of preventing crimes in today’s society. With this said, juvenile’s mental brains, backgrounds and growth are the reasons why they are not proficient to maintain themselves in a prison cell.