Should teens be convicted as adults? Teens are being trialed as an adult by a crime they are committing. Juveniles should be convicted as an adults for violent crimes because once you commit a crime you are showing you are a irresponsible person by making bad choices and should be trial as adults. Teens are being sentenced as a full adult by committing a crime on what they see around them. The article “Kids are Kids until they Commit Crime” states, “On March 9, Lionel Tate who was twelve when he savagely beat to death a six year old girl will likely learn if he must spend life in prison after his lawyer unsuccessfully tried to put pro wrestling on trial.” This quote explains that Tate was imitating a pro-wrestling tv program that he tried on a child. He was being an irresponsible person and thinking he could try a dangerous move on a six year old girl. According to, “Tate supposedly was imitating his World Wrestling Federation heroes when he pummeled his playmate, less than …show more content…
Teens always look up to their parents,family members or celebrities because they know that they will always step up for them. For example in the article, “ On Punishment and Teen Killers” it states, “ Whenever he got in trouble, his parents fixed it.” If a parent always fixes the mistakes kids won't learn their lessons and they believe they can get away with anything and their parents will always have their backs. Also in the same article it shows, “ They feature propaganda photos of 7- and 8- year old child models on the cover, with the misleading headlines that the United States was “sentencing children to die in prison.” By showing this covers they are teaching teens that it's okay to send children to die in prison by doing this teens believe they can do things also to harm other. If adults don't show kids the right things to do they will do bad things to hurt not only themselves but
Also, in Marjie Lundstrom’s brief article entitled, Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes, she centers on the case of twelve year old Lionel Tate and his punishment for committing murder. For instance, Lundstrom states how Tate at the age of twelve savagely beat to death a young girl while he was trying to mimic one of his ‘World Wrestling Heroes” which he saw on television and at the age of fourteen became convicted as an adult of first degree murder (Lundstrom). At the time he was only twelve when he committed the crime and still to this day is getting punished for a heinous crime he committed at such a young age. Although Tate did commit a cruel crime and should receive some sort of punishment for it, the fact that he is under age should
According to criminal.findlaw.com the definition of the juvenile justice system is the area of criminal law applicable to people not old enough to be held responsible for criminal acts. Juveniles are people 17 and under. Juveniles should be convicted as adults for violent crimes like assault or murder etcetera because if they can commit an adult crime they should get an adult punishment. Also if juveniles don’t get punished for their crimes then they’ll keep doing it because they got off unpunished the first time.
For example, a 12 year old kid, Lionel Tate, beat and killed a 6 year old girl to death because he was imitating professional wrestlers he saw on TV. Life in prison without parole or even going to an adult prison is extreme for a 12 year old. Many kids who make it out of the adult system end up worse than when they went in because they come out as hardened criminals. In another case, Nathaniel Brazill, who shot and killed his teacher at the age of 13. The crime was heinous, but the issue with convicting teenagers as adults is that during the teenage years, gray matter in the brain which supports all our thinking and emotions is purged at a rate of 1 to 2 percent a year. This occurs in the frontal lobe of our brain, which controls impulses, risk-taking, and self-control. Teenagers brains work differently and are not yet fully functioning compared to adult brains, evidence enough juveniles should not be tried as adults. However many prosecutors and the families of victims claim that teenagers know it is wrong to kill and the courts need to crack down on these cases in order to send a message to teenegaers across the US to not commit murder, or they could face life without parole. That may be true however, giving kids the message that they are not curable or worthy of a second chance sends out the wrong message and makes other countries in the world look down on the US. Also, they claim that many teenagers commit “thrill kills”, and nothing is wrong with them mentally. They also state that if brain development was the reason, that kids should kill at the same rate as adults. Their main argument is that the murders leave families in ruins and forever scar them when they lose a loved one. Once again many of these arguments are true, but kids are less mature and more vulnerable to peer pressure because their characters are still forming. Children
In the article called, “Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes,” by Marjie Lundstrom mentions that if kids commit a crime, then they are not kids. Lundstrom says in her article, “On March 9, Lionel Tate-who was twelve when he savagely beat to death a six-year-old-will likely learn if he must spend life in prison after his lawyer unsuccessfully tried to put pro wrestlying on trial. Now fourteen and convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Tate supposedly was imitating his World Wrestling Federation heroes when he pummeled his playmate, less than a third his size” (Lundstrom).
Meng, A., Segal, R., & Boden, E. (2013). American juvenile justice system: History in the making. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 25(3), 275-278. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2013-0062
Based on my recent study of the adolescent brain and cognitive development, I don't think anyone under the age of 24 should be trialed as an adult. Even though 18 is the age when teens become adults and get jobs, our brain is so vulnerable as teens. The pressure added on by society telling 18 year olds to suddenly grow up and be an adult is overwhelming. With that stress of growing up is also stress to make the right decisions and meet expectations of others. During teenage years the adolescent brain is at it’s most crucial stage in development. Being trialed during this developmental stage hinders proper development. After viewing the case studies on the 5 teens from colorado I concluded that most trials take weeks and months at a time. During
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.
To continue, it is very rare that one reads or hears about the good teens do for society. Rather, journalists and publicists seem to enjoy highlighting the acts that hurt teens' images. For example, in an article of last year's (1998) "Teen People Magazine", an article told about the recent high-school shootings. One of these incidents occurred when a young boy brought his father's rifle to school and started shooting people. As a result, the boy shot and killed four schoolmates and a 32-year-old teacher. This and other incidents of the sort give teenagers a very bad image. The article shows that some teens are irresponsible and not very smart.
In my opinion, I do feel that juveniles should be tried as an adult depending on the crime. I feel if a child decides to make a huge life changing decision they should have to suffer the consequences. If their crime is something little and they don't have a criminal background, then no I don't think they should be.
According to the article of “Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?” at Buzzle.com, “It is a proven fact that when a child is at the age around nine or ten that they do not have the mental accessibility to think as an adult” (Borkar). Citizens see this statistic as a reason as to why children should not be tried as adults. “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities” (Equal Justice Initiative). These juveniles are subject to much harsher punishments which includes life sentencing (Michon). These people do not feel that these children should be in a prison for the rest of their life for something they did when they were 13. Broken families can be a reason for a child to rebel and become trouble. “Psychology speaking, it is said that there are no ‘problem children’ but only ‘problem parents’” (Borkar). Parents roles are to guide their kids in the right way. Children will not know what is right or wrong if parents do n...
For example, the court has already struck down the death penalty and the life in prison without parole for juveniles or for young offenders convicted of non-homicide. According to the article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life In Prison,” Paul Garinger states that “Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain that are responsible for controlling thoughts, actions, and emotions are not fully developed. They can not be held to the same standards when they commit terrible crimes.” If this is true, there is no reason to treat juveniles as adults.
Juveniles deserve to be tried the same as adults when they commit certain crimes. The justice systems of America are becoming completely unjust and easy to break through. Juvenile courts haven’t always been known to the everyday person.
"Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time." -- David Grusin and Morgan Ames
...mentally”, as shown above, my claims are supported by this article. They argue that they still need to learn about morals and they are young, they need to have their freedom. None of us are born harmful, be are raised in an environment that traumatized them and change their beliefs. They are pushed to their limits by the same kids that go to school with us. This as many other reasons ,such as, mental illness, parental abused, social status and much more are the main caused by murder.This is why teenager commits crime, aside that our brain still hasn 't fully develop and adults see that if they did the crime they must make they time. There are other ways to teach them a lesson, but not to locking them for their whole life. Not let them roam freely, but give them the chance to see the outside world and make the realized what they done to lose that freedom they once had
Juvenile offenders should not be tried as adults because there are differences between a teenager and adult. A teenager is not mature as an adult. Some teenagers are capable to change their behavior and are capable to recognize their own mistakes. It is a huge mistake for juveniles offenders to be tried as adults and send them to adult court and prison . There are many factors why they should not be tried as adult.