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The cause of youth crime
The cause of youth crime
Effects of youth crimes
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The death penalty is the punishment of execution given to someone legally who is convicted of a crime. Nowhere in this definition does it say the age necessary to be sentenced the death penalty. A murder convicted by an adolescent is just the same as a murder convicted by an adult. The death penalty is a serious consequence and should be sentenced to the appropriate criminal no matter the age. The death penalty should be available to be sentenced to certain crimes to prevent the youth from committing a much more serious crime. Some youth criminals are unable to be rehabilitee and then the world saves one from becoming a sociopath.
The death penalty is the best method used as a consequence to youth offenders. Even though the death penalty sounds horrible, the crime that the criminal did was even worse. The punishment can also be used as a deterrent to stop other minors from committing the same crime. Giving the death penalty does not only punish that individual, but also teaches other minors a lesson by making them not want to go through the criminals punishment as well. Chances are that an adolescent criminal has multiple friends around the same age that would be told of the incident, as the criminal’s friend they will then realize that being around those types of kids is not good. Also, they will see how badly affected the criminals friends and family are for their horrible crime and not want to do the same. In the article “The Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders,” Judy Regan and Ann Alderson, directors at the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, declare “the type of punishment chosen by state legislators and courts for juveniles who kill should attempt to deter future juvenile offenders” (pa...
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...o the extent of the death penalty to decrease the death rates caused by minors.
Works Cited
Regan, MD, Judy. Ann Alderson. “The Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders.” Tn.gov. Tennessee Medicine Oct 2003. October 2003. Web. 9 Mar 2014.
Scott, Shirley L. "What Makes Serial Killers Tick?" Psychopaths? —. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Hutchison, Katy. "Restorative Practices to Resolve Conflict/Build Relationships: Katy Hutchison at TEDxWestVancouverED." YouTube. YouTube, 10 June 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2014
Hampikian, Greg. "When May I Shoot a Student?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
"Simon & Schuster." The Green Mile. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014
Regan, Judy, and Ann Alderson. "The Death Penalty For Juvenile Offenders." The Journal. F Tennessee Medical Association and Tennessee Medicine, Oct. 2003. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
If a family member was murdered, a family member was murdered, age should not dictate if the punishment for homicide will be more lenient or not. If anyone not just juveniles has the capabilities to take someone's life and does so knowing the repercussions, they should be convicted as an adult. In the case of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins who lost her sister, the husband and their unborn child, is a strong advocate of juveniles being sentenced to life without parole. In her article “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins On Punishment and Teen Killers” she shows the world the other side of the spectrum, how it is to be the victim of a juvenile in a changing society where people are fighting against life sentences for juveniles. As she states in the article “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to a victims family. So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never
Since the ban, it has happened 22 times, 21 of them for 17 year olds who ended up turning 18 before the execution, and one much younger, who killed his family. Was it a right decision that the supreme court made? Minors have an entire life full of changing experiences ahead of them, and it seems “cruel and unusual” to take that from a child. Generally, it’s respected as a good decision to prevent the death sentence on a minor, but there are some questions to be asked. What if the minor is a mass murderer or commits treason? Those seem like good reasons to use the death sentence. However, children learn a lot better than adults and can easily change their ways or attitudes in prison. The minors could still contribute positively to the world, and the death sentence would prevent that completely.
I think that it is unfair that a minor could be killed for something when they aren’t even allowed to vote. Those younger than 18 are not allowed to vote or be on juries, or enjoy any of the other responsibilities and privileges of adulthood because the government considers their judgment unformed. So why would you execute them if you think their judgment isn’t up to par? To the government their judgment isn’t up to par, so don’t tell minors that they should know right from wrong when the government believes that they can’t think right yet. A minor should know not to murder someone, but maybe their mind just hasn’t quite developed that sense of right or wrong yet.
As years go on so will the research on serial killers and hopefully we as a society will fully understand them and one day be able to cure whatever inside that makes them have the urge to kill. Works Cited The Electronic Journal of Sociology, published by the University of Guelph, Ontario. http://www.scribd.com/doc/167086215/How-Serial-Killers-Work. According to the article “10 Most Common Traits of Potential Serial Killers By Hestie Barnard Gerber. According to Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer.
Supreme Court ruling Graham v. Florida (2010) banned the use of life without parole for juveniles who committed non-homicide crimes, and Roper v. Simmons (2005) abolished the use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. They both argued that these sentences violated the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. While these landmark cases made great strides for the rights of minors passing through the criminal justice system, they are just the first steps in creating a juvenile justice system that takes into consideration the vast differences between adolescents and adults. Using sociological (Butler, 2010) and legal (Harvard Law Review, 2010) documents, this essay will explicate why the next such step to be taken is entirely eliminating the use of the life without parole sentence for juveniles, regardless of the nature of the crime being charged.
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Multiple surveys have proven that 65% of the most ridiculous mistakes made by an adult were made in their teenage years. Adolescents are known to make mistakes, but when punished correctly, instead of repeating, they learn. Most people believe the harsher the punishment the less likely a child will act out again, but through research and analysis of the brain this was proven to not be true. When a teenager goes as far as committing a crime, judgement should still be based on the fact that he or she is still a minor. As a juvenile, doing something wrong , no matter the severity, should be resulted in a punishment that requires them to learn from their mistakes. Charging them as an adult does not have the same effect as sending away an adult to do jail time.
References Glick, B. (1998) No Time to Play: Youthful Offenders in Adult Correctional Systems. American Correctional Association Wilkerson, I (1996) “Death Sentence at Sixteen Rekindles Debate on Justice for Juveniles.” New York Times, November Butts, J.A. and Snyder, H. (1997) “The Youngest Delinquents: Offenders Under the Age of 15,” Juvenile Justice Bulletin (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice) Lefevre, P.S., “Professor Grapples with Execution of Juveniles.” National Catholic Reporter Snyder, A. “Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders” (1997) National Center for Juvenile Justice
I personally agree with the Supreme Court Justices who argue to abolish mandatory life in prison for juveniles who commit murder. Sentencing a juvenile to life in prison does not only violate the Eighth Amendment, that bans cruel and unusual punishments, but it also ruins/kills another human being’s life. Being in prison for such a long time is like throwing away this teen’s life. It is like giving up on someone who could have done great things for this world, but this will never be known because they are not given the chance to do so.
According to the law, children ages 7-15 legally do not know what is wrong or what is right to do. Children who do not know what is wrong or right can commit a crime without knowing how bad the consequences can be. Immature children do not know most factors the way regular human beings know and can commit more errors by accident than other human beings will commit on purpose. Immature children should not be sentenced to life because they rarely know the rules of life and unlike most adults; they do not know what is good or bad about it. For example, “juveniles are different from adults in terms of brain development and maturity levels” (Corrington 1). Crimes children or immatures can commit include killing someone in a fight, choking someone out, or running over someone by accident. Arguments can also build in by saying teenagers should get sentenced to life for being immature and doing things immaturely. If a young teenager runs over another teenager or children and kills them, of course the parents are going to want the responsible driver to pay for what they have done. Sometimes jail is not enough and the parents or family members of victims want to kill whoever was responsible for the disgrace that happened. A big percentage of people do not understand that young children do not know what adults are capable of doing if it was
After reading the article Should Juvenile offenders ever be sentenced to life without the Possibility of Parole (Steinberg, L.& Scott, E. 2010) I did some research on the adolescence stage of human development, regarding the reason juvenile offenders should not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. And I have conducted a few facts of the adolescent brain supporting this argument.
Should juveniles be sentenced to prison for life? Should juveniles be trialed as adults after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question is far too complicated to answer because I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there is another way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California.
The. Web. The Web. The Web. 14 May 2014. Horng, Eric.