The Pros And Cons Of Minors

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The adult age requirement in the US is 18 years old by law. If you are under the age of 18, you cannot vote, rent a hotel room, or even purchase a lottery ticket and you are considered a minor. In some cases though minors are convicted as adults, go to adult prison, and get life without parole. The courts deem these minors the worst of the worst and they are untreatable and are not capable of rehabilitation just like Nathan Ibanez, who murdered his mother and is serving life without parole. Juveniles have gained more rights from the Supreme Court in the three following cases: in Kent v. United States it was determined juveniles must have due process, in the case In re Gault it was determined juveniles must have access to a lawyer and know …show more content…

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

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