Wrongful Penalties
When the world cannot cope with a person the usual approach would be to either give them time to serve in prison or sentence them to death. It is said that a country is judged on how it treats it criminals and if we are executing not only our convicted adults but also children then the United States is not giving itself a good reputation. Juveniles lack cognitive abilities to carry out heinous crimes, making decisions based on emotions and not rational thinking and therefore should not be tried as adults.
If the region of the brain that is included in planning activities is not yet fully developed in juveniles then to give them an adult sentence is unfair. Jay Geidd who is a lead researcher at the national institute of mental health concluded that “the part of the brain that is helping organization, planning, and strategizing is not done being built yet” (Ortiz 3). Basically what he is trying to say is that a teenage brain is still not like an adult in complexity because there are still regions that need to be constructed before a true honest decision can be made. Besides with a young brain teenagers are unable to just think of one subject when coming to a conclusion on a decision because they are easily distracted and cannot logically think like the brain of an adult can. To prove that a child cannot officially mature until there early twenties Dr. Gut wrote “The evidence now is strong that the brain does not cease to mature until the early twenties… age twenty one or twenty two would be closer to the ‘biological age’ of maturity” (Ortiz 4). A person is still not considered fully mature until there early twenties so an eighteen year old will still need a minimum of 3 years for their body to become fully...
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...nd home of the brave would be guilty of executing its juveniles.
Works Cited
Bradley, Craig, “Putting Juvenile Murderers to Death Is Wrong”. Capital Punishment., Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2007. Craig M. Bradley, "The Right Decision on the Juvenile Death Penalty," TRIAL, vol. 41, no. 6, June 2005, pp. 60-62.
Days, Drew, “The Death Penalty Should Never Be Considered for Minors”. Should
Juveniles Be Tried as Adults? Christine Watkins, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven
Press, 2008.
Drizin, Steven, “Juvenile offender should not be eligible for The Death Penalty”. Juvenile Crime. Andrea C. Nakaya, Ed. Opposing view points Series. Greenhaven Press 2005.
Ortiz, Adam, “Lack of Brain Development Makes Juveniles Less Culpable than Adults” . Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?. Judy Layzell, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2005.
Rather than robbing them of the chance to grow and become better human beings, though, the government has the ultimate responsibility to help transform these troubled youths into upstanding citizens—even if it is within the walls of a prison rather than a classroom or office building. Executing minors does nothing but remind us of America’s stubbornness to do what may take time but in the end is right.
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.
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.
Many people assume that teenagers should not be sentenced as adults, because their brain is not fully developed. On the other hand, people believe if teenagers commit crimes then they need to have consequences for their actions. According to the Campaign for Youth Justices, about 250,000 teenagers are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year in the United States (Campaign for Youth Justices 3). Therefore, charging teenagers as adults is fair, because they are human beings just like adults.
While some children truly belong in prison, others deserve a second chance. In the end, we must all keep in mind that they are young children who are prone to making mistakes they didn’t mean. What I do agree with is that we must start to acknowledge the victim or the victim’s family in these cases, who seem to be lost within this debate. I also agree that we must fix the juvenile justice system so we don’t have to resort to adult prisons as our last resort, and so we have more criminals leaving their crimes in the past to create a better life. Despite this, I still believe that juvenile criminals don’t deserve life mandatory life
Mental capacity is defined by Merriam-Webster as “sufficient understanding and memory to comprehend in a general way the situation in which one finds oneself and the nature, purpose, and consequence of any act or transaction into which one proposes to enter” or “the degree of understanding and memory the law requires to uphold the validity of or to charge one with responsibility for a particular act or transaction.” In other words, a person of the adequate mental capacity to be charged and tried as an adult must be fully developed and mature mentally, which, according to latest research, does not occur until around the age of twenty five. Up until this time, the part of the brain associated with making decisions, the prefrontal cortex, is not matured completely. “Even in a precocious era, the most mature 11-year olds a...
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.
Having to grow up in a prison, especially one where they do not care about your feelings, really impacts him cognitively. I think juveniles should not be trialed as adults because there is harsher punishment. According to PBS, "Most leniently parents who kill their children but most harshly child in who kill their parents". During adolescent development decision making is weak, which comes from the brain being so vulnerable. I think in the special case of juveniles they are not harden criminals. In the cases of Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez I feel as if the teenagers had a build up of bottled emotions, and couldn't handle it anymore. With the brain being so vulnerable and decision making being so weak I think the teens snapped. After years of abuse and sadness I think the teens thought as if there was no other way out. Either the parents die or they do. Instead of being trialed as adults and spending life in prison, I think adolescents who commit crime should have an alternative that will not negatively impact their brain development. I think the problem derives from the adolescents seeking the wrong coping mechanism. If the adolescents could experience help from adults and professional rather than channeling it through violence and drugs, less crime from adolescents would
That’s why we don’t permit 15-year-olds to drink, drive, vote or join the military” (qtd. in Billitteri). There is adolescent-development research according to Hambrick, J. and Ellem, J that has shown “children do not possess the same capacity as adults to think thru the consequences of their behaviors, control their responses or avoid peer pressure” (qtd. in Lyons). There are some very good points made in the argument against sentencing youth as adults but I still have a hard time agreeing with peer pressure or impulse control as a reason to be held in a juvenile center for less than a few years for murder. Ryan, L. uses the example of a report released by the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on “Juvenile Transfer Laws : An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency?” This report found that prosecuting youths as adults has little or no effect on juvenile crime.” She uses this information and backs it up with the report showing “youths prosecuted as adults are more likely to re-offend than youths handled in the juvenile justice system” (qtd. in Katel). This is definitely a new perspective, but I still stand with my first take on the subject. “We know young people can commit serious crimes, and the consequences are no less tragic” (qtd in
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
In many states offenders as young as 14 years old can be trialed in adult courts (Scott). This leads to juvenile inmates being sent to adult correctional institutions. Even though courts believe this is unjust. They still have not done anything to solve this issue (Scott). The kid might have committed and atrocity so awful some adults would squirm at the thought of it. But the kid is still a kid, and is not mature enough to live within older inmates. A reason why they committed a crime in the first place could have been fueled by the environment they lived in. Some of these
Steinberg, L., & Scott, E., (2010). Should Juvenile Offenders Ever be sentenced to Life without the Possibility of Parole? Human Development, 54, p. 53-54. DOI: 10.1159/000288207
For instance, juveniles do not deserve life sentences because their brain isn’t fully developed yet and lack awareness of their actions. In the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Paul Thompson, he explains the development of the brain and how in some situations the brain isn’t ready and it can affect the person. This effect in divergent ways; psychologically and emotionally. Thompson's article introduces the case of Nathaniel Brazill, at age 14, charged with second degree murder, trial as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole. After some serious research, it has shown that as many other juveniles who have committed a crime they are “far from adulthood”.
I do not think it is a good idea to lock juveniles up in prisons with adults. For a child to set down and plan a murder for instance, there would have to be some kind of deep emotional problem. On the other side of this, if the child knows right from wrong and he can sit down and plan a murder, then you could say if he is old enough to kill someone then he is old enough to die. The juvenile criminal is rooted much deeper than right from wrong. It starts back from when they are small children. Most of them are usually outsiders or outcasts. Who can you hold fault for that other than society? If juveniles don't fit in with the popular kids in school they are considered an outcast. Even the teachers hold some responsibility to this. It is the popular kids that get to do everything and the quiet ones are left out and unnoticed.
There has been studies that have shown that during the teenage stage kids lose a lot of brain tissue, which made them make decisions they would not normally make. Also there is over 1,300 kids that are sentenced to life in prison as an adult. Amendment number eight states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. Sentencing adolescents as an adult goes against our 8th Amendment. Teens are being tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison for murder at ridiculous rates in the US. This actually disproves juvenile advocates on the underdeveloped brain argument.