thesis statement should juveniles be tried as adults

Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults? Argumentative Essay

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Introduction

Juvenile court systems and laws, arguments for and against trying juveniles in adult court systems, works cited.

The purpose of this essay is to determine whether juveniles should be tried as adults under the criminal court system. The age of a juvenile according to most laws is 18 years and below.

However, different states have different ages that define who a juvenile in; for instance, Wyoming have acknowledged 19 years to be the age of a juvenile, while states such as New York, Connecticut and North Carolina, one is recognized as a juvenile when he/she is under the age of 16.

Knowing the age of a person suspected to be a juvenile is vital, because this will assist the authorities to decide which court the individual should be charged in. (Juvenile Law Par. 1).

When it comes to determining whether a juvenile offender will be tried as an adult, juvenile court judges usually look at the seriousness of the alleged offense and the need to protect the community from the juvenile offender, the nature of the offense; whether it was violent, premeditated or aggressive, the amount of damage that resulted from the offense, whether the offense was committed against a person or property, the level of maturity of the juvenile offender, whether they have a criminal record or records of achievements and the likelihood of whether the offender can be rehabilitated by the juvenile criminal system (Cassel and Bernstein 42).

Juvenile laws have become very punitive in the recent past to deal with the increasing cases of juvenile delinquency around the world. The general argument that underlies these changes is that juvenile offenders should be held accountable for their criminal behavior by receiving punishments that are equivalent to their crime.

The juvenile laws have also suggested that the current juvenile justice systems do not offer any important psychological differences between juveniles and adults when considering their criminal responsibility. Despite their being declines in violent crimes committed by juveniles in America, all states have revised and adopted juvenile law policies that will be used to increase the prosecution of juveniles as adults (Free 159).

An example of a state that has adopted new juvenile policies is California which passed the Gang Violence and Youth Crime Prevention Act in March 2000. This act would see juveniles who are 14 years and over being tried as adults for any type of violent crime. This act gave state prosecutors the alternative of transferring juvenile cases that were violent or had gang involvement to the adult court without any judicial reviews (Free 159).

States that support the prosecution of juvenile offenders below the age of 14 in adult courts include Arizona who age limit is ten, Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland whose juvenile offender age is seven, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas, South Dakota and Vermont (Hile 30).

Arguments that have arisen for trying juvenile offenders as adults are that violence committed by juveniles is viewed to be a serious problem and it should be dealt with in an effective and efficient manner. Other arguments are that juvenile courts are not effective when it comes to dealing with violence committed by juveniles.

The punishments and sentences that are meted out by juvenile courts are not usually appropriate to the kind of crime that has been committed (Cole and Smith 398). Other arguments that have arisen on trying children as adults are that the procedures used in waiving juvenile jurisdictions are usually problematic and cumbersome in many states in America. Criminal justice and law requires that any violent or heinous crimes committed by a person regardless of their age should be dealt with to the full extent of the law.

Despite these arguments, there are those who continue to propose that violent juvenile offenders should be dealt with by the juvenile court system. Many legal and juvenile experts have argued that trying juveniles as adults will only make things worse. Their main argument is that trying juveniles as adults means that the legal system has failed to consider their social and emotional development which is different from that of adults (Cole and Smith 398).

The arguments that have been raised for not trying juveniles as adults are that; the juvenile system has the appropriate mechanisms that can be used to deal with the social and emotional problems of juvenile offenders, general criminal laws around the world recognize that children have diminished capacities and responsibilities for their actions, meting out adult punishments to juvenile offenders robs them of their childhood and threatens their psychological development.

Such arguments have put pressure on legislators to lower the age of adulthood so that violent cases for serious juvenile offenders can be tried in the adult court system. This has however been viewed to be a futile exercise given that different states have different guidelines and procedures that are used to determine the appropriate age of a juvenile.

Some legal experts have argued that setting artificial guidelines to be used in determining whether a juvenile is an adult will restrict the ability of the court system to convict the juvenile offenders based on the type of crime they have committed (Hile 32).

The main argument that has been identified in the essay is that juvenile offenders who have mostly committed violent crimes should be tried and prosecuted in the adult criminal court system. This is mostly because the juvenile system does not provide the necessary punitive actions that can be used to deal with serious juvenile offenders.

Arguments in the essay have shown that to counter the juvenile system’s poor punishments, serious offenders should be tried in the adult court systems which have been viewed to be more punitive and strict when it comes to serious violent crimes

Cassel, Elaine and Bernstein, Douglas. Criminal behaviour , 2 nd Edition, New Jersey, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate Publishers, 2007. Print.

Cole, George and Smith, Christopher. Criminal justice in America. California: Thomson Wadsworth Education Publishers, 2008. Print.

Free, Marvin. Racial issues in criminal justice: the case of African Americans . Westport, US: Praeger Publishers, 2003. Print.

Hile, Kevin. Trial of juveniles as adults. United States: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003. Print.

Juvenile Laws. History, trying juveniles as adults, modern juvenile law, should the justice system be abolished ? N.d., Web.

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Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?

Jan 8, 2007, 12:00 AM

Reprinted from the Sunday, January 7, 2007 edition of  The Tennessean

"Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time."

This popular refrain reduces a complex reality to simplistic rhetoric. It’s also wrong. While young people must be held accountable for serious crimes, the juvenile justice system exists for precisely that purpose. Funneling more youth into the adult system does no good and much harm.

Juveniles are not adults, and saying so doesn’t make it so. Besides, we don’t really mean it: When we try them in criminal court, we don’t deem them adults for other purposes, such as voting and drinking. We know they’re still minors — they’re developmentally less mature and responsible and more impulsive, erratic and vulnerable to negative peer pressure.

As people, they are still active works in progress. We just don’t like the logical consequences of that reality — that they are by nature less culpable than lawbreaking adults, even when they do very bad things. So we change the rules of the game.

Which is precisely what we’ve done. In the last decade, virtually every state has made it much easier to try juveniles as adults. These sweeping changes came amidst widespread alarm that a wave of "juvenile superpredators" was coming — which fortunately turned out to be false. (In fact, juvenile crime was already falling by the time states were tightening the screws.)

In some states, including Tennessee, there is now no minimum age for being transferred to criminal court for certain crimes. It’s not abstract: Kids as young as 10 have been charged as adults.

The consequences of this switch-up can be extreme. Most young offenders do not become adult criminals. But when we punish them as adults, we change those odds. Teens tried as adults commit more crimes when released; their educational and employment prospects are markedly worse, creating opportunity and incentive for more crime; they bear a lifelong, potentially debilitating stigma.

The separate juvenile system was developed both to mitigate these harms and because youth were being preyed upon and "schooled in crime" while in adult prisons. We are now sending them straight back to that harsh schoolyard. All this for little or no payoff: Increased transfer has never been shown to reduce juvenile crime.

Our desire to ratchet up consequences is understandable. Victims of juvenile crime don’t hurt any less, and close cases (say, crime committed the day before the 18th birthday) make age distinctions seem arbitrary. This is why we historically have built in a small "safety valve," under which transfer arguably is appropriate for those very few offenders who are extremely close to the age cutoff and commit particularly awful crimes. The trouble is that the valve has both expanded and lost its spring. Indeed, people now act as if the decision to treat a juvenile as a juvenile implies a judgment that the crime was not that serious, the victims not that worthy of respect.

It doesn’t have to be this way. I once attended the sentencing of a teenager — Clarence — who had killed a woman — Pauline — who sang in my choir. The proceeding was no less solemn, no less tragic by reason of being in a juvenile court. Clarence was sent to a secure facility that very much resembled a prison. His family was destroyed. Pauline’s family was destroyed. The only slight glimmer of hope was that Clarence might, while incarcerated, grow up and become a law-abiding adult and that we would not collectively make him worse than when he went in.

When we consign our youth to the adult system, we are throwing away even that glimmer. Juvenile sentences, in contrast, shield our youth from the unique dangers of adult facilities and preserve the possibility — however slight it may seem — of rehabilitation.

Terry A. Maroney joined the Vanderbilt Law faculty as assistant professor in Fall 2006.

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Trying and Sentencing Youth As Adults: Key Takeaways from Recent Petrie-Flom Center Event

By Minsoo Kwon

All 50 states have transfer laws that either allow or require children to be prosecuted in adult criminal court, rather than juvenile court. There is no constitutional right to be tried in juvenile court. What has modern neuroscience shown about the differences between the developing and the adult brain, and how justifiable is trying, prosecuting, and sentencing children in the adult criminal justice system?

Panelists discussed these topics during a recent webinar hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. This article highlights key points made during the conversation.

First, BJ Casey , Christina L. Williams Professor of Neuroscience at Barnard College explained key neuroscientific research that highlights the significant differences between the brains of children and adults.

• Casey presented data that focused on ages 10 to 25 years to demonstrate observable changes in the brain’s capacity for change, also known as plasticity, throughout the emerging adolescence period. She discussed additional relevant neuroscience concepts, such as structural changes in gray matter and cortical thickness, and changes in personality and self-regulation.
• Along with critical changes in the prefrontal cortex, there are changes in the deep primitive regions of the brain. Such regions, Casey noted, “are involved in desire, rage, and fight and flight.” Adolescents, she explained, have a “heightened sensitivity to emotional information related to rewards, threat, stress, also social information like peer influences. And this is combined with this under-appreciation of risks and consequences.”
• “There are expert and health organizations like the World Health Organization, NIH, United Nations who all acknowledge that there’s continued maturity and development that extends into the 20s and even our laws in this country recognize extended maturation in the early 20s with the extended age for drinking and foster care,” Casey said. “It’s not just special protections that youth need. [They also need] opportunities for them to build the very skills that are necessary for being a healthy independent adult and a contributing member of society.”
• Casey explained: “We know in the United States that psychopathy is relatively rare. The estimates are at one percent in this country. But what if we look at individuals who have psychopathic traits, does that change across development? I want to report the findings from over a thousand justice-involved youth who showed from 16 to 24 years of age a decrease in their psychopathic traits… the majority of youth who engage in antisocial behavior show declines in that criminal behavior with age, and with targeted interventions we could get an even bigger decline.”
• “It’s about getting the right treatment,” said Casey.
• The science does not support transferring children and youth to adult courts, she explained, not only because of the significant differences in brain structure and behavior, but also because there is hope to treat these youth with targeted interventions that would effectively curb criminal activity as they age into full adulthood.

Then, Marsha Levick , Chief Legal Officer and Co-Founder of the Juvenile Law Center, discussed specifics of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems in the U.S.

• “Once these youth are put into the adult criminal justice system, those systems are driven by punishment and retribution. They are not at all centered-on rehabilitation. The kinds of rehabilitation programs and positive interventions… will be significantly fewer, if they exist at all, than what you will see in the juvenile system,” Levick said.
• “What often happens is that judges will make determinations that they don’t think there’s enough time in juvenile court to allow for available treatment options to actually have an impact. It’s also often the case that there may simply not be a facility available in a particular jurisdiction,” Levick said.
• Instead, the juvenile justice system operates within 51 separate jurisdictions, each “constrained only by relatively minimal limitations that the U.S. constitution imposes upon them,” Levick said.
• “States that allow for this kind of charging discretion give these prosecutors unfettered discretion,” Levick said. This is particularly dangerous in states that have a “once an adult, always an adult,” policy. This means that once a child is transferred into the adult criminal justice system, they will automatically be treated as an adult for any relevant crimes going forward.

In their concluding remarks, Casey and Levick emphasized that a discussion of juvenile justice in the holistic sense must be one that acknowledges the power of targeted treatment in the prevention of crime, as well as the current structural problems that force children into the adult criminal justice system. Panelists ended with poignant statements of how the United States must begin to reconcile our treatment of justice-involved youth that is currently inconsistent with scientific evidence.

“We tolerate an inconsistency in how we approach young people who are involved with the justice system in this country that is irrational. It is completely counter to scientific knowledge that we possess and have reasonable access to,” Levick said. “The unwillingness to follow the science combined with a cultural commitment to punishment has really prevented us from making smart choices.”

Casey concluded: “We have a long way to go, but we really need to move in the direction of remediation, as opposed to being punitive… and that is going to be a real paradigm shift.”

This transcript has been edited and condensed. Watch the full event video here . This event was sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and is part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

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Minsoo Kwon

Minsoo Kwon is a Junior at Harvard University studying Neuroscience and an intern at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

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Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults Essay: Exploring Both Sides of the Debate

The question of why juveniles should be tried as adults in criminal courts is a complex and controversial issue that has generated much debate in recent years. Some people argue that minors who commit serious crimes should be held accountable and face the same punishment as adults who commit the same offenses. They contend that trying juveniles as adults will serve as a deterrent to other young people who may be considering committing similar crimes.

On the other hand, others argue that juveniles are not fully developed and should not be held to the same standards as adults. They contend that young people are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially, and that their decision-making abilities are not yet fully formed.

Additionally, research shows that juveniles who are tried as adults are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, become repeat offenders, and experience physical and sexual abuse while in prison. Therefore, it is important to examine both sides of the debate over trying juveniles as adults and consider the implications of each position. In this essay, we will explore the arguments for and against trying juveniles as adults, as well as the potential consequences of each approach. If you need help with writing such a complicated topic, specialists at custom writing service are always ready to help with arguments on any essay theme. Because, sometimes we need qualified assistance with a complex topic.

Juveniles Should be Tried as Adults: Pros, Cons, and Implications

On the one hand, proponents of “should juveniles be tried as adults thesis statement” argue that it is necessary to hold young offenders accountable for their actions. They contend that if minors commit serious crimes such as murder, rape, or armed robbery, they should face the same consequences as adults who commit the same crimes. They also argue that trying juveniles as adults will serve as a deterrent to other young people who may be considering committing similar offenses.

Arguments Against Trying Juveniles as Adults

However, opponents of trying juveniles as adults argue that minors are not fully developed and, therefore should not be held to the same standard as adults. They contend that adolescents are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially, and that their decision-making abilities are not yet fully formed. Besides, research shows that juveniles who are tried as adults are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, become repeat offenders, and experience physical and sexual abuse while in prison.

The Juvenile Justice System

Another argument against trying juveniles as adults is that the juvenile justice system was created specifically to handle young offenders. The system is designed to provide rehabilitation and support for minors who have committed crimes. Trying juveniles as adults undermines the purpose of the juvenile justice system and denies young people the opportunity to receive the treatment and support they need to turn their lives around.

The question of whether juveniles should be tried as adults is a complex one. While some argue that young offenders should be held accountable for their actions, others contend that minors are not fully developed and should not be held to the same standard as adults. Ultimately, the evidence suggests that trying juveniles as adults is counterproductive and may do more harm than good. It is important to remember that young people who commit crimes are still developing and have the potential to turn their lives around with the right support and intervention. Therefore, juveniles should not be tried as adults, but instead should be given the opportunity to receive rehabilitation and support through the juvenile justice system.

Tips and Strategies for Effective Argumentation

Before you start writing, do some research to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issue. Read academic articles, news reports, and other credible sources to get a broad perspective on the topic.

Define Key Terms

Be sure to define key terms in your essays on juveniles being tried as adults, such as “juveniles” and “adults.” This will ensure that your reader understands the meaning of these terms in the context of your argument.

Present Both Sides

Be sure to present both sides of the debate, and use evidence to support each position. This will demonstrate that you have done your research and understand the issue’s complexity.

Provide Examples

Use real-life examples to illustrate your points. This can help to make your argument more compelling and relatable to your reader.

Address Counterarguments

Acknowledge counterarguments to your position, and use evidence to refute them. This will demonstrate that you have considered different perspectives on the issue and can think critically about the topic.

Consider the Implications

In addition to presenting the arguments for and against trying juveniles as adults, consider the potential consequences of each approach. This can help to demonstrate the practical implications of the issue and show why it matters.

Edit and Proofread

Once you have written your essay, be sure to edit and proofread it carefully. Check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and make sure your writing is clear and concise. Overall, writing should juveniles be tried as adults essay requires careful research, consideration of different perspectives, and attention to detail. In general, ​​ informative essay writing it is a skill that is not easy for everyone to learn. By following these tips, you can produce a well-researched, persuasive, and compelling essay on this complex and vital issue.

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The Opinion Pages

No one younger than 18 should be tried as an adult.

Carmen Daugherty is the policy director for the Campaign for Youth Justice , which is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system.

Updated December 14, 2015, 10:40 AM

Laws that permit youth under the age of 18 to enter the adult criminal justice system represent a departure from the traditional understanding of juvenile justice — to serve the best interests of the child.

An overwhelming amount of research shows that the adult criminal justice system is ill equipped to meet the needs of youth offenders, from trial to incarceration and re-entry. Beyond what brain science reveals about adolescent development, experts contend that the adult criminal justice system does not deter repeat offenses by juveniles under 18.

Youth placed in the adult system had 34 percent more re-arrests, and often, at faster rates and more dangerous levels.

Youth placed in the adult system had 34 percent more re-arrests, and often, at faster rates and more dangerous levels. Mental health needs go unmet in adult settings across the country and little training is offered to facility staff on working with the youngest offenders. Meanwhile, the juvenile justice system, more broadly, puts an emphasis on the rehabilitation, treatment, education and public safety of youth in its care. It is rare that you will find that kind of express mission — let alone a program focused on treatment and education — in state departments of corrections.

Young offenders are more likely to succeed on a personal level if they receive comprehensive services that support positive youth development. But in a broader sense, comprehensive juvenile justice is safer for society as a whole. Ninety-five percent of youth charged as adults return home by their 25th birthday: Don’t we want them better off than when they entered the system?

Yet nine states still place 17-year-olds in the adult system for any offense — including simple misdemeanors or traffic related offenses — building permanent adult records for juveniles before they are even out of high school. For North Carolina and New York , the age one goes into the adult system is 16.

Nearly every state uses a variety of legal processes to transfer youth to the adult system sometimes, either through judicial or prosecutorial discretion or through laws that prevent certain alleged offenses from being heard in juvenile or family courts.

But the federal government has released recommendations on best practices and approaches to reducing children's exposure to violence — including a recommendation to avoid prosecuting youth in adult courts that "ignore and diminish their capacity to grow."

Join Opinion on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate .

Topics: age , criminal justice , juvenile

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Age Limit

Raising the Age Doesn't Lower Juvenile Crime

Young criminals tried as adults, raise the minimum age to 21.

No Younger Than 18

Raising the age doesn’t lower juvenile crime, related discussions.

Recent Discussions

Why Juveniles Should be Tried As Adults

Introduction.

Think tanks behind the juvenile justice systems intended to create rehabilitative mechanisms to reform juvenile offenders of minor crimes. However, it seems as if the youth perpetrate their crimes because they know that they do not stand punished by the juvenile justice system (Flesch 583). Suffice to say, the youths are protected by the outdated justice system that fails to nab the offenders and treat them like so. In order for a society to feel accommodated in the process of administration of justice and to deter more juveniles from perpetrating these serious crimes, criminals should be held accountable regardless of their age (Flesch 583; Pullmann 484).

Thesis statement

To preempt similar crimes from occurring, juvenile offenders should be tried as adults if circumstances demand that they be tried under the criminal justice system.

Critical Analysis

The purpose of juvenile justice system.

Contrary to some views, a proposal to try the youth as adults should not be construed to mean waging war on juveniles. Instead, it is a war to end the immeasurable loss of life, damage to property and damage to the moral fabric of the society. Retaining juvenile justice system and applying it regardless of the kind of crimes meted against innocent citizens is a systematic failure on the part of the government to redress the worrying situation (Russel 380).

Opponents of this proposal to try juvenile offenders as adults have raised their concerns about the punitiveness and ignorance of the correctional and educational aspects around juvenile recidivism. They have argued that changes in the law to include punishment for juvenile offenders is a concerted effort by the rich white to disenfranchise the youth, the colored and the poor in the society (Pullmann 486).

To hold such a sensational view in the wake of heightened insecurity (that is presided over by the same youth) is to deliberately shut our ears and close our eyes to the realities on the ground. It is a clear determination to blind ourselves from listening to the cries of the victims of these crimes. It is the failure to put ourselves in the same situation of the parents whose sons and daughters are shot every day. The same thinking protects and validates 16- and 17-year-old boys who stabbed someone else’s parents in the head (Pullmann 488).

Many preventable criminal acts perpetrated by the youth have for many years plagued the American society, but little has been done to deliver justice to the victims because offenders have escaped punishment because of their age. Protected by a less effective, retrogressive and lenient juvenile justice system, violent juveniles have continued to take advantage of the treatment and have held the society at ransom.

High profile killings and slayings have been the order of the day, and often we see many people lose their valuable lives in the hands of youth offenders. Punishment has been found to deter people, including the young from exhibiting bad behavior. In learning theory, punishment can serve as a negative reinforcement to discourage bad behavior and reinforce positive behavior instead (Pullmann 484). Using this proven learning theory, it follows that subjecting juveniles to adult punishment will be the only viable way of stopping rampant crimes in the city streets.

Reasons why adults should be tried under adult criminal justice systems

For many years, the debate on whether juveniles should be subject to the criminal justice system when they commit crimes has elicited different opposing reactions from people from the civil society, justice system and the parents. Under common law, a juvenile is any person under the age of seven years cannot be charged with criminal offenses, because they do not have the moral sense to differentiate between wrong and right (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 341).

The number of juvenile crimes has risen significantly, and evidence shows that the figure has tripled since the 1980s. The rising rate of crimes perpetrated by this group of people is worrying and legal experts suggest that the juvenile justice systems have failed to address this issue in their current form. The role of juvenile systems is to correct rather than to have juveniles punished. In the view of the fact that the juvenile justice system has been around for decades without successfully addressing the problem of increasing juvenile crimes, there is a need to shift the discussions and have juveniles tried in adult criminal justice systems (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 341).

While it is true that juveniles need to be reformed and turned into law-abiding citizens, there’s probably no reason to justify the continued call to uphold it amidst evidence of repeat offenses. There are circumstances that would justify a juvenile to be tried in the adult criminal justice system (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 341). In the case where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the juvenile committed heinous acts such as murder knowingly, the law should provide for such a child to be charged with crimes in the same way an adult would be charged, and if convicted, be jailed.

Circumstances when juveniles should be justified to be tried as adults

Since the establishment of the first juvenile court, the argument has been that juveniles should be transferred to adult courts if they cannot be rehabilitated in juvenile courts. The transfer of juvenile offenders from juvenile courts to adult courts, however, should be applied in limited situations. For the youth to retain their rights to rehabilitation, the judges presiding over juvenile courts must use their discretion sparingly during the hearings. This is because sending juveniles to adult courts is not, in most circumstances, the sole solution to juvenile crimes (Bergman, Paul, and Berman 35).

Studies have shown that juveniles who would have been rehabilitated but who end in adult jails end up as hardcore criminals upon release. Having said that, however, it is not agreeable that juveniles should strictly exempted from the adult criminal justice system. There should be a mechanism to allow upper courts to determine whether the juveniles who are convicted should be tried and prosecuted as adults.

When juveniles are tried as adults, the criminal justice system provides that they be subjected to the due process rather than obtain a blanket amnesty that borders on paternalistic treatment set aside for juvenile delinquency (Bergman, Paul, and Berman 135). The solution to juvenile crimes does not end with policies aimed at reforming the offenders. For many years, offenders have had to cause even more harm after serving their probation. Studies have also shown that juvenile repeat offenders are likely to commit serious crimes because of the leniency of the juvenile court system and paternalistic treatment of the crimes.

The restorative justice system goes further to involve the victims, the society and the offender in the search for justice. Unlike the juvenile system, which focuses on the offender, adult criminal justice system seeks to approach the issue from a holistic perspective (Bergman, Paul, and Berman 57). It proposes a strategy in which juvenile justice systems are supported while ensuring that the community gets involved in the process of healing the wounds of the victims (Russel 374). In addition, allowing juvenile offenders to be tried as adults means that the society appreciate the fact that victims of the crimes cannot be ignored even for a moment (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 356)

Recommendations

According to the American Jail Association, juveniles who’ve been tried and convicted as adults should be housed separately from adult convicts unless it is proven that the detention facility has special facilities to house juveniles (Russel 436). A jail term may not be sufficient to help juvenile offenders. There is a need to develop a corresponding corrective program to help juvenile convicts. The purpose of the criminal and juvenile justice system is to integrate punishment and correctional services.

This means that while punishment is welcome, it should not be used to condemn the youth to rot in jail without providing them with a second moment in life. Any criminal justice should follow a win-win formula in which the state punishes while the offender gains from the correctional services while serving their term in jail. Where a juvenile offender is found to pose serious risk to the community, it is recommended that he or she is detained in a juvenile detention center equipped with correctional, educational, and support services (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 355).

To ensure that the youth are treated with utmost fairness and within the limits of the law, there should be a defined minimum age at which a juvenile should be waived. Experts in psychology are of the view that juveniles aged 15 years and below do not have the necessary mental competency to help them acknowledge the degree of their crimes and the magnitude of the consequences they are likely to face. For this reason, it is would not be reasonable to subject youth under the age of 15 years to adult criminal system. When deciding who should be waived under the adult criminal justice system, juvenile judges should assess all the facts before deciding whether the juvenile should be rehabilitated or jailed (Jung, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Meredith 356).

However, amenability or waiver should not ignore the severity of the offense, but should be considered against several other factors. Judges should be careful to evaluate the history of the youth within the context of the juvenile justice system. Juveniles who are considered repeat or chronic offender is the right candidate for a waiver. This can be determined by the frequency of arrests and the severity of the crimes. Juvenile judges should be empowered to evaluate the offender against all the factors established by the Kent Supreme Court. In an effort to allow juveniles enjoy their rights to due process, the justice system should allow juveniles offenders the right to appeal in circumstances where the judge waives.

There is a need to ensure not only a just society, but also instill the virtue of accountability for actions and omission by all citizens in the society. Restorative justice proposes a fair system that holds citizens to account. Accountability, however, does not stop with serving a probation period, visiting a counseling professional or reforming from drug abuse (Bergman, Paul, and Berman 126). Instead, it means letting the offender take responsibility for his or her actions while at the same time repairing the harm caused to the victim or the community.

Works Cited

Bergman, Paul, and Berman, Barrett. The Criminal Law Handbook : Know Your Rights, Survive the System (3rd ed). California : Nolo Press, 2000. Print.

Flesch, Lisa M. “Juvenile Crime and Why Waiver is Not the Answer.” Family Court Review 42 (2004): 583. Print.

Jung, Sandy, Ahn-Redding, Heather and Allison, Meredith . “ Crimes and Punishment: Understanding of the Criminal Code.” Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice 56.3 (2014): 341-366. Print.

Pullmann, Michael D. “Predictors of Criminal Charges for Youth in Public Mental Health During the Transition to Adulthood . ” Journal of Child & Family Studies 19.4 (2010): 483-491. Print.

Russel, Sarah F. Review for Release: Juvenile Offenders, State Parole Practices, and the Eighth Amendment, Indiana Law Journal 89.1 (2014): 373-440. Print.

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Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults, Essay Example

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Teens commit crimes that are extremely serious even when compared to the crimes committed by adults. While it is critical to note that, most of the teen act of ignorance at the time of crime commissioning, the magnitude of the crimes that they commit have serious implications to the society such as rape cases, murder and violent robbery (Frola, 45-65). Most people oppose the trial of teens as adults because they fear ruining the future lives of the teen. It is argued that, the teens can be rehabilitated and change their behavior to become productive citizens in the future. Therefore, the punishment should be relatively mild that involves shortened sentences hence in most cases. However, the families of the victims continue to suffer endlessly due to the injuries inflicted by the so called juvenile offenders. The perception of judicial system to accord a second chance to such criminals has is therefore a taint to the society with murders and rapists who are never tired of committing even crimes of higher magnitude.

Offering justice to the victims of a crime demands that, a criminal is sentenced based on the severity and nature of crime committed and not by the age of the criminal (Clayton, 20-22).

Every person must account for his or her actions and in case the actions resulted to killing or hurting another person, then the culprit must be subjected to the harshest punishment that correlated with the crime committed. The judiciary must disregard the age factor in dispensing justice. Although some people are for the opinion that juveniles have the chance to learn from the mistakes that they have already committed and that they can easily be rehabilitated, the possibility of repeating a similar action, or even a worse action cannot be ruled out (Griffin, 63). Equally important consideration is that, the judicial system is supposed to deliver justice both to the offender and the victim. While the courts attempt to be lenient to the offender on account of their age, this translates to a gloss violation of justice for the victim.

Works cited

Frola, Margaret. “Low-Risk Youths Referred to Pima County Juvenile Court Center Detention Intake:Needs, Detention, and Recidivism.” Juvenile & Family Court Journal 60, no. 3: 45-65, 2009.

Clayton, John. “Washington’s Journey with Evidence-Based and Research-Based Programs in Juvenile Justice.” Policy & Practice 70, no. 3: 20-22, 2012.

Griffin, Patrick, Sean Addie, Benjamin Adams, and Kathy Firestine. Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of State Transfer Laws and Reporting. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2011.

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Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults

This essay about the adjudication of juveniles navigates the intricate ethical and sociological implications of trying them as adults. It explores the tension between cognitive development and legal culpability, advocates for accountability and deterrence, prioritizes victim rights, and discusses the delicate balance between recidivism and rehabilitation. By intertwining developmental insights with imperatives of societal welfare, it proposes a nuanced approach to juvenile justice that transcends binary discourse, fostering a holistic milieu centered on justice and compassion.

How it works

Within the labyrinth of legal discourse, the interrogation of whether juveniles should be subjected to adult trials resonates with profound ethical and sociological implications. This perennial debate, entwined with the nuances of morality, rehabilitation paradigms, and societal safety nets, forces a contemplation of the intricate balance between justice and compassion. This essay embarks on a nuanced exploration of the contention surrounding the adjudication of juveniles, advocating for a contextualized approach that amalgamates developmental insights with the imperatives of accountability and societal welfare.

Navigating Developmental Dynamics:

At the heart of the discourse lies the dialectic tension between the evolving cognitive landscape of juveniles and the imperatives of legal culpability. Adherents of a lenient approach underscore the inherent disparities in cognitive maturation, emphasizing the protracted neurobiological transformation characterizing adolescence. Undoubtedly, adolescence is a stage rife with cognitive flux, where impulse control and foresight often lag behind burgeoning emotions. However, such assertions, while cogent, falter in their universal applicability. The heterogeneity of adolescent experiences necessitates a discerning lens, one that discerns between impulsive misdemeanors borne of developmental turbulence and premeditated transgressions indicative of a matured agency.

Embracing Accountability and Deterrence:

Integral to the fabric of any justice system is the principle of accountability, which undergirds the moral edifice of societal order. Advocates of trying juveniles as adults accentuate the imperatives of accountability, echoing the sentiments of retributive justice. The premise that actions must engender commensurate consequences resonates deeply within legal philosophy, heralding a system predicated on the principle of just deserts. Furthermore, the deterrence argument, predicated on the notion that stringent penalties dissuade potential offenders, underscores the pragmatic exigency of adult trials. The specter of adult repercussions, with its attendant gravity, serves as a potent deterrent, dissuading juveniles from traversing the perilous terrain of criminality.

Restoring Equilibrium: A Victim-Centric Paradigm:

At the nucleus of the justice paradigm lies the plight of victims, whose narratives are often eclipsed amidst the discourse on offender rehabilitation. The reification of victim rights necessitates a recalibration of legal praxis, one that ensures that justice is not merely dispensed but also perceived. Victims of heinous crimes, ensnared in the labyrinth of trauma, yearn for closure and vindication. By adjudicating juveniles as adults in egregious cases, the legal apparatus not only amplifies the voices of victims but also fosters a climate of restorative justice. Denying victims the catharsis of witnessing perpetrators being held accountable obfuscates the path to healing, perpetuating the specter of unresolved trauma.

Striking a Delicate Balance: Recidivism and Rehabilitation:

Critics of the adult trial paradigm often invoke the specter of recidivism, cautioning against the potential erosion of rehabilitation efforts. The punitive tenor of adult correctional facilities, juxtaposed against the malleable psyches of juveniles, portends a perilous trajectory fraught with recidivist pitfalls. However, such apprehensions, though valid, elide the nuances of a holistic rehabilitative schema. The confluence of accountability and rehabilitation, rather than constituting antithetical poles, can synergistically coalesce within a judicious legal framework. Tailored intervention programs, replete with therapeutic modalities and reintegration initiatives, hold the promise of not only ameliorating recidivist propensities but also engendering a restorative ethos conducive to societal reintegration.

Conclusion:

In summation, the discourse surrounding the adjudication of juveniles is a dialectic tapestry interwoven with the threads of moral imperatives and societal exigencies. The dichotomous imperatives of accountability and rehabilitation, far from constituting mutually exclusive propositions, converge within a nuanced legal prism. By recalibrating the paradigm of juvenile justice, cognizant of developmental dynamics and societal imperatives, the legal apparatus can transcend the shackles of binary discourse, engendering a holistic milieu predicated on the twin pillars of justice and compassion. Thus, the imperative lies not in succumbing to the allure of categorical imperatives but in embracing the dialectic flux inherent within the crucible of justice.

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The Controversial Debate of Trying Juveniles as Adults in the Criminal Justice System

Juvenile justice has been a matter of great concern for policymakers, judges, and the public for many years. One of the most controversial debates in the field is whether juveniles should be tried as adults. In recent years, the trend of trying juveniles as adults has increased, and many are questioning the wisdom of this approach. This article will explore the issue of trying juveniles as adults and the arguments for and against this practice.

Table of Contents

What is the definition of a juvenile?

A juvenile is defined as a person under the age of 18. In most states, juveniles are considered minors and are therefore subject to different legal provisions and procedures than adults. Juvenile justice systems were established in the late 19th century to provide a separate and distinct system of justice for minors. The primary purpose of this system was to provide rehabilitation and education to young offenders, rather than punishment.

Why do some juveniles get tried as adults?

In some cases, juveniles who have committed serious crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, may be transferred from the juvenile justice system to the adult criminal justice system. This transfer can occur through a judicial waiver, where a judge decides to transfer the case to adult court, or through statutory exclusion, where state law requires that certain crimes be tried in adult court.

Arguments in favor of trying juveniles as adults

The seriousness of the crime: Proponents of trying juveniles as adults argue that some crimes are so serious that the perpetrator, regardless of age, should be held accountable in the adult criminal justice system. They believe that trying juveniles as adults is a necessary step in ensuring that violent and dangerous criminals are punished and held accountable for their actions.

Public safety: Another argument in favor of trying juveniles as adults is that it protects the public from future harm. Juveniles who have committed serious crimes are often considered a high risk of re-offend, and many believe that trying them as adults will reduce this risk and protect the public from future harm.

Deterrence: Some proponents argue that trying juveniles as adults will serve as a deterrent to other juveniles who may be considering committing crimes. They believe that the threat of being tried as an adult will deter juveniles from committing serious crimes, thereby reducing the number of crimes committed by minors.

Arguments against trying juveniles as adults

Lack of maturity: Opponents of trying juveniles as adults argue that juveniles are not fully developed and lack the maturity of adults. They believe that juveniles are less able to understand the consequences of their actions and that they should be given a chance to reform and change their ways.

Rehabilitation: Another argument against trying juveniles as adults is that the adult criminal justice system is not equipped to provide the rehabilitation and education that juveniles need. Juvenile justice systems are designed to provide rehabilitation and education, whereas adult criminal justice systems are primarily focused on punishment.

Permanent consequences: Those against trying juveniles as adults argue that the consequences of being tried as an adult can be permanent and have a devastating impact on the juvenile’s future. A criminal record can limit job opportunities and make it difficult for a juvenile to reintegrate into society.

The debate over trying juveniles as adults is a complex and controversial issue that elicits strong opinions on both sides. Both arguments have merit, and the decision to try a juvenile as an adult should not be taken lightly. The goal of the juvenile justice system should be to provide rehabilitation and education to young offenders, while also holding them accountable for their actions and protecting the public from future harm.

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22 Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults Pros and Cons

The United States is the only country in the world where the justice system will sentence children to death behind bars for the crimes that they commit. Although the conduct is usually deemed to be violent, which makes the individual a threat to the general population, there is no way out of the system if you are a juvenile tried as an adult and then sentenced to life in prison.

Cyntoia Brown is one story of about 10,000 who was sentenced as a juvenile for killing a man when she was just 16 years old. She was given clemency in 2019 after serving 15 years in prison for the crime. She has always maintained that her actions were in self-defense because the man she killed had purchased her for sex.

Brown reportedly shot the man while he was sleeping, and then stole his cash, guns, and truck as she fled the scene. Prosecutors argued that her motivation for killing was motivated by robbery instead of self-defense.

25% of the people who were sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile have no possibility of parole. As a nation, the pros and cons of having juveniles being tried as an adult is a subject with which many have been grappling for generations. It was as early as 1899 when the United States began creating the first courts for youth offenders. These are the key points to consider.

List of the Pros of Trying Juveniles as Adults

1. It offers a suitable penalty for severe crimes that some juveniles commit. Even though they are juveniles because of their age, people under the age of 18 can commit severe crimes. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there are approximately 350 killed each year because of a lone juvenile offender. Although this number is roughly 75% less than what it was in the early 1990s, it is still one of the highest rates in the world today. Approximately 40% of the murders that occur which involve a juvenile include an adult as well.

2. It reduces the chance that a repeat offender will commit multiple severe crimes. From data released in 2016, the OJJDP reports that known juvenile offenders were involved in approximately 700 murders in the United States. That represents about 7% of all the known murder offenders which are in the country. Between 2003 to 2006, the estimated number of juvenile murder offenders increased by 32% after the drop from the 1990s before it was able to fall by 31% through 2016.

3. It treats teens who are almost adults as part of the adult system for the purpose of justice. The severity of a crime that a juvenile commits typically increases as they get older. This trend is especially prevalent for homicide offenses. In 2016, approximately 9% of the known juvenile homicide offenders were under the age of 15. Within that same data set, 79% of the offenders were either 16 or 17 years old at the time they committed the crime. By sentencing them in a way that is similar to what an adult would receive, these older teens do not receive “credit” for the fact that they may only be a few months away from becoming a legal adult in the United States.

4. It creates a level of certainty in the justice system for victims. Although it does not happen often, young children sometimes decide to commit premeditated crimes, including homicide, and the criminal justice system must respond appropriately. There is a case of a 10-year-old girl in the state of Wisconsin who was charged in 2018 in the killing of a 6-month-old, and state law requires anyone who is age 10 or above to have their case brought in adult court.

In this case, the 10-year-old girl allegedly dropped the baby boy, who then hit his head and began to cry. The girl then allegedly panicked, choosing to stomp him on the head to get him to be quiet. She told authorities that she was afraid that she would get into trouble. Prosecutors charged her with first-degree intentional homicide.

5. It provides a measure of consistency for the severity of the crime. In 2006, the bodies of Marc and Debra Richardson, along with their 8-year-old son, were discovered in their home by an even younger boy who saw them through the window. The couple’s 12-year-old daughter was missing from the home, so the first inclination for law enforcement was to think an abduction occurred. The reality of this crime scene is that Jasmine Richardson killed her parents and brother, stabbing the young boy in the chest while her boyfriend slit his throat. Her boyfriend was 23 and a “self-proclaimed 300-year-old werewolf.” Jasmine was given 10 years in prison.

She was scheduled to complete her sentence in 2015, but then was released to the community in 2012 despite being convicted of a triple homicide.

6. It can offer services to the youth that would not be available in the juvenile system. The juvenile system focuses on providing youth offenders with counseling, vocational development, and school access which allows them to continue with their studies. There may be some mental health supports available as well. When they are sentenced to the adult system, then they can take advantage of the additional programming that is available there, including addiction support, GED learning, and opportunity to continue an education.

7. It provides a way to teach accountability. Children are often a product of their home environment. If illegal actions seem like they are “normal” or “accepted” in their household, then they will see that as being an acceptable course of action to take in the rest of society as well. Juvenile courts do not offer records that provide an explicit proof of lenience that is based on age, but the sentences offered to kids that are comparable to adult crimes suggest that this is a conclusion one could draw from the data. At some point, society needs to teach all youth, no matter what their home background may be, that there are actions which are permitted and ones that are not for the greater protection of everyone. Juveniles being tried as an adult is one way that we can begin this lesson.

8. It treats severe crimes with the seriousness that they deserve. There are many crimes which children commit that are severe and draw into question how safe a community would be if they were allowed to be set free or serve a reduced or alternative sentence. Diante Pellum was 14 years old when he was accused of shooting another teen in the back of the head near Federal Way in Washington. Alexander Crisostomo was ordered to stand trial as an adult for killing a 41-year-old man when he was just 15. If these teens where given a standard youth sentence, then there is an excellent chance that they would be back on the street by the age of 25. Sentencing them as an adult gives the justice system the time it needs to offer a true chance at rehabilitation.

9. It provides the community with an opportunity to have a say in the process. When children are tried in juvenile court, then the judge presiding over the case will have the final decision as to what the outcome of the proceedings will be. That means the judge is responsible for determining the guilt or innocence of the juvenile, and what their sentence should be for their crime. By transferring the case to the adult court system, it provides an opportunity for the community to weigh in on what they believe the outcome of the case should be. If they feel like it is improper to have the case held there, then they can take permitted actions as a juror to make that preference known.

List of the Cons of Trying Juveniles as Adults

1. It does not take into account the maturity of the child. Laurence Steinberg works as an adolescent psychologist and he told Inside Edition in 2018 that it is rare to have juveniles tried as adults. In his opinion, this option for the justice system should be limited to teens who are at least 15 years old and are repeat violent offenders. In regards to the case of the 10-year-old girl in Wisconsin, Steinberg said that she wouldn’t likely pass a competency test to stand trial in the first place. It is unconstitutional to try someone in court who doesn’t know what is going on.

2. It does not usually offer an opportunity for rehabilitation. In another case from the state of Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls were accused of repeatedly stabbing their classmate to honor the Internet character “Slenderman.” The Supreme Court for the state made the decision to try these two girls as adults. Both of them chose to plead guilty to the crime, of which their “friend” was able to survive. One girl was sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution, while the other was given 40 years. The adult system simply does not have the capacity to respond to the needs of children, especially those who are young, in ways that are developmentally appropriate.

3. It creates an element of risk for the child while they are in prison. There are approximately 10,000 children who are currently housed in adult prison or jails on any given day in the United States. This response to the crime places them at a needless risk because a child is five times more likely to be sexually assaulted when serving time in an adult prison than they are if they are in a juvenile facility. These kids are 36 times more likely to commit suicide as well. There are untreated mental illnesses to consider, limited experiences in managing anxiety or trauma, and impulsive actions that are related more to biological development than logical outcomes.

Kalief Browder was 22 years old when he eventually committed suicide in June 2015. He had spent several years in solitary confinement as a teen at Rikers Island because he had allegedly stolen a backpack.

4. It reduces the number of options that are available for sentencing. Judges who work in the juvenile justice system have multiple options available to them when sentencing children who commit a crime. Their options include house arrest, curfew, counseling, or treatment in residential programs in addition to juvenile facilities which are similar to jails or prisons. Moving a child into the adult court system exposes them to the mandatory sentencing guidelines which exist in most jurisdictions.

For the 10-year-old girl in Wisconsin who is accused of committing first-degree homicide, it is a Class A felony which can be sentenced to only life imprisonment. There are four articles of defense which can shift that penalty to something shorter, but it requires adequate provocation, unnecessary defensive force, the prevention of a felony, or the event occurred through coercion or necessity. There is very little wiggle room in these guidelines to address juveniles who are charged as an adult.

5. It creates more opportunities for youth to become repeat offenders. The recidivism rates of juvenile offenders are typically much lower than they are for adults who are sentenced to jail or prison. General rates usually range from a low of 7% at 1 year of follow up to a high of 79% after 7 years of their initial release date. For youth offenders the rates range from a low of 0% after 1 year to a high of 41% after 5 years when following up if they were sentenced to a youth facility. When juveniles are with adults in the justice system, then their rates begin to climb to match those of the older offenders.

Statistics gathered from 15 different states revealed that juveniles prosecuted in adult court and released from a state prison had a recidivism rate of 82% compared to a 16% rate for their adult counterparts.

6. It prevents a child from having a fresh start even after they make necessary changes. When children receive a conviction in the juvenile justice system, then their records are typically not accessible once they reach a specific age (usually 18 or 21, depending on their state). If the pre-teens or teens are tried and convicted as an adult, then this action stays on their permanent record. It becomes an accessible public record which employers, landlords, and others would research, which could limit their access to certain jobs or housing situations.

People who are convicted of a felony have an exceptionally difficult time trying to find employment in our current economy. Only 28 states have passed laws which ban employers from placing the conviction history of an individual on a job application. White males with a felony conviction receive a 17% callback rate, which is the highest of any demographic.

7. It does not reflect the understanding of the children in question. There is an argument to be made that a 17-year-old committing a severe crime understands what they are doing and is willing to take on the risk of experiencing the potential for legal consequences because of their actions. When 9-year-old Cameron Kocher fired a rifle out of a window, accidentally striking his 7-year-old neighbor who was riding a snowmobile, that may not be the case.

When deciding to charge the young boy as an adult, the district attorney argued that Kocher lied in his answer – and lying is an “adult” response. He also fell asleep during the pretrial motions of the case, which showed a “lack of remorse” to prosecutors. We must remember that children and adults think differently, so trying to place adult responses on youth is not always appropriate.

8. It does not always reflect a measure of culpability. Every day in the United States, offenders receive different sentences even if they caused the same harm because there are differences in culpability with each case. Adolescents are struggling with decision-making skills that are underdeveloped, immature, and impulsive. They do not experience future orientation in the same way that adults do. There is also a higher level of susceptibility to negative peer pressure in youth. Brain imaging reinforces the differences in physical structures that can impact the ability to reason or weigh the consequences of an action in children.

9. It does not provide them with youth-specific services. Although there are advantages to having older teens in the adult system because they can take advantage of the available services, younger children require a juvenile-specific approach that is not available if they are tried and convicted as an adult. When kids enter the adult court system, then they do not usually have the same opportunity to acquire critical skills, experiences, or competencies that are critical to their future success as an adult. They are instead subjected to an environment where adult offenders become their teachers and idols, which can often lead to an ongoing cycle of crime.

10. It is a process which seems to disproportionally target minority demographics. According to the 2016 juvenile justice report released by King County, WA, more than 85% of the defendants charged with robbery were 16 or 17 years old, with 50% of them using a firearm to commit their crime. Out of this group, African-American teens made up 43% of those who were filed upon during the study period for the report. When looking at the racial demographics of the county (which is where Seattle is located), only 6.2% of the population is African-American.

11. It does not give a defendant an opportunity to be tried by a “jury of their peers.” In the United States, you must be old enough to vote in order to sit on a jury. When teens under the age of 18 are charged with an adult crime, then one could argue that they are not having their case reviewed by people who are authentic peers. Someone who is in their 40s is going to have a very different life perspective than someone who is 16 years old. Although any crime deserves a potential consequence no matter how severe it might be, there is also a need to create a fair outcome which takes every element of the experience into consideration and that may not always happen when the decision is made to try juveniles as adults.

12. It can eliminate civil responsibilities for actions at the household level. If a juvenile is charged with an adult crime, then such an action may limit the civil responsibilities that the parents have for the conduct of their child. Because the individual is being treated as an adult in the situation, some jurisdictions limit how victims can civilly pursue for damages that they may have suffered in that situation. There are other parental rights which may disappear in this situation as well, further limiting the way the legal system can attempt to make things right. In the quest to achieve justice, it is very possible to lose sight of it.

13. It creates a lifetime of effects for the child in question. Charging juveniles in adult court will often cause exorbitant expenses that can often worsen the poverty that a family experiences. The economic burden of court costs, legal fees, restitution, and visitation can have long-term consequences for everyone involved. It creates a lifetime of negative impacts for the child because they have multiple obstacles in their way to create the change that is necessary – assuming that they are not serving multiple decades in prison for their crime in the first place.

The pros and cons of juveniles being tried as an adult are beginning to find some resolution. The Supreme Court of the United States declared that all states must retroactively apply a band on mandatory death-in-prison sentences for juveniles. Justice Kennedy at the time even wrote that children who commit heinous crimes are capable of changing. There is a need to protect the general population against violent actions. We also have a responsibility as a society to give our children a fighting chance for success.

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The Health Divide: Should juveniles ever be sent to an adult prison?

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In November 2022, a 10-year-old Milwaukee boy (let’s call him “Ken”) asked his mom to buy him a popular virtual reality headset.

His mom refused, and Ken got upset. 

The following morning, Ken told police he was playing with a gun he got from his mother’s bedroom and went to the basement, where she was doing the laundry. He said he was twirling the gun around his finger, and the gun fired, striking his mom. The 44-year-old woman died at the scene.

I’m not identifying the boy or his 44-year-old mother due to his age and the circumstances of the case. 

Ken said the shooting was an accident, and the police allowed Ken to stay with his aunt. Ken’s aunt didn’t believe his version of the shooting. 

When she asked him where their house keys were, Ken grabbed them and said he had hidden them from his mom. The key ring contained a key that opened a lock box where his mom stored her handgun.

The morning after his mother’s death, Ken logged onto his mother’s Amazon account and ordered the virtual reality headset.

When his aunt questioned Ken about the shooting, he told her he pointed the gun at his mom and pulled the trigger. She said her nephew never showed any remorse about the shooting.

In Wisconsin, children as young as 10 can be charged as adults, depending on the seriousness of the crime.

Despite Ken’s actions,  activists in Milwaukee and across the country have called for the case to be moved to juvenile court. On March 11, 2024, a reverse trial started to see if Ken’s case should be returned to the juvenile system.

“To put him back into the juvenile system  severely limits the protection to the public and ultimately the protection to (the defendant),” Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Gil Urfer told WISN Channel 12.

Charging a juvenile as an adult can impact their future forever

How to prosecute or punish youth for series crimes has long been debated. 

Some of the arguments against trying youth as adults are:

• Lack of maturity:  Youth brains are still developing and  don’t understand the consequences of their actions .  
• Rehabilitation:  Juvenile justice systems are designed to provide rehabilitation and education to youth, while adult criminal justice facilities are not.
• Permanent consequences:  Child rights advocates argue that when you charge a juvenile as an adult, their future is impacted forever.

Bryan Stevenson, author of the bestselling novel “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” has dedicated his life to addressing inequalities in the justice system. He believes children should never be pushed into adult prison or receive adult punishment because of their lack of brain development. 

Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a grantee of the Open Society Foundations, told The Washington Post  that children need extra protection .

Their maturity, judgment, and development don’t permit us to treat them like adults. That’s why we don’t let even the most intelligent kid smoke, drink, vote, or drive cars before they’re eligible, Stevenson said.

Despite Stevenson’s arguments, there are 20 states in the U.S. that allow juveniles to be tried and sentenced as adults, and face life imprisonment in exceptional cases.

For child advocates like Stevenson, there is some good news.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of juveniles incarcerated in all U.S. adult prisons or jails has declined from a peak of 10,420 in 2008 to a low of 2,250 in 2021. 

In 2021, 87% of juveniles in adult correctional facilities were held in local jails, and 13% were held in prisons, compared to 66% in local jails and 34% in prisons in 2002, the earliest year for which comparable data are available for both populations, reports show.

Black youth are being transferred to adult prison at higher rates

When Ken was led into court for a “reverse wavier” in March to determine if the case should be sent to juvenile court, his defense attorney, Tanner Kilander, argued that prosecuting Ken as an adult “would result in the longest period of supervision ever ordered in the history of our state.”

Kilander also argued that Ken — a fourth-grader — suffered a concussion when he fell off a swing at school about a year before the shooting. She said the head injury changed his behavior, and he was never the same.

During testimony, lawyers argued for and against sending Ken to juvenile court. Two psychologists also disagreed on his ability to understand courtroom concepts.

Ken sat at the desk during the testimony with a maroon-issued detention sweater and khaki pants. Most of the time, he just twiddled his fingers.

Ken has had several violent outbursts in the past. He took a flammable liquid and set the couch on fire. When asked why he did it, he claimed he heard voices. He also abused a puppy.

Ken’s case is not just about his mother’s death. This case is about whether a child should be punished as an adult for something tragic that he did at the age of 10.

I can’t fathom charging a kid so young as an adult. 

The best place for youth who commit violent crimes is the juvenile system, where the focus can be on the child’s rehabilitation. Adult prisons inhibit a youth’s access to treatment, education, and members of support networks to get better. 

Some youth advocates also argue that Ken — who is African American — would not be in this position if he were white.

In the U.S., people of color are overrepresented in every stage of the juvenile justice system. Black youth were 2.4 times more likely to be arrested than White youths. In Washington, D.C. alone, Black youth are  11 times  more likely to be incarcerated than white youth. 

In addition, while overall rates of juvenile incarceration have declined, the rates at which  Black youth are being transferred to adult court are among the highest in 30 years of data collection, according to the brief “The Color of Youth Transferred to the Adult Criminal Justice System,” from the National Association of Social Workers.

Stevenson wants all these numbers to go down but said that will start with reforming the criminal justice system.

“Kids should not be sent to adult prison because the harsh environment prevents them from rebounding back from their past mistakes,” he wrote in “Just Mercy.”

Ken will be punished for his actions when he was 10, but how he’s punished is the key. Will it be an adult prison, where he receives little to no rehabilitation, or will it be in a youth prison, where he can one day be rehabilitated?

If we believe that 10, 11 and 12-year-olds deserve to be incarcerated for decades or the rest of their natural lives, what does that say about us as a society?

A decision on Ken’s status will be made soon. 

Follow me on X at @jecausey, and I will keep you posted.

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Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Juvenile Justice System — Discussion Of Whether Juveniles Should Be Tried As Adults

Discussion of Whether Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults

• Categories: Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Justice System Punishment

About this sample

Words: 819 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 819 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Reference list

• American Bar Association. (2016). Should Juveniles Be Charged as Adults in the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens- rights/articles/2016/should-juveniles-be-charged-as-adults/
• Borkar, R. (2018, May 31). Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults? [Web blog post]. Retrieved from https://opinionfront.com/should-juveniles-be-tried-as-adults
• Connect US. (2019). 22 Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults Pros and Cons. Retrieved from https://connectusfund.org/22-should-juveniles-be-tried-as-adults-pros-and-cons
• Steinberg, L. (2015, February 6). Sentences Should Acknowledge Juveniles’ Maturity, and Immaturity. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/05/when-to-punish-a-young- offender-and-when-to-rehabilitate/sentences-should-acknowledge-juveniles-maturity- and-immaturity
• Vision Launch. (2016). Pros and Cons of Juveniles Being Tried As Adults. Retrieved from http://visionlaunch.com/pros-and-cons-of-juveniles-being-tried-as-adults/

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Sample Persuasive Speech: Juveniles should/should not be tried as adults

Juveniles include delinquents, state offenders, and dependent/neglected children. Only delinquents commit acts that are defined as criminal for an adult. Criminal elements may use delinquents in the crimes for which an adult would be sentenced to death. A capital crime is not an excuse for not being tried as an adult. A youngster who is capable of taking a life once may be tempted to do it again, after serving a sentence in a juvenile prison. Everything depends on the seriousness of the crime. Juvenile places of detention are overcrowded. So, some juveniles may have a traumatic experience, housed in adult jails. Here, criminogenic influences may ruin any hopes of a positive transformation. Delinquency cases amount to about 1, 5 millions annually. More than half of them are property crimes. In 1994, 12, 000 delinquency cases were moved to adult criminal court by a process of certification after a transfer hearing. A disposition hearing may sentence up to 20 percent of delinquents to imprisonment. Only six percent of juvenile crimes are violent. About a third of all juvenile arrests for homicide occur in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and New York. Most juvenile crimes are gang-related. Are you ready to label a teenager a life-long criminal? Is it just to blame this person for unfavorable living conditions and unlucky circumstances that led to a criminal act? Adolescents and adults must be treated differently. First, juveniles are less responsible for their acts than adults. Second, they are less protective. Third, juveniles’ courts should not be modeled on the adult criminal system. Fourth, juvenile gangs are different from adult gangs. The threat of juvenile crime leads to more emphasis on punishment than on juveniles’ rights. First, rehabilitation has poor results. Second, organized delinquency is a real threat to metropolitan areas. Third, repeated crimes are committed. Juvenile courts defend juvenile rights. They do not hold juveniles to the standards of accountability similar to those of adults. Juvenile courts give a priority to treatment, not detention. They call for the social environment that nurtures delinquency being effectively changed. Juvenile courts’ primary mission is to serve the best interests of children. Unless preventive interventions are taken to involve juveniles in positive human activities, juvenile delinquents will be doomed to face justice as adults.

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