As we have relevant systems to discipline teenagers who commit crimes it seems unfair for them not to take responsibility for their actions. It seems absurd that someone can commit a violent crime such as murder and not be punished due to the fact they are a teenager. If you are old enough to commit a crime you are old enough to take the punishment which comes along with it and as we already have a justice system in place which takes age into account, there is reason as to why teenagers should not be held responsible for their crimes. There are a variety of differences between the juvenile justice system and the criminal justice system, one of the main ones being that teenagers on trial are not looked at as having committed a crime, they are
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This leads to them not knowing about possible consequences. It is harder for them to envision possible consequences of their actions. For instance, if you propose both to a teenager and to an adult to put on roller-skates and roll down a slope, it is more likely for the teenagers to accept this proposition than for the adult. The adult, unlike the teenager, is much more aware of the fact that such an activity can be potentially dangerous. [19]
Mentally challenged adults are being treated differently in court due to the different biology of their brains, why should not teenagers be treated special too? For instance,the Supreme Court of the U.S. has passed a law in the early 2000s which states that mentally retarded people will not be executed for their criminal activities due to their “reduced capacity for “reasoning, judgement, and control of their impulses,”” [19] Does this not sound familiar? This is how teenagers have been described by scientists as well as angry parents who realised you came home drunk at 4 a.m. This is also the same reason that in court cases lawyers argue that teenagers cannot be treated with the same severity as adults [19] , and one may even say that as this is a natural process of growing up to be a teenager, should these teenagers really be punished for something they may not even have control
This leads to them not knowing about possible consequences. It is harder for them to envision possible consequences of their actions. For instance, if you propose both to a teenager and to an adult to put on roller-skates and roll down a slope, it is more likely for the teenagers to accept this proposition than for the adult. The adult, unlike the teenager, is much more aware of the fact that such an activity can be potentially dangerous. [19]
Mentally challenged adults are being treated differently in court due to the different biology of their brains, why should not teenagers be treated special too? For instance,the Supreme Court of the U.S. has passed a law in the early 2000s which states that mentally retarded people will not be executed for their criminal activities due to their “reduced capacity for “reasoning, judgement, and control of their impulses,”” [19] Does this not sound familiar? This is how teenagers have been described by scientists as well as angry parents who realised you came home drunk at 4 a.m. This is also the same reason that in court cases lawyers argue that teenagers cannot be treated with the same severity as adults [19] , and one may even say that as this is a natural process of growing up to be a teenager, should these teenagers really be punished for something they may not even have control