Juveniles Should Be Tried As Adults Analysis

The article, “Juveniles Should Be Tried As Adults” by Mary Estudillo, brings up many strong arguments as to why juveniles should be tried as adults, but the opposing article, “Juveniles Should Not Be Tried As Adults” written by Hannah McCrea strongly claims they should not. Estudillo cites examples of cases in which juveniles committed first and second degree murder, and were thereafter tried as adults. She explains how juveniles should be tried as adults because they are criminals, and criminals need to held responsible for their actions. She also brings up how rehabilitation does little to sometimes nothing for the child, so when they are released, they commit another crime. Alternatively, McCrea authored “Juveniles Should Not Be Tried As Adults,” and states how adult prisons do more harm than good for juveniles. She brings up a report which states how juveniles are more likely to be targeted as prey for the older prisoners. She …show more content…
One cannot deny these adult jails contain cold criminals. These people are ruthless and will not just stop because a sixteen year old is their cell mate. As stated early, minors in adult jails are at a higher risk for being assaulted than any other prisoner, simply because the minor cannot defend him or herself (McCrea). However, minors who commit foul crimes should not be treated differently. “The crime that a 16-teen-year old commits is no different than that of a 60-year-old” (Estudillo). There is no reason why they should not be treated differently. It has been proven that crime committed by youth and crime committed by is drastically different. Adults have fully developed and a sixteen year old is not. A minor does not have the strength of an adult to commit a really dangerous crime. Therefore, juveniles should not be tried as adults because of the dangers an adult jail can do to a