The article raises the issue of whether young murder suspects should be tried as adults, as a result of cases in Massachusetts and how the State is going to handle the issue following the United States Supreme Court ruling that an Alabama law that gave juveniles convicted of murder mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional. Massachusetts law had anyone 14 years or older accused of murder be tried as an adult, the article at the time debated the next move the State’s Judicial Court will make.
DISCUSSION
While the article focuses on severe crime by juveniles, it sparks the broader debate as to whether juveniles should be tried in adult courts at all. This issue is important to me because our criminal justice system clearly distinguishes between adults and juveniles and has made juveniles court system different from adult court. Why then should certain discretions be allowed to decide to transfer a juvenile to an adult court because of they committed an ‘adult crime’? My position therefore …show more content…
Those in favor of juveniles being as adults may say that it will deter and minimize crimes committed by minors. Research has established that the mind of a juvenile is not as fully developed as that of an adult, no matter how expose they may have been in their development to suggest that they have cognitive abilities of an adult, which is the stand prosecutors like to take with their view that if a juvenile offender is tried as an adult and punished to the full extent of the law, they would probably think twice about committing a crime or violating the law. This is where I think that leaving this decision to the States courts to use their discretion can be
DISCUSSION
While the article focuses on severe crime by juveniles, it sparks the broader debate as to whether juveniles should be tried in adult courts at all. This issue is important to me because our criminal justice system clearly distinguishes between adults and juveniles and has made juveniles court system different from adult court. Why then should certain discretions be allowed to decide to transfer a juvenile to an adult court because of they committed an ‘adult crime’? My position therefore …show more content…
Those in favor of juveniles being as adults may say that it will deter and minimize crimes committed by minors. Research has established that the mind of a juvenile is not as fully developed as that of an adult, no matter how expose they may have been in their development to suggest that they have cognitive abilities of an adult, which is the stand prosecutors like to take with their view that if a juvenile offender is tried as an adult and punished to the full extent of the law, they would probably think twice about committing a crime or violating the law. This is where I think that leaving this decision to the States courts to use their discretion can be