Should Juveniles be Tried as Adults?
NO! Juveniles (under the age of 18) should not be tried as an adult; they should be charged and tried in juvenile court; this is why there is juvenile court. It is ridiculous that because of the Columbine shooting, the government decided to declare “war” against any juvenile criminal—they are children, not fully developed in any area (physical or mental).
I know there are horrendous crimes being committed by youngsters, but society must look at the underlying reasons that the crime was committed. Was the child being mistreated/abused/neglected? Was the child having adverse reactions to medication? Did the child have any mental illness? What mitigating circumstances surround the crime? We need to know the answers to these questions, as well as many others, before we just throw the child to the wolves in adult prison.
1. Do children/juvenile have the capacity to understand the consequences of their crimes? Are the …show more content…
A lot of them come from the ghetto areas, where there are a lot of drugs, poverty-stricken families, and crime. Many of the children in these troubled areas are growing up with PTSD, because of the drugs and related crime happening all around them. Children in these neighborhoods are seeing their parent(s) doing drugs, or even their mother is a hooker for drugs. They are in abusive and/or loveless homes. These kids are seeing their family members or friends dying right next to them or in their arms. They are growing up hard, facing many unpleasant realities that many of us do not have to think about, much less have to deal with at that age. They are not getting their basic needs met, and not getting the love that every individual needs to flourish. Many ghetto children have to bury their feelings and become hard-hearted just to survive in the streets. They join gangs, or are forced to join, and find the love they are missing at home within that
NO! Juveniles (under the age of 18) should not be tried as an adult; they should be charged and tried in juvenile court; this is why there is juvenile court. It is ridiculous that because of the Columbine shooting, the government decided to declare “war” against any juvenile criminal—they are children, not fully developed in any area (physical or mental).
I know there are horrendous crimes being committed by youngsters, but society must look at the underlying reasons that the crime was committed. Was the child being mistreated/abused/neglected? Was the child having adverse reactions to medication? Did the child have any mental illness? What mitigating circumstances surround the crime? We need to know the answers to these questions, as well as many others, before we just throw the child to the wolves in adult prison.
1. Do children/juvenile have the capacity to understand the consequences of their crimes? Are the …show more content…
A lot of them come from the ghetto areas, where there are a lot of drugs, poverty-stricken families, and crime. Many of the children in these troubled areas are growing up with PTSD, because of the drugs and related crime happening all around them. Children in these neighborhoods are seeing their parent(s) doing drugs, or even their mother is a hooker for drugs. They are in abusive and/or loveless homes. These kids are seeing their family members or friends dying right next to them or in their arms. They are growing up hard, facing many unpleasant realities that many of us do not have to think about, much less have to deal with at that age. They are not getting their basic needs met, and not getting the love that every individual needs to flourish. Many ghetto children have to bury their feelings and become hard-hearted just to survive in the streets. They join gangs, or are forced to join, and find the love they are missing at home within that