Should Juveniles Be Jailed For Life Essay

Should juveniles be jailed for life? The young juvenile defendant wearing a tattered bright orange jumpsuit was glumly staring at his greasy sweaty hands. Beside him, his suave and professional lawyer was repetitively clicking his pen in nervousness. The judge was about to give the verdict. All eyes were glued to the judge as he said the words that would change the juvenile’s life forever. He was being sentenced to life in prison as a part of a crime he committed with his friends. Many young adolescents some as young as 9 , are being forced to go to prison for long periods of time on an almost daily basis. Minor’s should not be allowed to be tried as adults and to be sentenced to life in prison, as an adult environment would be to brutal for them to cope with. In addition, most kids are very susceptible to peer pressure and often act on impulse in large groups. Furthermore, a majority of these children were abused and mistreated by their parents and grew up in “shady neighborhoods, where …show more content…
According to the National Institute of Justice, Being abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 percent, as an adult by 28 percent, and for a violent crime by 30 percent . These children are being put into a detrimental situation because of their parents neglectful lifestyle and harmful behavior towards their children. They should not be held as highly accountable, if abuse triggered their violent endeavor. Such can be examined from the case where a young 8-9 year old boy fatally shot his father and another man with a .22 gauge shotgun. Many people believe that abuse triggered the incident. Living in a violent household, can cause these crimes because children are exposed to violence at a young age, and are thus influenced to commit heinous