Essay On Minors Should Not Be Tried As Adults

When a person under the age of eighteen commits a crime, most of the time they will not be tried in the same manner as adults. The young defendant may go to court and his verdict might be much more lenient than if he had been a older person. Adults who commit these crimes usually know exactly what they are doing and they know exactly how wrong their crimes are, yet they continue to commit crimes. Minors, however, are still young and ignorant. Their brains are not fully developed yet, and they will make mistakes. Young people need to be taught not to commit crimes, but throwing them in jail for life will not teach them anything; instead, the entire life and the chance they have to learn their from their mistakes is gone. Not all juveniles are completely in control of their actions yet. They do not always know better, and they need to do things in order to learn in the future not to do wrong. Therefore, minors should not be tried as adults due to their capabilities of improving their …show more content…
The court in Illinois made a law saying anyone over the age of fifteen will be tried as an adult, meaning that Illinois feels that those minors are responsible for their own actions. Other oppositions may argue that a juvenile will not ever be tamed or learn from their mistakes, and that sending them through the court systems as they would an adult is the only way to make the young adult see the wrong in their ways. Juvenile crimes have increased by 67%. (“Teen Crime”, Donnelly and Lacayo) “In America today, no population serves a greater threat to public safety than juvenile criminals,” says Representative Bill McCollum, a Florida Republican who wrote the house version of the bill (“Teen Crime”, Donnelly and Lacayo). Arguers say that people only learn from actually experiencing jail as an adult would. In addition, some also argue that a young criminal should not be treated with lenieny at all, no matter the age or any mental conditions they