Essay: Should Young Offenders Be Tried As Adults

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Should young offenders who commit indictable offences be tried as adults and give up their rights to be tried under The Youth Criminal Justice Act?
We all know right from wrong, we all know not to make stupid decisions but adolescents do not think before they act they commit crimes and become young indictable offenders standing trial, but should these offenders be treated as adults and give up their right to be tried under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. All young offenders who commit indictable offences should NOT be tried as adults and give up their rights to be tried under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Young offenders who commit indictable offenses should not have their right to be tried under the Youth Criminal Justice Act taken away
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Studies show that the human brain is not fully developed until the age of 20 to mid-20s. “These findings have altered long-held assumptions about the timing of brain maturation. In key ways, the brain doesn’t look like that of an adult until the early 20s.” (National Institute of Mental Health p.2). The brain lacks the prefrontal cortex, the lobe of the brain that helps with reasoning and judgment, a fully developed cerebellum, the area of the brain that helps control impulse and when the brain is fully developed people start to make more educated decisions and think about consequences and other factors before committing an offense. Also teenagers are not full adults yet, they are still learning and starting to grasp life. If young people are not treated as adults in their day to day lives, they are not given the same responsibilities as an adult would be given then they should not be treated as an adult after making a mistake. That is why youth should not be tried as adults because their brains are not as developed and they cannot make smarter judgements like a developed adult

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