Describe A Potential Classmate That You Believe You Could Learn From Either Within Or Outside A Formal Classroom Environment

There is an increase in the number of juveniles today who commit violent crimes such as murder or assault; or property crimes such as burglary, theft, drugs, or creating public nuisance. These are known as juvenile crimes. Generally, juvenile crimes are stated as an action which has been done by children under age children and this action is considered as an adult crime. Therefore, many of these children are being tried as adults. Nevertheless, there are many controversies about how these juveniles should be tried. Should they be tried as adults or taken to juvenile courts only? Should they be placed in prison or juvenile facilities such as state correctional facilities and foster homes? At what ages should they be considered as adults?

In "The Maximum Security Adolescent", an article which was published on September 10, 2000, at The New York Times Magazine and authored by Margaret Talbot, she observes extreme cases about juveniles who have been tried as adults, and she explains how those cases are increasing and more of those cases can be seen today. According to Talbot, Jefferson Alexander Stackhouse, a 14-year-old boy who committed juvenile crimes and was tried as adult, should not have been tried as adult since he was too young. Moreover, she thinks that children younger than 16 years of age should be given only blended sentencing in which the punishment is to keep juveniles in juvenile facilities until they are 18 or 21. Later, officials would decide if they should be release or not based on each juvenile's action inside the facility. On the other hand, Talbot thinks that children, 16-17 years old, should be tried because they are old enough and do belong in adult court. She bases this statement based on the history of juvenile sentencing which defines a different between children and adults. She also gives facts suggesting that by putting juveniles with adults in prison, it would be dangerous for children because of sexual exploitation and physical brutalization. In addition, based on a study in Florida, she claims that there will be a higher recidivism rate for juveniles who are sentenced as adults. Recidivism means the tendency that children will rearrested after leaving from prison (Talbot, 726-734).

As we have already known that juveniles are easier to sexually exploitation and physically brutalize than adults in the prison. Therefore, blended sentence is a punishment which I have never known before. It is a better way to punish juveniles who commit crimes. By giving this sentence, juveniles are being asked to stay at juvenile facilities. Inside these facilities, children will learn knowledge like other children who study at school. Professional teachers will take care of them. Beside knowledge, juveniles will also be taught to consider their actions before acting on them; to be a responsible person; and to understand crime is wrong and how it affects other people such as their parents. By having this sentence, Juveniles probably realize and understand that they are wrong and become more mature than before.

Jefferson Stackhouse, based on Talbot's article, is too young to be tried as an adult. He probably does not understand what he is doing is wrong. For instance, a fourteen-year-old child thinks that a gun, inside his mother's cupboard, is toy gun. He does not know