Juveniles Being Tried as Adults

Grizelda Aguilar^[a]

English 10

Mrs. Catanzarite

13 February 2015

Juveniles Being Tried As Adults^[b]

        In today's justice system, there are thin lines between what is right and wrong. One of the situations is our young adolescents being tried as adults. Throughout the past decades, statistics conclude that the youth committing crime has increased^[c]. Many of the crimes are not a simply non-violent act yet are results of mass shootings, stabbings and domestic crime. With crimes like these increasing, civilians ask themselves if it is justifiable to the justice system to prosecute theses young adolescents as adults. A common man thinks that a crime is a crime and the person needs to face the punishment in order to learn their lesson. We are talking ^[d]of young kids who are not truly considered as adults and may need more than the alternative prison time^[e]. When a man commits a crime of course it is reasonable to seek punishment. When a young adolescence commits the crime and is charged as a man, it is a result of neglecting of true justice that this country seeks.

        When walking down the street and you ask a random person the age when the brain has reached full maturity, many will be clueless. While we live our teenage lives our brain is still developing. In our teenage stage of life, we are known for our impulsivity and immature acts.  As Wallis argues in the article, “What Makes Teens Tick”, how scientist Dr. Jay Giedd concludes that the age, where a brain has reached full maturity is age twenty-five. This says that teenager's brains are still growing at their age (26). Many teenagers argue that they are responsible fully matured young adults. When, in fact, their brain still grows^[f]. As teenagers you can easily be manipulated, your brain has not grown to its full logic. When a teen commits a severe crime, you must ask yourself should this teen be charged as a fully matured adult? When, in fact, this could be a troubled child who needs more than the punishment of prison time.

        As centuries have passed the age where one is fully considered as an adult has altered. Today the age of 18 is where you are considered as an adult. Many juveniles who are under this age are being charged as adults. Charging one as an adult, when they were treated not as adults by society, is what the justice system is proceeding to do. As claimed in the article “16-year-old Alleged School Stabber Should Not Be Tried in Adult Court”, “An adult is a person who has attained the age of majority, with all the rights attending that status.  This includes the right to vote, set at age 18, by federal law.  It includes the right to consent to marriage, set at age 18 by most states” (Ablow,4 ). In many cases, these young adults are being charged as adults when by law they are not truly adults. Should, not the justice system charge these teens appropriate to their age? A crime is an indeed a crime and the person needs to face the punishment. However, these are teens in the stage of where they are still developing emotionally and physically. The justice system should not charge as if they were grown logical adults. These teens were not considered as adults in the first place and punishing them as if they were is unjustifiable.

        When teens are indeed charged as adults, they most likely end up adult prison. That is where there are indeed true criminals. Would this be the right for a young teenagers to be surrounded by this? These teens, where the system wants to help, are putting them in the direct place of bad influence. One builds a life upon where they are at. Putting these teens in a place of criminal behavior does do some extent of influencing their life decisions. As argued in the article, “Locked up: should teens be tried as adults?”, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concludes that when teens are treated as adults in the criminal system than in the juvenile system are 34 percent more lily to commit crimes in the future (5). Our justice system is not seeking to further have these young people to indeed continue their path of destruction. However, we are treating them as adults and sending them to the adult prisons. If the adult system does not work for adults, how can we expect it to work for the young teens 

        These young adolescents who commit these crimes may have troubled minds. Prison time may not be the true solution that resolves this. As you have read our mind has not matured until the age of twenty-five. Especially today, with today’s technology as a curse and a blessing. Teens these days are exposed to much more at a younger age than before^[g]. All this can truly confuse a young adolescence and lead to psychiatric issues. As Collier argues, “Nearly every state, including Arkansas, has laws that send most youthful violent offenders to the juvenile courts, where they can only be found "delinquent" and confined in a juvenile facility (typically not past age 21),” (More Teenage Criminals Should Be Tried as Adults, 4). These are young children who have not reached the age of maturity. You cannot argue that a 14-year-old has the same logic as a 23-year-old. When a teen commits a severe crime, one has to ask if the young person has a dysfunction in their brain.