Minors: Charged As Adults

Abstract

Juvenile crime and child abuse are both major problems in this country. If a child is left in a home with an adult that physically or sexually assaults the child; that is called child abuse. The government sends child abusers to prison, as it should. When the child is sent to a home of abusers by the government, that is some how called justice. There are many controversies regarding the way to handle juvenile crime. Sending a juvenile to live in a prison with adult criminals cannot possibly be the best solution.

Introduction

How should America deal with juvenile offenders? Should juveniles that commit violent crimes be locked away forever in order to protect society? Should our young offenders be sent to an adult prison, with an adult sentence, in order to set an example and deter other juvenile crimes? Should America be trying to rehabilitate these children so they are someday capable of returning to society? There is much controversy on how to deal with the ever-growing problem of juvenile crime.

There are many different opinions regarding the way America handles juvenile crime. Some believe that if an adult crime (such as murder) is committed, then an adult sentence is appropriate. Some believe that juveniles cannot be held as accountable for their actions as adults, because they are in fact, children. Some believe that the death penalty serves as justice even if the offender is a child. Though there are many harsh opinions on how to discipline young offenders in America, sending helpless children to an adult prison where they cannot possibly defend themselves against adult criminals should be a crime in itself.

Several years ago a news broadcaster interviewed a twelve-year-old boy in a maximum- security prison yard. When asked why he was in an adult prison, he responded that he had stolen a car that had ended in a high-speed chase damaging many police cars. This was not a violent offense. Many people believe that only the worst cases of violent juvenile offenses are sent to adult prisons. When the interviewer asked the freckle faced twelve- year-old if he was sorry for his actions, he responded by saying “It was the greatest day of my life! It was just like вЂ?Smokey and the Bandit’!” (Smith, 2005). Obviously he was not sorry for his actions because he was not yet old enough to understand them. In Steven Smith’s article “Juveniles Should not be Placed in Adult Prisons” he states, “Children are immature by definition” (Smith, 2005). Children are not only immature, but they are not physically capable of fighting off adult predators in adult prisons. Civilians are not permitted to “bend laws”, so why would a 12-year-old child be in an adult prison when the legal age of an adult is eighteen? The government would not allow this same young man to purchase cigarettes, or alcohol, but has no problem housing this child with adult criminals.

Minors in Adult Prisons

In 2001, Florida convicted two fourteen-year-olds to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a six-year-old girl. Also in 2001, another fourteen-year-old was convicted to twenty-eight years in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his English teacher (McCormick, 2004). These children, having committed terrible crimes, were sentenced to life in prison before they were old enough to drive a car. A child at fourteen is not even considered mature enough to see an R rated film, but are doomed to spend the rest of their life in prison.

Over the last ten years, forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have made it easier for juveniles to be tried as adults. Between 1985 and 1997 the number of minors admitted to state prisons more than doubled. In 1998, adult prisons housed over 11,000 juveniles (McCormick, 2004). In 1998 alone, over 200,000 juveniles were charged with criminal offenses. Lack of room in the juvenile delinquent centers is one reason so many minors were being transferred to adult prisons. Another reason would be to use adult prisons as a way to deter other juveniles from committing crimes.

While most people expect that only the most vicious, violent, juvenile offenders get sent to adult prison, that is not the case at all. The Department of Justice reported that thirty-nine percent of juveniles in adult prisons were convicted of non-violent crimes. Forty percent of those juveniles were convicted of vandalism or drug charges (Smith, 2005).

In 1980, Congress passed amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 that requires juveniles and adults to be separated in jails (Smith, 2005). This was to require absolutely no contact, meaning the juveniles were not to see, hear, or be influenced in any way, by the adult criminals. Indiana, alone, was to restructure for the supervision of 6,000 juveniles. This amendment is still on the books in spite of the ever-growing numbers of juveniles being housed in adult prisons (Smith, 2005).

Juveniles and the Death Penalty

Not only are some children being housed with adults in adult prisons, but also some children are actually being sentenced to death for crimes committed under the age of seventeen. Since 1976, twenty-two juveniles have been executed (“Juvenile”, 2002). Of the thirty-eight states that allow the death penalty, twenty of them allow juveniles to be sentenced to death. Of the twenty-two people put to death for crimes committed under the age of seventeen, thirteen of those executions were carried out by Texas (“Juvenile”, 2002).

Critics of the juvenile death penalty argue that juveniles are not capable of understanding the consequences of their crime, and it is cruel and unusual punishment to put a child to death. Supporters of the juvenile death penalty argue that an offender should be charged according to the severity of the crime, not the offender’s age (“Juvenile”, 2002). Supporters believe the death penalty is a strong deterrent for juvenile crime. Only five other countries since 1990 have put juveniles to death. In the article “Update: Juvenile Justice” (2006), it states:

….the U.S. has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which forbids the application of the death penalty to those under eighteen. Violating widespread international moral standards puts the U.S. in a tenuous position when it comes to demanding