Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults

Joseph Wilson                        

Ms. Taylor        

English 1101 Online        

November 20, 2014

Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults?

When someone commits a violent crime, such as murder, the last possible suspect one would expect is a juvenile. Youth violence has continued to be a problem in the United States, with about 1 in 9 murders committed, are by a juvenile (Reich). Although, the only juvenile cases you hear about are the extreme cases the media tends to cover, such as mass shootings. Now there are special circumstances when trying a minor for a violent crime in the adult court doesn’t fit the bill. One can make the argument that children have not fully matured, so they shouldn’t be held to the same standard of accountability as adults. However, many believe if you’re old enough to make the decision to commit a violent crime, then you should suffer the consequences that come along with it.  So should age really matter when it comes to those who commit violent crimes? What types of crimes would constitute as violent? Should the family of the victim have any say when it comes to sentencing? However, as these continually become more evident in the past years, it begs to wonder what is causing these youth offenders to continue to commit acts of violence, and should these acts of violence be treated the same as adults

Should age really determine how long someone is sentenced in prison? There are many cases where the invisible line is very hard to determine whether or not the juvenile should be tried in the adult or juvenile court. However, there are some cases that should be easily decided, but have shown mercy on the criminal because he/she is a minor. Case in point is an individual by the name of Willie Bosket that challenged that invisible line, and showed just how flawed our justice system can be. March 19, 1978, Bosket, then age 15, shot and killed Noel Perez on a New York City Subway during an attempted robbery. Then Bosket killed another man, Moises Perez (no relation) in another attempted robbery eight days later. In between the attempted robberies of the Perez victims, Bosket killed a New York City Transit employee working on the subway train. Bosket was arrested and because he was a minor was tried for the murders in New York City’s family court. Bosket pled guilty to all three murders and was sentenced to only five years in a juvenile correctional facility. Bosket himself says “I laugh at this system because there ain’t a damn thing that it can do to me except to deal with the monster it has created.” Bosket himself has admitted to committing over 2,000 crimes between the ages of 9 and 15 when he was arrested for the murders. Incarceration has clearly not helped rehabilitate this juvenile as he has since been sentenced to multiple life sentences, all the while being incarcerated for crimes committed against other inmates and guards. Thankfully, the justice system prevailed in this situation as he could had been released after five years to commit more violent crimes against the public. This case had caused a huge public outcry and caused the New York Justice System to reevaluate how it handles juveniles who commit violent crimes.

So what exactly is a violent crime? The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. These are the only crimes that should be tried in the adult court, regardless of age. According to the FBI’s arrest record there were 962,542 violent crime arrests under the age of 18 in 2011. Majority of which were between the ages of 13-17. Now why is it that so many of America’s youth continuously commit violent crimes? This can be a difficult question to answer as there are many factors that influence them. A few theories that help explain the psychology of a criminal and what makes them commit crimes are the routine activity theory, and choice theory. The routine activity theory states that crime is inevitable, and if that target is attractive enough, there’s nothing that can be done to deter it. The choice theory states that individuals will choose to commit a crime, while looking at the opportunities beforehand, weighing the benefits versus the punishment for that crime. If they decide the risk is worth the reward, they will proceed and commit the crime.