Juveniles Should Not Be Tried As Adults
“My second grade teacher told me I would never graduate high school. That I was going to be a juvenile delinquent (Teller).” Today, society is too quick to judge based on someone’s appearance, social status, and environment. Laws should not be chaotic because it only abates the amount of respect children will earn and gives questioning to the legal principles. The developmental discrepancy with adults and youth should not be forgotten (Scott/Steinberg). Juvenile court views another perspective that juvenile system proposes to find treatment that can solve young offender’s antisocial ways (Scott/Steinberg). Juveniles should not be charged as adults due to the inadequacy of maturity, chance to improve surroundings, and give opportunity for rehabilitation.
Young people today are displayed violence through video games, television shows, or even song lyrics. Should juveniles just be sentenced away after making a mistake? Young people sometimes perpetrate a crime because they are not fully matured and think of it as a game. Brain studies shows that maturation still continues to develop into the mid-twenties causing judgment to not be entirely functional. A juvenile convicted of a crime should be given a second chance to better his/her future. Although an individual will need to face the consequences, sentencing juveniles straight to jail will not help them grow or learn. Sometimes children are not aware of the consequences that comes with their action. Children are not as fully developed and their understandings of right and wrong is dissimilar to adults. Juveniles sometimes don’t have a clear understanding of the crime. For all anyone knows that juvenile offender could be committing these crimes due to the fact that they don’t have a role model in their life. Socioeconomic status (SES) proves that “the low SES juvenile as less mature than the middle or high SES juvenile” (Farnum/Stevenson). The actions they make could be their way of asking for help.
Family and background history can really shape how a child grows and reacts. Studies show that criminal behavior depends majority on nurture not just nature (McLeod). If a child see’s their dad abusing their mom, he/she can think this is acceptable. Parent or adults are not aware that children look up to them as their own role model. Children should learn from their parents and not imprint their wrong behavior. If a child is punished, it just let’s parent’s off the hook for their lousy parent or guardian role in the child’s life. It should be the parent or guardian’s responsibil...
