Gilma Arellano
English 125
Dr. Starr
December 3, 2012
Should Juveniles be tried as Adults?
Now in society people often have a set of fixed notions when it comes to current events on the issue of juvenile offenses, and whether juvenile offenders should be tried in criminal courts; although members in society think that teens should be tried as adults, it is a controversial topic to many people because it is difficult to support or detest.
A common saying that addresses this particular issue is, "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." However popular this statement is within the community, while youthful offenders should be responsible for their actions, and should thus be held accountable for the crime they committed, the juvenile justice system is designed precisely to determine the consequences for these juvenile offenders. Knowing that they are still minors and are developmentally less mature, responsible and more impulsive, erratic and vulnerable to negative peer pressure. Therefore, juveniles should not be tried in courts as adults.
Even though the justice system knows well that most juvenile offenders are too young to truly understand the implications of their actions, many juveniles are still transferred to adult courts for case hearing. For instance, the mother of a young homicide victim Jojo Brandstatt says that it wouldn’t be justice for her son to keep the teen charged with the shooting for only five years in the juvenile justice system. (Linda Thomson 2009) The boy who fired at Jojo at the time was fourteen, if the boy is sent into an adult jail with an adult cellmate; he won’t see his cellmate as a role model. If the boy had been sent to a rehabilitation center instead, he would have had the companion of other children who are in similar position, and could thus be educated in their interests.
There are thousands of children who are automatically transferred to adult criminal court due to the change in the laws over...