Juveniles Tried as Adults
Every state in the U.S has a different court for minors; however, more and more minors are being tried as adults. New laws are constantly being passed making it easier for the minors to be sent to adult court. With such easy access to trying minors as adults, courts are not thinking enough of the reasons that they should not try them as adults. The process of trying minors in an adult court should be illegal in all states because minors have underdeveloped brains, the juvenile crime rate has gone down, they cannot survive in harsh jail conditions, and most definitely not have proper development in adult correctional facilities. As more minors are tried as adults, the juvenile court will be abolished, forever changing the judicial justice for minors.
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Clearly, the amount of youths being tried as adults in California alone is too high. Having that many youths sent to prison is outrageous. On the other hand, keeping the justice system we have for juveniles is turning them around. “For murder and non-negligent (not accidental) murder, the number of people under 18 arrested dropped from 1,224 in 1997 to 710 in 2006” (Fuentes). That is a 42% decline, showing that treating the juveniles in their correctional facilities is improving them. With numbers declining that much, it would make no sense to abolish the juvenile court now. Since fewer minors are committing crimes there is no need to take such severe action. In addition, the idea that minors need to be tried as adults is proven false seeing as there was a 42% decline. With that in mind there is not a reason to change the already working court system as numbers are declining.
Many adults and children have been told that by the age of eighteen, the human brain is fully developed. This; however, is very wrong. “A National Institutes of Health study proposes that the part of the brain that restrains risky behavior, including reckless driving, and thinking skills is...