Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults

To me, it really is not fair to try a juvenile as an adult. I mean think about it. When you were 14 years old, were you an adult? I know I sure was not.

Some people say that "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." That is not necessarily true.

A person's brain is not fully developed until around the age of 23. This in turn makes a teenager less likely to realize if they realize at all just how bad a situation he/she could be in if he/she commits a crime.

No, they should not be just let go without punishment. But for goodness sakes, they did the crime as a child; try them as a child.

The families of victims may feel different. If only they would put themselves in the child's shoes. Let them think back to when they were the age of the child. Knowing what they know as adults, would they have known exactly what they were doing? Very few people could say yes they would have. And if they did say yes, it would really make you wonder.

Yes, they should be tried and sentenced. However, if the system thinks that the person has become "stable and competent" enough to be released, then they should be. Do not let them out completely free. Let them out on probation, and have them check in with their probation officer as often as the court decides.

Here in the state of Tennessee in Knox County a 15 year old young boy is about to be tried as an adult in the murder of another teenager. You can look at this young man just in the pictures they show and tell that there is no way he is mature enough to really understand the full extent of the situation.

No one has said just where this young man's parents are (or if they are even alive). His sister was supposedly taking care of him. However, she was arrested not long after her brother for murder herself.

In other words, this young boy has had not guidance in his life. He has had no one to teach him right from wrong. He had no one to turn to when he felt the rage for the young boy he murdered. As stated on television by the young boy's attorney, "This is a case-a classic case-of someone who has fallen completely through the cracks all his life."

No one will really know for sure that even if the boy had had guidance in his life it that would have changed this outcome. No one can say it would not have made a difference either.

For those young persons who commit the crimes and their parents are in their lives, where were the parents? If you ask me, the parents should have some responsibility in the crime committed. Most parents who know what their child/children is/are doing usually do not have children who commit crimes.

So, either way you look at it, a child should not be tried as an adult simply because they are not adults.

Source:

Personal opinion

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