Explain Why Juveniles Should Not Be Tried As Adults

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Pages: 6

Teenagers accused of violent, heinous crimes should not be tried as adults. The juveniles are just children and no matter what the mitigating circumstances are, they should be considered children. Teenagers are not adults, therefore they should not be tried as adults. Of course teenagers and children who commit horrible crimes deserve punishment for doing so, however, throwing them in a jail cell filled with adult murderers and robbers, is not the right way to solve the problem. The article, Kids are kids until they commit crimes, by Marjie Lundstrom mentions, "It's why they can't smoke, or drink, or got to R rated movies without our OK. Hey they're only kids. That is, until they foul up- until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime the more we are eager to call them adults"(Lundstrom). We tend to limit children according to their age, just because we know that they are young and primarily irresponsible; however when they commit crimes, like killing someone, we go straight to trying them as adults. Many times the prosecution tends to only think about how bad a child is for committing a crime but they do not consider the child's background, their …show more content…
Prosecution must take into consideration that they are just children, not adults. Most of the children who have killed other people have horrible backgrounds as well as a physiological problem. Juveniles have been put in jail cells to rot, but that is not the solution to our problem. Juveniles need help as well as discipline, making them pay up until their sixties for a crime they committed when they were ten is not a reasonable punishment. The voters of America should stand up for what is right, and vote for these juveniles to get tried as children, not adults. These kids do not deserve harsh punishment; they need help as well as good discipline to make them understand that the crime they committed was