Trying Juveniles as adults
Uploaded by Tay on Feb 18, 2004
How would you feel if someone in your family was brutally murdered by an adolescent? With the increasing amount of crime being committed by juveniles, officials are trying to come up with ways to prevent such transgression from ever occurring. More and more teens are committing crimes they know they can get away with because of their age. Juveniles know how far they can go before they really get themselves into trouble they cannot get out of. Usually when you are being tried as a juvenile the punishment is less severe. If a juvenile commits murder he or she has the knowledge of the crime they have committed. Juveniles should be no less accountable than adults, and treating them as such may also help to deter crime. However, juveniles differ from adults in more than just their age. They do not possess an adult’s capacity to judge and allowing them to be tried as adults is inconsistent with many other laws addressing juvenile behavior.
Imagine that you are a parent whose son or daughter has been killed by a 14-year-old. The teenager is brought to court, found guilty of the crime and the judge sentences him to two years in a juvenile facility, after which he will be free with not even a criminal record to follow him. Many people see these light sentences that some juveniles receive for serious crimes as being a mere slap on the wrist and demand that a greater action is taken. Dr. Don Boys, of the Christian Conservative think tank Common Sense for Today and a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives, has a forceful argument against leniency:
We are told that kids murder, mug and maim because they grew up in poverty; however, poverty doesn’t cause crime; crime causes poverty! Juveniles, like adults, commit crimes because they choose to do so. And they must be held accountable…. When young criminals kill and rape, they should be treated like adults, even executing them! Most of us are horrified at that thought, but if capital punishment can be defended then who is to say one must be 21? If a 16-year-old commits a vicious murder, who says he should not pay with his life? … So the message to kids should be clear, concise and conclusive. No free ride until 18. No anonymity. No blaming poverty, parents of potty training for criminality. No more community...