Indeed, the evidence suggests that several community-based programs that do not involve imprisonment are both less costly and more effective than trying and punishing adolescents as adults.
If there are other ways to enlighten the situation, then why not try them?
Adolescents who are tried and punished as adults are more likely to offend again, to do so sooner and more often, and to commit more serious crimes than those kept in juvenile court.
So basically if you put a child in and adult prison for a non violent crime, they are more likely to get released and commit worse crimes. There's no lesson being taught here
And if it is a mistake to put juveniles on trial as adults, it may be a greater one to incarcerate them with grown-ups
Putting a child into a prison with adults is like putting a fish into a tank with sharks, because they will be an easy target.
Recent brain studies indicate that children and adolescents process emotionally charged information in that part of the brain responsible for instinct and gut reaction, while adults do this work in the more rational frontal section.
Have you ever heard of the saying "Go with your gut feeling"? So if a child processes their emotions with their instinct and gut reaction their reaction is going to be based on how they feel, unlike adults who should already know how to control their emotions.
According to the study, nearly 40 percent of the juveniles tried as adults were charged with nonviolent crimes, and many were not convicted or were sent back to juvenile court, which suggests that their cases were neither strong nor serious.
this ,means almost half of the juveniles were sent to adult prisons for minor crimes.
So approximately 80 U.S. prisoners sit on death row waiting to be executed for crimes they committed at 16 or 17, and in the last decade over half of the world’s executions of juvenile offenders have been in the United States.
Even if a decade goes by and the person changed their life around could they get out of it, or once its decided that's just the way it goes?
Sentencing juvenile offenders to death is in clear violation of a number of U.N. conventions and treaties and has been condemned by the American Bar Association, most major religious denominations and just about every human rights group with a Web site.
if it was a clear violation then why was it done? Was any action taken place on the people who did it?
At 17 Beazley murdered John Luttig, and at 25 he was scheduled to become the 19th person executed in the United States since 1976 for a crime committed as a minor.
the punishments for children are way too harsh, I do understand that he took the life of another human being and that's something serious, but I feel as though around 20 years with out probation would be enough for him to realize what he has done and to change his life around depending on the reason he did it.
Children in adult prisons are 5 times as likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, 50 percent more likely to be attacked with a weapon and 8 times as likely to commit suicide as children in juvenile facilities.
Do you think this is a necessary punishment for a child who committed an non violent crime?
Children are uniquely positioned for reform and redemption. Juvenile detention facilities (generally) have the programs in place to aid in that process of reformation. Prisons do not.
Prisons actually increases crime.
We don't say, "this is a very important election, so let's let the kids vote". We don't say, "this is a very important war so let's give our children weapons and send them to fight".
Why should it be different for crimes?
Two bills before the legislature would limit the application of adult sentencing rules for those who committed serious crimes as adolescents.
There was a limit to the sentencing of young people under 18, i think this is a good idea, so there will be no overcharging.
youngsters are often impulsive, reckless and blissfully unaware of the consequences of their actions.
they do not know the long term consequences of the crimes they commit.
Things like sex, drugs, and adrenaline thrills feel really good, and when teens are in groups they are even more likely to go for the thrill. But as teens approach adulthood, the pathways between the brain’s CEO and the limbic system—the emotional center—increase substantially, allowing for greater impulse control. According to some studies, brain development is not complete until the mid-20s.
When children get into their teens they start to drugs and commit small crimes, but they grow out of it as they get older and they mature on their own.
“Holy shit,” Sean thought as the cop cars streaked by in the opposite direction. “I just did something serious right here. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I agree children need to be disciplined but it doesn't take much for certain children to understand their wrong doings.
“I heard that and I had this thought—I didn’t really want to do it—but I had all these expectations riding on my shoulders. I had gotten them all involved in it up to this point.”
Some children know what they are doing is wrong, but sometimes too much pressure is all it takes to set them off track.
America’s first juvenile court in Chicago in 1899, children who had reached the age of reason (7) were often tried and sentenced along with adults, serving time in the same prisons and occasionally facing execution
It is very clear that a 7 year old is not fully developed and is still learning, how will they possibly grow up with a correct mindset around grown criminals? They will be raised with a criminal mindset.
Over the past decade legislators in 47 states and the District of Columbia have made it easier to put on trial and punish juveniles as adults.
Its easier to put them on trial as adults, but is it benefiting society? Do these young people come out of jail as adults committing more crimes, or do the crime rates decrease?
In these states we would not let a 12- or 13-year-old buy a carton of cigarettes, a six-pack of beer or a ticket to the movie American Pie 2.
If children are not mature enough to do the simple things like see a rated R movie, why should they be treated as mature adults when it comes to crime?
I agree