Argumentative Essay On Juveniles

German Singer Q’orianka Kilcher once stated this quote about juveniles. “I think it's important for us as a society to remember that the youth within juvenile justice systems are, most of the time, youths who simply haven't had the right mentors and supporters around them - because of circumstances beyond their control.” This quote approaches one of America’s biggest question about juvenile justice. Should minors who have committed heinous crimes against the American Society be tried like an adult and given punishments like life in prison? This question was answered in a Supreme Court ruling that stated juveniles couldn’t be sentenced life in prison because minors were still minors, regardless of their crimes. However, despite this ruling,
Although the Supreme Court ruled is as a “cruel and unusual punishment,” the sentence if fair because the convicted committed an act of murder that took away another person’s life. Such an example is Greg Ousley, who purposely murdered his parents and planned the murder days before he committed it (Greg Ousely Is Sorry, 9). Unlike previous scenarios mentioned, Ousley purposely planned for the murder of his parents. Despite the fact that he was still a teenager when he committed the murder, he had an intention to silence his parents and killed both of them in cold blood. This greatly differs from the previous convicted juveniles who accidentally killed their victims. Juveniles that have motives such as Ousley should be convicted as an adult and be sentenced a life in prison because, despite their age, they can think and act like an adult. Because of this, the Supreme Court’s decision of disallowing “teenagers” from “cruel and unusual punishments” should be overturned on certain cases, because, as seen in Ousely, some teenagers are capable and can plan murders beforehand. This not only reveals that certain teenagers can plan beforehand, but that they can think like adults in order to murder someone with