Children should be tried as adults

Children Should Be Tried As Adults You walk into a court room, and the person clearly committed the crime they are being prosecuted for. This person is normal, they can think straight, they know what they did was wrong. But all they get is a slap on the wrist and are set free. A child/teenager who commits a crime is guilty. It is as simple as that, you should be punished for whatever you did no matter how old you are. Juvenile criminals must, and should be tried as adults. There are many reasons to support this argument. First of all, a crime is a crime, no matter who did it, or how old they are. If two people are murdered and one murder is committed by a 40-year old and another is committed by a 15-year old, is there any difference in the outcome? No! Secondly, young offenders need to understand the consequences of their actions. According to the National Crime Analysis Project of Northeastern University in Massachusetts, the number of 17-year olds arrested for murder climbed 121 percent in the latter half of the 80’s (Debate). Thirdly, if we hold children accountable and try them as adults this will deter them from future crimes. “Trying children as adults has coincided with lower rates of juvenile crimes. Light sentences do not teach kids the lesson they need to learn” (Wild). The lesson is that if you commit a terrible crime, you will spend most of your life in jail. A crime is a crime, no matter who did it or how old they are. Just because a “kid” committed a crime doesn’t mean that a crime wasn’t committed. For example, four boys from Tampa, Florida should spend the rest of their lives in prison for what they did to one of their classmates. “In a “locker room prank,” they sodomized a 13 year-old boy with a broomstick and a hockey stick” (Keri). This kid is ruined for life; shouldn’t they pay for their actions? Many crimes by children have been violent and/or even deadly. There is usually a victim who has suffered or even died. Even a child should pay