Essay On Juveniles Tried As Adults

Juveniles Tried as Adults “The only effective way to reduce and prevent juvenile crime is to balance tough enforcement measures with targeted, effective and intervention initiatives.” Juveniles are children and children don’t know any better and obviously make mistakes. They don’t expect to be caught after committing a serious crime. Juveniles brains are not fully developed until they are 25, but young people recognize them as adults at the age of 18. About 25,000 children a year have their cases sent to adult courts instead of being tried in juvenile courts, whose convicted defendants are usually set free by the time they turn 21. Trying juveniles as adults is not beneficial for them. But it also is a crime. And crimes are crimes whether
who did it was juvenile or adults. Trying juveniles as adults isn’t the best solution because the crime would be marked permanently on their record, juveniles are more likely to commit suicide or be sexually abused, and juveniles brains aren’t fully developed. Juveniles being tried as adults is wrong for many reasons and one of them is that the crime would be marked permanently on their record. “They said imprisoning young people as adults creates a permanent criminal record” (Trying juveniles as adults in NJ). Juveniles, then, wouldn’t be able to find jobs easily after. If they can’t find jobs and earn money they may get the thought of stealing, which could again be placed on their permanent record. That would make it even worse for them. Juveniles would also not be able to take out loans from the banks to pay off any debt they need to pay. Or if they want to start a business they wouldn’t be able to take out the loan to get the business going. Also, no companies would want to associate with them. Obviously since they have been accused of doing some sort of crime that landed on their record companies wouldn’t want that person to work with them in any way because they wouldn’t be able to trust them. If juveniles would have to be tried as adults, then at least they shouldn’t have the crime on their record permanently. Juveniles should definitely not be tried as adults because they are more likely to commit suicide or be sexually abused.
“The advocates also said juveniles in adult facilities are more likely to commit suicide or be physically and sexually abused.” (Trying juveniles as Adults in NJ). If the juveniles commit suicide then they’d end up losing their lives. There's no way to get it back. That's why the guards take away their shoelaces and belts, so they would have nothing to use as a weapon against themselves or anyone else. If the juveniles were sexually abused, they’d probably not want to interact with other humans for a while. If a girl or a boy were to be sexually abused they would definitely be scarred. 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.The juveniles would hold that fear of being abused again in the future and not want to even be near their own family. If the juveniles would have to be charged as adults then they should be put in a cell individually, away from others. Especially if the juvenile is the one that would be the one to sexually abuse
another. Trying juveniles as adults isn’t the best solution for them because juveniles brain aren’t fully developed. “Studies have shown that the adolescent brain does not process jail time in the same way as an adult brain. An adult will typically spend their sentence thinking about what they did, which typically leads to remorse. An adolescent does not approach a prison term in this way and often times, they will spend their sentence repressing the memory of their crime.” (http://apecsec.org/). Psychological research confirms what every parent knows is that children, including teenagers, act more irrationally and immaturely than adults. A humans brain isn’t fully developed until they are 25 years of age. With appropriate treatment most children who commit crimes, even the most violent crimes, can become responsible adults. And that mostly happens because their brains are still changing. Even if juveniles are charged as adults and they are locked up for years, that isn’t going to change how they think. They will keep on acting immaturely until their brains fully evolve. If juveniles had to be charged as adults they should be treated depending on their age. If they are 13 years of age and up then they should be charged harsher than juveniles 12 and younger. Some people may argue that juveniles should be charged as adults because a crime is a crime. One reason for trying juveniles as adults involves giving crime the importance that it deserves. No matter the age of the criminal, the crime was still committed and this does not lessen the suffering of the victim. (http://nlcatp.org/). This however, is not necessarily true. Some juveniles no matter the age of the criminal, the crime was still committed and this does not lessen the suffering of the victim. However, as I stated before, juveniles brains are still developing. They don’t know what really is right or wrong. Even though they could’ve committed awful crimes they shouldn’t be treated as harsh as adults. Trying juveniles as adults is not beneficial for them because the crime would be marked permanently on their record, they are more likely to commit suicide or be sexually abused, and juveniles brains aren’t fully developed. If the crime is marked permanently on their record then in the future they’d have trouble getting jobs or loans from banks. Juveniles are highly likely to be sexually abused by other criminals in jail. My conclusion is that juveniles should not be tried as adults. No matter how wrong the crime is, they are only children. And kids make wrong mistakes all the time but they learn from those mistakes that make them improve upon the world.