Juvenile Offenders
Tammy Stanley
JUVENILE OFFENDERS AND THE DEATH PENATLY Juvenile Offenders and the ideas of how to punish them for their crimes has been a national topic of discussion with just about everyone you meet. From the local politicians to the concerned parent who worries about their children. What punishment juveniles should receive has always been a sensitive subject. From state to state, city to city the views and opinions vary and varies on what should be the correct punishment for a juvenile offender. The juvenile justice system has changed throughout history, and one of the major changes was the Death Penalty being abolished in 2005 for juvenile offenders. Some not even old enough to vote, own a car, or could even buy cigarettes, are where being placed in maximum correctional facilities on death row or either given life sentences for the crimes they have committed. However, society was sentencing these young offenders to death or a one-way ticket to a life sentence without the possibility of parole. But does society really care that the juvenile offenders that were executed for their crimes were doomed from the day they were born? Without any remorse to what the situation was when they committed the crime, or what warranted the crime they committed. Survival, protection, or something far more troublesome going on in their lives that made them do what they did. One will never know what makes a juvenile offender commit crimes but in this paper I will explore the legal, medical and the basic truth of why and if juvenile offenders should have even received the death penalty as a punishment, death. From the beginning the juvenile system and the laws and guidelines of juveniles was even a hot debate even since the 1700’s. In the 1700’s juveniles were put into categories as to how they would be tried. A grasp of the current conflict surrounding the responsibility and direction of the juvenile justice system become more obtainable when one takes
JUVENILE OFFENDERS AND THE DEATH PENATLY Juvenile Offenders and the ideas of how to punish them for their crimes has been a national topic of discussion with just about everyone you meet. From the local politicians to the concerned parent who worries about their children. What punishment juveniles should receive has always been a sensitive subject. From state to state, city to city the views and opinions vary and varies on what should be the correct punishment for a juvenile offender. The juvenile justice system has changed throughout history, and one of the major changes was the Death Penalty being abolished in 2005 for juvenile offenders. Some not even old enough to vote, own a car, or could even buy cigarettes, are where being placed in maximum correctional facilities on death row or either given life sentences for the crimes they have committed. However, society was sentencing these young offenders to death or a one-way ticket to a life sentence without the possibility of parole. But does society really care that the juvenile offenders that were executed for their crimes were doomed from the day they were born? Without any remorse to what the situation was when they committed the crime, or what warranted the crime they committed. Survival, protection, or something far more troublesome going on in their lives that made them do what they did. One will never know what makes a juvenile offender commit crimes but in this paper I will explore the legal, medical and the basic truth of why and if juvenile offenders should have even received the death penalty as a punishment, death. From the beginning the juvenile system and the laws and guidelines of juveniles was even a hot debate even since the 1700’s. In the 1700’s juveniles were put into categories as to how they would be tried. A grasp of the current conflict surrounding the responsibility and direction of the juvenile justice system become more obtainable when one takes