Juveniles Tried As Adults

Juveniles Tried As Adults Many kids age sixteen and under are considered juveniles by the court of law. In my opinion juveniles should be tried as adults for committing unlawful actions. Juveniles are mostly troubled kids who need psychological help but it leaves no room for excuses regarding their actions. There are many reasons why they should be tried as adults starting with the fact that they have already committed a crime and chances are they will do it again, because they shouldn’t be let off with just a slap on the hand, and lastly because nobody should have the right to get away with making someone feel unsafe for the rest of their life.
Once teenagers turn eighteen they are automatically tried as adults in the criminal court. Kids
If minors who commit violent crimes were tried as adults in court, the number of violent crimes committed by youth would decrease (Layzell, 2005). In the future, the number of violent crimes in general would decrease as harsher penalties and punishments would be used to keep violent offenders in prison for longer sentences. In the unified crime reports violent crimes can be defined as murder, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, larceny-theft and the like depending on state law. According to statistics the number of violent crimes committed by people under the age of eighteen has gone down since its peak in 1994 (Estudillo, 2001). That is not to say that violent crime among youths is uncommon. Of the 2.5 million juveniles arrested in 1999, one hundred and four thousand of the arrests were for violent crimes. “Juveniles accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests and thirty two percent of all property crime arrests in 1999” (PBS Frontline, 2005). The more recent numbers in certain cities vary. Depending on the city and/or state is where the difference in numbers shows for the amount of juveniles who have been put behind bars. In my perspective, it can be argued that violent crimes will decrease if a tougher penalty is assessed based on the juvenile being tried as an adult in court.
According to Vogel this suggestion, many people would make the argument that teens are not in full control of their actions due to immaturity and lack of knowledge of the world (Vogel, 1994). However, the government has already deemed this age group able to have a job or drive a car. Think about it, how is it that these people that the government puts responsible in some ways are suddenly too immature to realize that they are pointing a gun at someone or physically or sexually assaulting another human being well that is where society is wrong in believing they are mature. Where is the magical line drawn that says one teen is responsible and mature and another is not? The truth is that state and federal guidelines simply attach an age to privileges. Why is it not such a simple process for determining if someone is of legal age to stand adult trial, I will tell you why because society wants to give them another chance to regain their mentality? Another concern that opponents of sending juveniles to adult court for violent crimes would argue is that these “kids” are not in control of their actions or responsible for their crimes because they have been in poor home and