Kids Are Kids Until They Commit Crimes Summary

In the article, “Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes” by Marjie Lundstrom explains how kids are treated when they commit crimes. She states, “That is, until they foul up. Until they commit crimes. And the bigger the crime the more eager we are to call them adults”(Paragraph 5). This means that kids are treated as kids, but once they commit a crime people want them to be punished as adults. Also she writes that the juvenile arrest rate for murder dropped greatly and the juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes also dropped. There are many cases where an adolescent commits a crime and don’t know whether they will be treated as an adult or not. Research suggests that adolescents treated as adults are more likely to turn out as violent career
criminals. In my opinion this article is helpful and gives information that both adults and teenagers could use. Adults need to know that a kid does not think the same way as an adult does. And kids need to learn that committing a crime doesn’t help them in any way. Also adolescents who get treated as adults will come out more violent than those handled on the juvenile side. The kids need to be treated as kids, their reasoning is not fully developed and they are not adults. The image of teenagers being something to be feared was caused by them being treated as adults.