Prosecuting Juveniles In Adult Court Summary

What would a parent do if their child became an adult in seconds? Once a parent has to answer that question, they are never the same. When a juvenile is put into the adult system, that is the question the parents ask themselves. No parent wants to lose their child before their child loses them and that is how they feel when their child is sentenced to adult court. The sentencing of juveniles in adult court is unjust because children are different than adults, they are influenced easily, and prison is not a place for kids. In their paper,Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court, Malcolm C. Young and Jenni Gainsborough say that children put in prison are less likely to make it out of prison by the time they are suppose to be released. The two show that children put in prison are, “7.7 times more likely to commit suicide, 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon” (6). This means that some parents may
never get to see their children out from behind bars. The paper also presents the rights that released juveniles lose like, “Be subject to criminal court jurisdiction for any subsequent offense committed as a juvenile, have their conviction a matter of public record, have to report their conviction in employment applications, lose the right to vote, sometimes for life, lose the right to serve in the military” (7). So what if what a juvenile did was an accident; but they were prosecuted as an adult. They may never be able to get back on their feet, which means they end up homeless or back in jail.
In her article, Juveniles Facing Adult Court get Help from Lawyers’ Program, Samantha
Melamed explains that once a person is put into the system they are stuck there forever.
In the article she says that, “Juveniles who go through the adult courts are 34 percent more likely to be arrested again than those kept on juvenile tracks”. This means that children placed in prison are more likely to become repeat offenders, than someone who is kept in the juvenile system. The paper also talks about how kids brains are not fully developed, so they do not think about the consequences. Finally,this explains why teenagers are more reckless and don't think about what will happens in the future. In his story, under the alias, Jason Elliot tells about life as a child in prison and the struggle of being one of the youngest people in prison. In his story Jason says that “He was forced to participate in a ‘square dance,’ a fight between juvenile inmates organized by prison guards”. At one point
Jason was attacked by fellow inmates; while in the fight his nose was almost cut off his face with a razor blade. After pleading and getting four years off his nine year sentence, Jason was sent to correctional facility where he was in a cell with a man, who was ten years older, serving thirty five years for murder. Jason was released on good behavior after one year, but the emotional damage will be imprinted on him forever. In conclusion, children should stay in the juvenile court until they reach eighteen, no matter how vicious the crime. Children are not the same as adults. Children are not fully developed until later in life. Children are not looked at as less responsible for their actions even though they do not fully understand the punishment. To help bring awareness to this misjustice, you can try to get stricter juvenile sentencing laws in your city.