Should Sixteen Year Olds Be Tried In Adult Court Essay
The judicial system was created to protect and hold stability in society which is why two systems were put in place, the juvenile system and the adult system. However, recently the boundaries for these two systems are growing weaker as serious juvenile offenders are getting tried in adult court. Juveniles are not authorized to drink alcohol, sign a document, gamble at a casino or vote till they are an adult. Regardless to the crime they have committed, a juvenile is a juvenile and an adult is an adult, therefore sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court. Sixteen year olds being tried in adult court is wrong because they are able to effectively reform, their brains are not sufficiently developed and they are vulnerable to adult prisons.
Sixteen year olds are at a point in their life where they can effectively reform. They are essentially still young and not obstinate with their ideals and mindset. Similar to how parents always give children lectures when they participate in something immoral, allowing sixteen year olds an opportunity to reform would take its course in the same manner. In Massachusetts, this ideology was adopted and was proven effective.
“The studies conducted of violent juvenile …show more content…
offenders paint a grim picture. Research shows that after they are released from institutions, 50-74 percent of inmates commit new crimes. For violent offenders placed on probation or into community correction programs, the rate of recidivism varied. Violent offenders were moved to small facilities consisting of about 30 offenders who were given counseling. After about 12 months the youths were moved to halfway houses the rate of recidivism dropped by 50 percent among violent offenders, and those crimes they did commit were far less serious.” (Worth, 84).
This effect of placing youth in facilities meant to reform rather than punish perfectly proves the chance of sixteen year olds reforming is high. The fact that “50-74 percent of inmates commit new crimes” exhibits that punishing youth does not help them or the society, but in turn causes them to commit more crimes. However, when youth were “given counseling,” “the rate of recidivism dropped by 50 percent” displaying the success of rehabilitation. Placing sixteen year olds in adult court and allowing them to go to prisons and detention centres further dangers society which is the opposite of the Judiciary system’s purpose. Rehabilitation centres for youth are proven to being effective, therefore it is justified that sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court, because they are at a point in their life where they can reform.
A further reason to why sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court is because their brains are not sufficiently developed, causing them to have a difficult time controlling their emotions. They have a troublesome time regulating their impulses and realizing the consequences of their actions and this results in their emotions taking control of them. This is due to the fact that their frontal lobes are not adequately developed causing their amygdala to have a greater influence in the brain.
“The frontal lobe is responsible for making decisions, assessing risk, controlling impulses,… considering future consequences, evaluating reward and punishment, and reacting to positive and negative feedback.
Second, because the frontal lobe is less developed, 17-year-olds rely more heavily on the amygdala… to make decisions than adults do. The amygdala… is one area of the brain associated with strong negative emotions, including impulsive and aggressive behavior… These two findings are supported by imaging studies that show teens struggling to reason through a dangerous scenario, while adults identify and react to a bad idea with considerably less effort expended in the later-developing frontal lobe.” ("Findings: Why Should 17-Year-Olds Be In Juvenile
Court?")
Sixteen year olds cannot be compared to adults and tried in adult courts because their frontal lobe, the part of the brain that is “assessing risk, controlling impulses and considering future consequences” is simply not developed yet. Due to this, teenager’s emotions control them and their decisions become controlled by their impulses. In addition, because their frontal lobes are not developed, sixteen year olds “rely more heavily on the amygdala” causing them to indirectly lean towards their negative and impulsive emotions. The amygdala is the “area of the brain associated with strong negative emotions, including impulsive and aggressive behavior” which causes teenagers’ negative and impulsive feelings to outshine feelings of future guilt. These two findings together highlight that “teens struggle to reason through a dangerous scenario.” While adults identify and react to poor ideas with considerable ease, sixteen year olds just cannot think with this speed or insight. Subsequently sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court, because they have a hard time controlling their emotions and their brains are not as developed as adults.
Adding on to the first two points, Sixteen year olds are vulnerable to the adult system and classifying them with adults can have several dangerous effects. The adult prison system was not made to house juveniles and can turn out to be gateways for future crimes. Similar to how sixteen year olds would not be permitted at a casino, sixteen year olds should not be authorized at adult prisons because they are simply not ready for that setting yet. Juveniles placed in adult prisons just end up being in serious danger. “Incarcerated youths run a great risk of being assaulted by adult inmates, and adult prisons become schools of crime for these youngsters.” (Smith) Juveniles being placed in adult prisons is not safe for them nor beneficial to society. Sixteen year olds in adult prisons face a “great risk of being assaulted” because they are not physically or mentally strong enough to handle that environment. The “adult inmates” are dangerous and once exposed to juveniles like to exhibit their power on the youth causing both severe physical and mental damage. Eventually as sixteen year olds become increasingly exposed to more hardened and older criminals, “adult prisons become schools of crime.” Juveniles in adult prisons become vulnerable and their ideologies become influenced by older offenders. Sixteen year olds end up committing more severe crimes when let out on probation and end up in a prison again. This cycle of pain and influence harms the juvenile’s mental state, which could have been reformed, and ends up conflicting more harm on society. Prisons which are meant to keep criminals from committing more crimes, have a complete opposite affect when the criminals are juveniles. Sixteen year olds are highly vulnerable to adult prisons and thus should not be tried in adult court.
In conclusion, sixteen year olds should be tried in juvenile courts regardless of their crime. Committing a crime does not change the fact that a juvenile is a juvenile and an adult is an adult. Sixteen year olds’ brains are not adequately developed enough to control their emotions and they are vulnerable to the dangers of adult prisons. Moreover, they are at a point in their lives where they can effectively reform. Hence, Sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court.
Sixteen year olds are at a point in their life where they can effectively reform. They are essentially still young and not obstinate with their ideals and mindset. Similar to how parents always give children lectures when they participate in something immoral, allowing sixteen year olds an opportunity to reform would take its course in the same manner. In Massachusetts, this ideology was adopted and was proven effective.
“The studies conducted of violent juvenile …show more content…
offenders paint a grim picture. Research shows that after they are released from institutions, 50-74 percent of inmates commit new crimes. For violent offenders placed on probation or into community correction programs, the rate of recidivism varied. Violent offenders were moved to small facilities consisting of about 30 offenders who were given counseling. After about 12 months the youths were moved to halfway houses the rate of recidivism dropped by 50 percent among violent offenders, and those crimes they did commit were far less serious.” (Worth, 84).
This effect of placing youth in facilities meant to reform rather than punish perfectly proves the chance of sixteen year olds reforming is high. The fact that “50-74 percent of inmates commit new crimes” exhibits that punishing youth does not help them or the society, but in turn causes them to commit more crimes. However, when youth were “given counseling,” “the rate of recidivism dropped by 50 percent” displaying the success of rehabilitation. Placing sixteen year olds in adult court and allowing them to go to prisons and detention centres further dangers society which is the opposite of the Judiciary system’s purpose. Rehabilitation centres for youth are proven to being effective, therefore it is justified that sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court, because they are at a point in their life where they can reform.
A further reason to why sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court is because their brains are not sufficiently developed, causing them to have a difficult time controlling their emotions. They have a troublesome time regulating their impulses and realizing the consequences of their actions and this results in their emotions taking control of them. This is due to the fact that their frontal lobes are not adequately developed causing their amygdala to have a greater influence in the brain.
“The frontal lobe is responsible for making decisions, assessing risk, controlling impulses,… considering future consequences, evaluating reward and punishment, and reacting to positive and negative feedback.
Second, because the frontal lobe is less developed, 17-year-olds rely more heavily on the amygdala… to make decisions than adults do. The amygdala… is one area of the brain associated with strong negative emotions, including impulsive and aggressive behavior… These two findings are supported by imaging studies that show teens struggling to reason through a dangerous scenario, while adults identify and react to a bad idea with considerably less effort expended in the later-developing frontal lobe.” ("Findings: Why Should 17-Year-Olds Be In Juvenile
Court?")
Sixteen year olds cannot be compared to adults and tried in adult courts because their frontal lobe, the part of the brain that is “assessing risk, controlling impulses and considering future consequences” is simply not developed yet. Due to this, teenager’s emotions control them and their decisions become controlled by their impulses. In addition, because their frontal lobes are not developed, sixteen year olds “rely more heavily on the amygdala” causing them to indirectly lean towards their negative and impulsive emotions. The amygdala is the “area of the brain associated with strong negative emotions, including impulsive and aggressive behavior” which causes teenagers’ negative and impulsive feelings to outshine feelings of future guilt. These two findings together highlight that “teens struggle to reason through a dangerous scenario.” While adults identify and react to poor ideas with considerable ease, sixteen year olds just cannot think with this speed or insight. Subsequently sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court, because they have a hard time controlling their emotions and their brains are not as developed as adults.
Adding on to the first two points, Sixteen year olds are vulnerable to the adult system and classifying them with adults can have several dangerous effects. The adult prison system was not made to house juveniles and can turn out to be gateways for future crimes. Similar to how sixteen year olds would not be permitted at a casino, sixteen year olds should not be authorized at adult prisons because they are simply not ready for that setting yet. Juveniles placed in adult prisons just end up being in serious danger. “Incarcerated youths run a great risk of being assaulted by adult inmates, and adult prisons become schools of crime for these youngsters.” (Smith) Juveniles being placed in adult prisons is not safe for them nor beneficial to society. Sixteen year olds in adult prisons face a “great risk of being assaulted” because they are not physically or mentally strong enough to handle that environment. The “adult inmates” are dangerous and once exposed to juveniles like to exhibit their power on the youth causing both severe physical and mental damage. Eventually as sixteen year olds become increasingly exposed to more hardened and older criminals, “adult prisons become schools of crime.” Juveniles in adult prisons become vulnerable and their ideologies become influenced by older offenders. Sixteen year olds end up committing more severe crimes when let out on probation and end up in a prison again. This cycle of pain and influence harms the juvenile’s mental state, which could have been reformed, and ends up conflicting more harm on society. Prisons which are meant to keep criminals from committing more crimes, have a complete opposite affect when the criminals are juveniles. Sixteen year olds are highly vulnerable to adult prisons and thus should not be tried in adult court.
In conclusion, sixteen year olds should be tried in juvenile courts regardless of their crime. Committing a crime does not change the fact that a juvenile is a juvenile and an adult is an adult. Sixteen year olds’ brains are not adequately developed enough to control their emotions and they are vulnerable to the dangers of adult prisons. Moreover, they are at a point in their lives where they can effectively reform. Hence, Sixteen year olds should not be tried in adult court.