Teens are not always aware of the consequences to their actions and they take risks. The general argument made by Richard A. Serrano in his work, Young killers serving life without parole may get chance at freedom, is that juveniles who commit heinous crimes are not fully aware of their actions. More specifically, Serrano argues that juveniles are not fully matured and juveniles should not be charged as adults. The author asserts, “Adolescents, because of their immaturity, should not be deemed as culpable as adults…”(Serrano). In this passage, Serrano is suggesting that immaturity leads teens to act inappropriate for their age because they have not yet become adults. Serrano also states, “But they also are not innocent children whose crimes…
Rhetorical Precis Paul Thompson in the article, “Startling Finds On Teenage Brains” states that human brain of any young teenager is far from adulthood. Thompson supports his statement by first describing the research they have done on a teenagers and childrens brains. He then explains that Teens have a massive loss of brain tissue and brain cells and connections are being lost in the areas of controlling impulses these frontal lobes inhibit our violent actions (stated in paragraph 7). Thompson’s purpose is to inform the reader that teens brains haven't matured yet so that readers understand that teens don't understand what they're doing. The author writes in a formal for adults.…
Throughout the book, Humes introduces the reader to several youthful offenders as they pass through the juvenile justice system. These offenders come from a variety of backgrounds, and have committed a variety of crimes, but most of them were involved in violent felonies. A dividing issue within the juvenile justice system is whether to transfer juvenile offenders to the adult criminal justice system. Humes clearly illustrates that making this distinction based on age- sixteen in California- is arbitrary and flawed. One boy shot the couple that employed him, and that he claimed to love, in the back of the head with a shotgun, point blank. The boy spent his time in court giggling, waving to his parents, lying on the stand, and showing no remorse. However, because Ronald Duncan was nine days shy of sixteen when he committed this heinous crime, he cannot be transferred to adult court. As such, the maximum amount of time the system can keep him off the street is until he is twenty-five. That is a maximum sentence of only nine years for a premeditated double homicide. Geri Vance’s case stands in startling contrast. Coerced into a robbery, he and his partner attempted to steal cash at gunpoint from a front desk clerk at a motel.…
n the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” the author was very bias, and only talked about what he believed to be true and right, that teenagers have massive losses of brain tissue in areas of self control which almost is the cause to teenagers impulsive actions and committing crimes. I disagree with the author on this statement for reasoning why teenagers act the way they do, he uses this as an excuse. Teenagers must have always loss brain tissue, and just because they lose some self control, that does not make it okay to go out and kill someone or commit and henious crime. Even with loss of brain tissue teenagers and kids know the difference from right and wrong. All teenagers should know the seriousness of what they have committed,…
In the Article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Paul Thompson his opinion on kids committing murder is a hard subject to dissect however he claims that their brain tissue loss can not be an excuse for the murder they commit. For example, he stated “what really caught our eye was the massive loss of brain tissue that occurs in the teenage years.” (paragraph 7)This shows the reader that he comes from his personal research to show much of the brain is lost in adolescents. Another good source of ethos he provides is “My group at UCLA and our colleagues at the National Institute of Health have developed technology to track the growth of the brain. ”(paragraph 5)…
He’s thirty-three years old, waking up on a cold, hard bed, eating “nutritious” food, scared of the other inmates, knowing his life will end in prison, all for a crime he committed when he was fourteen. He knows that he has a lot longer to serve as he was given a life sentence. This man described, who was once a child delinquent, is like many other children in America who faced the same fate. Since the very first court case of a child murderer, the debate of whether children should be tried as adults has been a raging discussion.…
Paul Thompson in the article,”Startling Finds on Teenage Brains”,claims that a child is not a man. Thompson supports his claim by first explaining to us that when teens commit crimes they are not fully thoughtful of it there brains aren't fully developed. He they explains that over the teen years they lose a significant amount of brain tissues. Lastly the author explains that now that they know this they may be able to understand teens better and help with this problem. Thompson’s purpose is to show us what is going on in the teens brains in order to tell us that a child is not a man. This work is significant because we need to know what is going on in teens brains that can explain there behavior.…
If one looks at the background of juvenile crimes, they would find that there has been much development on the trials of adolescents and how they were viewed. Children have been described as the future, the greatest resource, and the hope for a better tomorrow. Children have been viewed as lacking in self-control by many Americans. “ Juveniles in adult institutions are five time more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to beaten by staff, and fifty percent more likely to be attacked with a weapon than minors in juvenile facilities” (White). They are usually beaten or harassed by hardened, adult criminals. For centuries, criminal youngsters have been on the wrong side of justice. In the 1800’s, the belief was shared by the public that juveniles and adult offenders should be prisoned…
Semple, J. & Woody, W. (2011). Juveniles tried as adults: the age of the juvenile matters.…
In the article by Gail Garinger, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences,” the author talks about how children are too young to be put in prison for life. The only place in the world that sentences juveniles to life is the United States, with 79 adolescents that were sentenced to die in prison. Some argue that even though they are children, they still have commited the crime. Others argue that children are biologically different from adults.The author states that if…
Youth offenders should never be tried as an adult. Youth offenders know little about living life and yet some people believe that giving life in prison to a teenager is humane. Alternatives exist and should be implemented prior to making a decision that practically ends a life before it even blossoms. The documentary on “When Kids Get Life” demonstrates some sociological theories that can be tied to the story about an individual named Jacob Ind.…
The United States puts more kids behind bars than any other industrialized nation in the world. By 1997 more than 107,000 young adults were behind bars. High crime rates and and fears of so many teens serving this amount of time scared many adults, and parents thinking their children wouldn’t ever be set free to live a normal life. State’s were rushing to lower the age of which you can be tried and sentenced as an adult. One state, California passed a law, it was called Proposition 21. It required adult trials for 14 year olds, with murder and certain sex offenses only.…
A worldwide situation in criminal justice is the youth, who are being tried as adults for their wrongdoings. Although juveniles commit heinous crimes such as robbery, murder, or even rape, they are not mature enough to understand what they are doing. In the article “Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes” a 12-year-old boy got sentenced life in prison after he beat a 6- year-old girl to her death (Lundstrom). The boy did not know the girl was going to die because he is not mature enough to know what his actions will do. These consequences should not apply to the youth because their minds are not fully developed like the adults. Because kids like to play around with each other “Now fourteen and convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Tate…
A movement has taken hold of our country to change the juvenile justice system, and erase any distinction between young offenders and adult criminals. Almost all fifty states have changed their juvenile justice laws, allowing more youths to be tried as adults and scrapping long-time efforts to help rehabilitate delinquent kids and prevent future crimes. It seems to be plain and simple, a minor in this country is defined as a person under the age of eighteen. How then can we single out certain minors and call them adults? Were they considered adults before they carried out an act of violence? No. How then, did a violent act cause them to cross over a line that is defined by age? The current debate over juvenile crime is being dominated by two voices: elected officials proposing quick-fix solutions, and a media more intent on reporting violent crimes than successful prevention efforts. Minors should not be tried as adults in our society today. This is obvious through looking at propositions by our government such as Proposition 21, which is statistics on juvenile crime from specific cases where minors were sentenced in adult courts.…
Adolescents’ comparative developmental immaturity contributes to immature decision and criminal behavior with poor decision making, not thinking about the future, giving in to peer pressure, risk taking, unformed identity, impulsivity and self-control. Nathaniel Brazill, age 14 when he committed the crime, and was convicted of first-degree murder facing life in prison without parole. When confronting a Florida grand jury, Brazill would often look confused, when the verdicts were being read. Giving the fact that juveniles are incapable to stand trail. Assistant professor Paul Thompson of neurology at the University of…