Teenagers Should Be Tried As Adults

Your older cousin, Michael, is fourteen years old. Last month, he went to a drugstore and robbed it with a group of boys. However, he killed the drugstore clerk by accident with a knife while threatening him to give them the money. The group of boys were arrested six hours later, and Michael was charged with felony murder. The court wanted to try Michael as an adult because he had committed a serious crime, and people have had different opinions about it. Trying teenagers as adults is an issue that many people have been debating on, and it still receives attention today. Yet, teenagers are different from adults. If a teen commits a crime, he or she should not be tried as an adult because they do not have a fully developed brain, they could commit suicide when put in adult prison, and they could have lifelong barriers to employment when they are released from prison. Many people believe that teenagers are not as mature as adults, and that is because they do not have a fully-developed
Juveniles can develop mental issues based on the physical and sexual abuse they might experience if they are housed in the general adult population. However, according to “Juvenile Justice”, being isolated from other adult inmates can cause “anxiety, paranoia, and exacerbate existing mental disorders”. These symptoms will eventually put juveniles at the risk of suicidal. In the video “Stickup Kid”, Alonza Thomas, a teenager tried as an adult and brought to adult prison, talked about his life in jail. He then revealed the fact that in the summer of 2003, a teenager in his cellblock committed suicide by hanging, and he wasn’t the only one. There were others before him. How many juveniles have looked at the wall just like Alonza did? It was a wall that blocked the happiness and kept the cruel reality. How many juveniles just gave up and decided to leave for ever? There were too