Underage Delinquents In Prison

Throughout the years teenagers have been committing dangerous and extreme crimes that has led to be convicted in a judicial court as an adult. These teenagers have received life sentences with the possibility of no parole along with counseling and rehabilitation. Many believe that putting an adolescent in prison with a life sentence is a cruel and unfair punishment. In the past couple of years, the law changed to place underage delinquents in rehabilitation centers or juvenile hall for no more than a year rather than prison. Placing a youth in a prison is said to have a negative affect on the child, making parents afraid to have their teenagers locked away, even after committing heinous crimes.
Nevertheless, adolescents have been committing
larger numbers of murder crimes that usually label an adult as a dangerous person to society. “ They are young and their brains are not fully developed” is one of the most common pleas for committing dangerous and arguing for a short tem sentence in a juvenile hall with counseling I believe that the adolescent should receive the same sentence any 18 or 40 year old would receive for committing a similar crime. Neither age nor brain development should determine the appropriate punishment for dangers crimes. These teenagers are old enough to know the morality between right and wrong, and aware of their actions.
People tend to victimize these teenagers by claiming that their actions were impulsive, and coming from dysfunctional families, being brought up from the streets, not having a role model, or father figure to look up to are influential factors. People in prison with the similar backgrounds where not exempt from their consequences. Only individuals with mental disabilities can be exempt from being tried in a court of law due to their limited mental capacities.
Aside from having a bad background or impulsive actions, teenagers are highly influenced by video games and movies.
For example, In 1998 my parents moved into an apartment complex that later became a crime scene for a murder committed by our neighbor’s teenage son. , one of the tenants had a son who was very fond of the horror film Scream. Seventeen-year-old Mario Padilla planned a mass murder along with his 16-year-old cousin, Samuel Ramirez, influenced by the horror film Scream. Mario fantasized about having the costume to reenact the movie, so he returned home to steal his mother’s money. When the 17 year old and his cousin walked into the house and saw his mother, they stabbed her numerous times until she bled to death. Mario received a life sentence without parole and Samuel was sentence to 25 years in
prison.
The murder of our neighbor is a shocking personal of why I feel so strongly about teenagers getting the sentence they deserve. Mario consciously planned a mass murder and, subsequently, his mother’s fully aware of his actions. This is a person who you wouldn’t want out in society, so by letting these teenagers off with only a 6-month sentence to juvenile hall and counseling isn’t teaching them anything only that they can cheat their way out of the system.
In the few TED Talk videos that I’ve watched on this subject many of the speakers talk about how they visited jails and juvenile halls with teenagers who have committed violent crimes. The speakers expressed how these teenagers where no longer sane after being locked away in a 4 ft. sq. cell and it was affecting them. They explained how this can drive the adolescent to returning back rather helping them better themselves. This why prison confinement is perceived as very unfair and cruel.
A close friend has been in and out of juvenile hall because violence and drugs but as a 17 year old he realized that if he gets caught acting up or holding drugs he’ll get sent to a county jail.
After being let out of his 6 months sentence in a juvenile center he’s been back at school and join high school’s baseball team to keep him out of trouble and on track. Shortly after being released of his 6 months sentence, he’s been on house arrest numerous times. He has not attended a baseball practice once since he was let out and has been getting into trouble with the law once again. Juvenile centers might seem like the answer in helping the adolescents become better people, but once they are out they will be returning back very soon. Rather than learning their lessons teenagers tend to fall in temptation and can’t help but do it again. It’s like an addiction, they get accustomed to the rush that they get from committing a crime only making them do wrong and return back to the detention
centers.
The reason why I am for adolescents being tried as adults is because they deserve the appropriate punishment for their actions, since they have affected mentally and physically a person or a family for the rest of their life. Murdering someone’s parents or child that they’ll never see again or beating someone after breaking and entering their house leaving them traumatized and never being able to be alone again. Brain development is not a factor for their actions, being influenced by movies and games shouldn’t be a reason to want to do so many crimes. The same way adults are treated and despised for killing an innocent person, adolescents should be to no matter their age. When you’re a teenager you’re old enough to take care of yourself and know right from wrong, this shouldn’t be any different.