.... Teenagers aren’t ready to the facing time in jail and don’t know how living in a jail cell is like. In the juvenile system 60% of teenages face life in prison for mistakes that they committed in their past. Juvenile offender under the age of eighteen who commit heinous crimes should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Adolescents who are part of a group when committing a crime where someone is killed shouldn’t face consequences under the Felony murder Act. For example, Laurence Steinberg said in the article ‘Don't Put Juvenile in Jail for Life’ “Kuntrell Jackson was part of a group of boys who shot a store clerk during a robbery of a video store in Arkansas; although Jackson did not do the shooting, he was found guilty of...
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...There have been many arguments about whether or not juveniles should be sentenced to mandatory life without parole. The execution of juveniles for the crimes they committed when they were under the age of eighteen is a huge issue that the Supreme Court has had to deal with. It all started out in 1972 with Furman vs Georgia when the Court ruled that life without parole did not violate the eighth amendment of the constitution. Throughout the years there have been many different opinions about the situation. The majority of supreme court justices believes that it should not be mandatory to sentence a juvenile to mandatory life without parole for committing crimes but the other minority argues to retain it. I agree with the majority of justices who argue that sentencing a juvenile to life mandatory life without...
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...court ruling for juvenile sentences depends on the crime that they have committed. More than half of the juveniles that commit horrific crimes are tried as adults today in the supreme court. The supreme court does not let the juveniles off easy, they will try them as adults and give them years sentences, or even life behind bars. In my opinion I do believe that juveniles should be tried as adults but the sentence time should not be life behind bars. The juveniles should be sentenced to some years behind bars, but during this time, they should be able to attend some type of counseling or therapy. There has been multiple crimes that have been committed by juveniles in the past and recent times.On March 9, Lionel Tate was only twelve years old when he killed a six year old little girl doing professional wrestling moves. In my opinion I do not think that Lionel Tate should have gotten the sentence he had gotten. Mr. Tate was tried as an...
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...Grizcely Hernandez Period 1 AVID IIII 13 May 2016 Juvenile Offenders Youth violence is escalating in the United States. More juveniles crimes, are sentenced to juvenile court, and then sent right back to where they started The question is, are these juveniles being treated right, are they getting the proper attention? Should they be treated like adults? Or should teenagers, no matter what the crime may be, be treated as juveniles? Many social and cultural factors in a child's life may influence a child’s behaviors. In fact, according to Dr. Noguera, Most violent teens are from lower class urban areas. Many of them are minorities and a lot come from dysfunctional families. Why then, do people say there is no way to prevent a juvenile from turning violent? When a child is aggressive with at school, or siblings at home, or even when or if they kill animals, they are calling out for attention. These are signs that lead to violence. Has society just given up on teen's altogether once they commit a crime? Obviously there is a pattern, and prevention is key. California and other states respond to the increase of violence and juvenile offenders by building new facilities. Instead, of doing this they spend that money on prevention methods such as providing schools with more counselors? They could provide more after school programs to help keep the kids off the streets. If a child needs help with a problem they should be able to talk to a counselor. I'm not talking about two or...
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...When these youth are tried as adults it exposes these juveniles to state prisons without parole and even execution. In addition, it is over 2,500 child offenders serving life without parole in United State prisons for crimes committed before they 18th birthday. Therefore, youth should not be tried as adults because they are being over charged for these crimes. One reason that youth should not be charged as adults is that it’s just a double standard on these children. These juveniles don’t have full brain development to even know the outcome of the crimes committed. The thing about youthful offenders is that no one seems to care about them. Most people don't like the youth of America, even the good ones can be unpleasant. Combine the feeling they have toward the average teenager with the fear inspired by youth violence, and you have a population that no one wants to deal with. There is a disturbing trend of increasing violence among young people. "Uniformly in our communities, more young people are engaging in dangerous behavior. As a result of that, more prosecutors and the citizens generally seem to be exerting more pressure to charge these youths as adults. (Judge Elizabeth). Therefore, charging these children as adults will not make the streets safer it’s just hurting the children of America they need help not prisons. Finally, juvenile offenders should not be sentenced as adults,...
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...Juvenile Crimes and Social Deviance Juvenile crimes have been decreasing since their all-time high in 1994 however the nature of their crimes had been drastically changing for the worse. Social deviance is defined as actions and/or behaviors that violated social norms. Over the past few decades many children have desired to be deviant while others have been forced into it. Petty crimes are becoming more common in today’s society, which is causing kids to have to go to more extremes to be deviant and thus resulting in more severe reactions to this behavior. The cause of juvenile violence is frequently related to one of two things; the child was exposed to violence when they were young or they are trying to fit into a deviant crowd. In 2008 approximately 10% of the children under 18 had been injured in an assault, 46% had been assaulted and 60% had been exposed to violence and/or crime. (Crime Solutions) Children who have been exposed to violence when they were young are more likely to commit crime when they are older. Children who were younger than 12 when they were exposed to the violence or crime are the most likely to commit crimes later in life. (United States Department of Justice) Children who face violence at home are also more likely to become a runaway, which makes it much easier to run into the wrong crowd. There is an increasing amount of children in abusive homes who end up trying to become vigilantes towards the abuser in order to make the abuse stop...
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...this situation, they talk about whether or not juveniles should be punished as adults for being involved in this crimes. While many believe juveniles are not mature enough and punishing them as adults is cruel, these teenagers should have the same consequences as adults who commit heinous crimes, because teenagers are criminals regardless of their young age. Studies have argued that the brain stops growing at age twenty five. Therefore an adult’s brain is fully developed, while a teenager’s is in the process of development. In the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,” Paul Thompson states, “A massive loss of brain tissue occurs in the teen years.” Even Though this statement could be true, this does not mean all teenagers are going around enacting crimes. The massive loss tissue should not be used as an excuse to let teenagers commit crimes without serious consequences. Teenagers...
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...people sentenced to life in prison as juveniles and found the defendants in other cases were not uncommon. Seventy-nine percent witnessed violence in their homes regularly, 32% grew up in public housing, and 40% had been enrolled in special education classes. Fewer than half of the prisoners were attending school at the time of their offense, 47% were physically abused, and 77% of girls reported histories of sexual abuse (“Juvenile Life Without Parole”). Is a child who has been through so much mental trauma at such an age of there life deserve to be put in prison for life? “In the U.S. each year, children as young as 13 are sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison...
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...When people think of juveniles they think rude, selfish, and growing up too fast. Now, think of what they say when a juvenile kills an innocent person, let alone if it was their own parent, another teen, or just a random person in the street. They would say that juvenile was raised wrong, heartless, and think they are better than anybody else. What if that teen didn’t know what she or he was doing at the moment of the crime? What if that teen was going through something unbreakable at the time and doesn’t know how to control their emotions or mind. More than 25 percent of people severing life without parole who were convicted of felony murder or accomplice liability as children. In America, there are 10,000 children that are held in adult prisons on any given...
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...Every year there are millions of people committing crimes, but the crimes committed by juveniles gets the most attention from the public. During the recent years, more and more teens get sentenced as an adult. They sent teens from the juveniles’ courts to the adult courts. Their crimes are viewed more harshly and critically, which explain the reason why they are being tried as an adult. Many people gave different kind of opinion on this kind of topic, whether or not teens get tried as adults. There are many articles that address this topic and their claim on this controversial topic. Some of the articles that review this matter are “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentence” by Gail Garinger, “On Punishments and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins, and “Kids are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes” by Marie Lundstorm. They both have their own opinions and knowledge on this topic. My position in this issue is juveniles don’t deserve to be tried as adults. There has been a relentless amount of fear in the public about juveniles making...
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...Juveniles Sentenced to Life in Prison Suzi Austin CJA/374 Juveniles Sentenced to Life in Prison In an Internet video, ACLU Michigan (2013) states that it is cruel and inhumane to sentence a person under 18 years of age to live in prison without the possibility of release. It mentioned cases where the person in question was not the actual murderer; they personally did not kill someone, but rather was merely involved in the crime. At the time of the video when a person was involved in the commission of a felony and someone died they could be convicted of murder even if they did personally commit the act that caused the death. I think that drawing a line saying that cruel and unusually punishment ends at 18 years and one day is a bit ridiculous. There is no magic time that changes a just sentence to one that is cruel and unusual. If a person kills or directly and willfully causes the death of another person they should be considered for a sentence of life without parole. Considerations should be given for the facts of the crime, the mental acuity of the murderer, and any other extenuating circumstances of the crime. Age comes into it but it is not the only consideration. A person could be 30 and not aware of the seriousness of their actions and someone who is 15. The punishment for any crime should be able to have extenuating factors considered. In the case of Jennifer Pruitt, (Brasier, 2013), the family of the victim wrote to Pruitt’s attorney stating that they believed...
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...Juvenile Delinquency December 3, 2014 Juveniles in The Adult Prison Children as young as 14 years old have been tried as adults and are sentenced to die in prison without considering their age and the factors that led the individual to commit the offense. Society believes that a juvenile should be tried as an adult because it will help them understand the consequences of their actions, however, children and teenagers that commit crimes are too young and they don’t have the mental ability to understand the consequences of their actions. These juveniles are not aware of what they are going to face behind the adult’s prison bars. According to the National Juvenile Justice Network, it states, “ 200,000 youths are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year across the United States.” Studies have shown that juveniles that are sentenced to adult prisons are more likely to commit crimes again after being released from prison. Juveniles are more likely to be sexually assaulted, abuse, neglect, suicidal, and depressed in adult prisons. The adult prison has shown failures to rehabilitate these juveniles. Laws like the Felony Murder rule has to shown to be cruel and unusual punishments towards teenagers and children. Society does not bothered to look into factors such as the juvenile’s brain, mental disability, and their living environment that causes them to commit the crime. “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in the adult prisons than in juvenile...
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...crimes are no longer being tried as juveniles but are being tried as adults and are getting life in prison. Kids as young as the age of 13 are being given life in prison with no opportunity at a second chance. The court systems are failing to recognize that these juveniles have their whole lives ahead of them.. Juveniles in the United States deserve second chances; they are not old enough or fully developed to know any better. Juveniles in the United States who are sentenced to life in prison still deserve a second chance at life, even if they commit a serious crime. Children in the United States, especially younger kids, are easily influenced by media and what type of home environment they live in because of their age. Kids tend to copy what they see, that means if they see something they should not be doing around them or on media, there is a chance that they will replicate it. The way children learn and behave is drastically different from the way adults do, which is why they should not be tried as adults and get sentenced to life. Children have the potential to change more than adults do. While kids are young they view the world differently. As Garinger mentioned adolescents are “less...
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...In today’s society the juvenile justice system has become very tough and hard on juveniles. Do you think that if a juvenile got in trouble for stealing a piece of gum from a liquor store they should be put into juvie until they turn eighteen? A juvenile is mostly described as a teenager, someone who is older than a child but younger than an adult. Juvenile Justice is a special court or department of trails that deal with under-age teens who commit crimes and need to be charged for them. I admit not every juvenile is a bad person, I just believe they make some bad decisions and actions. The juvenile justice department believes that the stricter the punishment is, the less teens will get in trouble. I believe that juvenile justice system should...
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...the year of 1993 a seventeen year old male named Christopher Simmons was sentenced to the death penalty after committing capital murder of a young woman. The penalty was sentenced soon after he turned the age of eighteen. After a series of appeals were sent to federal and state courts the case landed at the Missouri State Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court had opposite standings on the execution of Christopher Simmons, while the Missouri Supreme Court wanted Simmons to be executed still after multiple appeals and protests went on, the U.S. Supreme...
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