Why Should Children Be Tried As An Adults?

A child that commits a serious crime should not be tried as an adult due to a lack of brain development in adolescents. According to Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University, “Brain systems implicated in basic cognitive processes reach adult levels of maturity by mid-adolescence, whereas those that are active in self-regulation do not fully mature until late adolescence or even early adulthood.” As an individual gets older, so do things like their brain, and body. According to Steinberg, in a child's brain the intellectual region matures quicker than the emotional and social regions. In the past, studies show that because of the lack of development in the brain non logical decisions can be constantly made. Decisions
”According to Steinberg irresponsible behavior of adolescents’ is not entirely their fault. Steinberg states that all parts of the brain are still maturing at the age of seventeen. Due to the lack of the sense of responsibility adolescents are capable of making mistakes. Also, due to the lack of mental resistance a child’s brain can easily be persuaded and manipulated. If a child is not able to differentiate right and wrong how are they supposed to know when they should or should not do something. The lack of brain development helps explain why teenagers who are so smart in some respects sometimes do surprisingly foolish things. Therefore, due to the lack of brain development, a child should not be tried as an adult. Secondly, a child that commits a serious crime should not be tried as an adult due the past childhood trauma they have endured. A major problem in dealing with this is that doctors often misdiagnose
“Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) claims that placing juveniles in adult jails increases the likelihood that they will later be re-arrested for more serious crimes. Thus, the organization reasons, the practice of prosecuting juveniles as adults decreases public safety and should be abandoned”. This organization is stating that if a child is sent to an adult prison it will not help the individual or society. They claim that a rearrest is imminent. If the child is instead sent to a treatment facility they may gain the tools necessary to not become a repeat offender. Therefore making them less of a threat to themselves and the public. Another example of why children should not be tried as adults is jails are not a safe place for the youth and can give the child yet another traumatic experience. “It is extremely