Youth Tried As Adults

Youth Tried As Adults: Justice or Misguided Justification?
When juveniles are exposed to state penitentiaries and sentences up to life in prison without parole, do these adolescents learn anything or even achieve the ability to fully understand the crimes they have committed? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s research indicates that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that contributes to a person’s judgment and reasoning, is not fully developed until a person reaches his or her twenties, closer to the age of twenty-five (Simpson). With that thought in mind, in relation to juvenile and adult courts, should juvenile courts allow cases for those up to the age of twenty-five? Well, not exactly. In today’s modern society, the
One may be led to believe that the adolescent committing the crime knows what he or she is doing and understands what will come afterwards. Some may argue that this has nothing to do with the emotional or social maturity of the adolescent. Despite that some crimes adolescents commit are undoubtedly terrifying, the fact that adolescents are still maturing must be taken into consideration and also that they may not understand the consequences of the actions the adolescents have committed. In the article “Should Juvenile Offenders Be Tried As Adults,” Laurence Steinberg writes that because adolescents are still maturing, they are more likely to have a successful rehabilitation and states that “transferring juveniles into a criminal justice system that precludes a rehabilitative response may not be very sensible public policy” (603). With that in mind, the transfer of adolescents may make the issue even worse. The most controversial age range when considering the transfer of adolescents are the years between twelve and seventeen. During this time, the changes an adolescent incurs is both drastic and histrionic. The mind is most affected, where their intelligence, emotions, and moral reasoning and judgment change
Some may argue that adults who are released from prison are usually in better condition in regards to their criminal record. They no longer commit serious crimes and spend time in rehabilitation centers. It works with adults because they can fully comprehend the consequences and sentences they receive and are remorseful when released on bail or parole. However, this is not the case with adolescents. In the article “Little Adult Criminals,” it is stated that “A civilized society must not give up hope or rehabilitating a child who commits a crime” along with research indicating that adolescents who go through the juvenile system have a reduced chance of being arrested compared to adolescents who serve time in adult prisons (New York Times Editorial). When an adolescent is convicted of a petty crime and goes through the juvenile court system, the adolescent usually receives a warning of some sort or is removed from their family to some type of foster care (Collier). On the same note, some programs “scare” adolescents who have committed crimes of any sort, such as those represented on the television show “Beyond Scared Straight.” The typical expected outcome from these programs involve the adolescent being “scared straight” into leaving his or her former lifestyle in order to pursue a crime-free lifestyle. Adolescents that are transferred to an adult court and