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Dec. 19, 2002
Should juveniles be tried as adults?
Former freshman David Dominguez, 15, allegedly left the SAC during 5A on May 31 and stabbed two freshmen during a fight in the Marvin Memorial Church parking lot. Dominguez has narrowly escaped facing adult charges that would have robbed him of chances for rehabilitation and increased his likelihood of committing further crimes.
Treating young offenders in a system meant for adults endangers young criminals, fails to deter youths from further criminal action and is racist. Juvenile and adult justice systems should implement a policy of segregated incarceration to avoid perpetuating injustice.
Placing juveniles in adult penitentiaries subjects children to violence and sexual abuse and robs the youths of a chance to start their lives anew. More than 21 percent of inmates younger than 24 report being hit or punched in jail, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics. Juveniles languishing in adult prison have been wrenched out of society during their most formative years, and they are certainly not learning how to be law-abiding citizens by being abused by inmates three times their age.
Incarcerated teens step back into society having lost the chance for rehabilitation, and they often have no choice but to turn back to the only life they know—a life of crime. According to Bureau of Justice statistics, 72 percent of state prisoners under age 18 released from adult prison in 1983 were rearrested within three years; comparatively, 27 percent of state prisoners aged 30 or older were rearrested. Juvenile facilities rehabilitate youthful offenders and decrease the likelihood that the children will turn back to crime once they return to society.
This ineffectual system is also patently racist. In 1997, Bureau of Justice statistics show 60 percent of the youths entering state adult prisons were black, 19 percent were white, 13 percent were Hispanic and eight percent were other races. Once youths are arrested, reports the Justice Policy Institute, “nonwhite youths" end up in adult court two-and-a-half times more frequently than do white juveniles. Eliminating the option of trying children as adults eliminates the subjectivity that allows discrimination.
Maryland should join the eight states that currently have a policy of segregated incarceration. In these states, children convicted in criminal court can be sentenced to a program that separates children from adults. The youths remain in the program for the duration of their sentence, which may continue after they reach adulthood. Through the program, youthful offenders receive educational, vocational and life skills training as well as substance abuse treatment. Segregated incarceration offers rehabilitation that teens need in order to have a second chance in society.
The judicial system has a choice. It can continue to incarcerate children with adults—a choice that leads to high rates of rearrest and is blatantly racist—or it can implement segregated incarceration, an option that considers age and enables misguided youths to contribute to society.
Treating young offenders in a system meant for adults endangers young criminals, fails to deter youths from further criminal action and is racist. Juvenile and adult justice systems should implement a policy of segregated incarceration to avoid perpetuating injustice.
Placing juveniles in adult penitentiaries subjects children to violence and sexual abuse and robs the youths of a chance to start their lives anew. More than 21 percent of inmates younger than 24 report being hit or punched in jail, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics. Juveniles languishing in adult prison have been wrenched out of society during their most formative years, and they are certainly not learning how to be law-abiding citizens by being abused by inmates three times their age.
Incarcerated teens step back into society having lost the chance for rehabilitation, and they often have no choice but to turn back to the only life they know—a life of crime. According to Bureau of Justice statistics, 72 percent of state prisoners under age 18 released from adult prison in 1983 were rearrested within three years; comparatively, 27 percent of state prisoners aged 30 or older were rearrested. Juvenile facilities rehabilitate youthful offenders and decrease the likelihood that the children will turn back to crime once they return to society.
This ineffectual system is also patently racist. In 1997, Bureau of Justice statistics show 60 percent of the youths entering state adult prisons were black, 19 percent were white, 13 percent were Hispanic and eight percent were other races. Once youths are arrested, reports the Justice Policy Institute, “nonwhite youths" end up in adult court two-and-a-half times more frequently than do white juveniles. Eliminating the option of trying children as adults eliminates the subjectivity that allows discrimination.
Maryland should join the eight states that currently have a policy of segregated incarceration. In these states, children convicted in criminal court can be sentenced to a program that separates children from adults. The youths remain in the program for the duration of their sentence, which may continue after they reach adulthood. Through the program, youthful offenders receive educational, vocational and life skills training as well as substance abuse treatment. Segregated incarceration offers rehabilitation that teens need in order to have a second chance in society.
The judicial system has a choice. It can continue to incarcerate children with adults—a choice that leads to high rates of rearrest and is blatantly racist—or it can implement segregated incarceration, an option that considers age and enables misguided youths to contribute to society.
Discuss this Article
If they are not tried, how will they learn?
Many teens under 18 are not getting tried for various violent behavor they present, rape, murder etc.
If teens are between the ages of 12 and 18, shouldnt they know better? shouldn't they know between right and wrong?
They know that Murder is against the law, rape is against the law, stealing is against the law, why should they not be tried as adults?
If they know the difference between right and wrong, they are no different then adults.
Yours truly,
SForrister
p.s. i like lemonade
Ps:I love M&ms
P.S. I love Joe Kovaks
Kayla Graneiri
Tabatha
P.S. Cris i would have to dis agree with you because some of the kids thats why they are in ther in the first place is because their parents beat them and thats how they were taught.
Sforrister No if a child is 12 years old their brain has not even been developed as and adults and adults also have much more information on the law than any 12 or 14 yeaar old would ever know.
To everyone who said "NO" I completly agree with you and those who said "YES" think about it some more.
email me (hot guyz):EtownsFreakShow@msn.com
I LUV CHOCOLATE!~!
think, think, think !
Yea thats all i've got to say.....
I think teens should be tried as adults because if they have the courge to kill someone to to steal they should have the courge to stand up in court as an adult. For every action there is a reaction. That is why I think teens should be tried as adults!
1.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to what I had to say!
I think that you need to rethink about what you wrote! What u say makes no sense what-so-ever! I think that u need to make an appointment with ur doctor!
~Ashley
Shraddha
///is my English realy bad? :)
PLEASE HELP. Looking forward to your e-mail! THANK YOU
any comments?
PLEASE HELP ME , looking forward to your email until octuber 17,2003.THANK YOU
There is a lot of information out there regarding juveniles. I did my Master's thesis on Reforming the Juvenile Justice System. If you use Juvenile Justice as a search phrase you will probably come across a web site National Juvenile Justice Commission. Don't quote me on the name, but this site has a lot of information and research papers.
I'm doing a research over juveniles getting tried as adults and i would greatly appreciate it if u were to e-mail more information. Thank You
HELP!!!!!!!!!! E mail me at jennjenn19792000@yahoo.com
]=[ ][ ]v[
HIM ROCKS
MAIL ME IF SOMEONE HAS ANY INFORMATION PLEASE.
come on people agree wid me!
Think about it like this when you a growing up you may make some mistakes and will regret themin the future. But when you become an adult your mind set changes. So to say we should commit minors as adults when commiting adult crimes is something we will always disagree on.
e-mail me any time you want to have a debate .
HOLLA BACK
PEACE
Who is to say that the statistics would be any different in a juvenile correction facility versus adult court?
I think that the policies of trying juveniles as adults needs to be reexamined. Yes, children 14 and fifteen don't realize the consequences, but after that children need to learn the implications and consequences of their actions. Once you get to abour the age of 16, you know what is right and wrong. Do you really want a sixteen or seventeen year old killer serving two years in juvenille detention and then being put back into society?
DONT DO THE CRIME IF YOU CANT DO THE TIME!
i dont have an email but i have a screen name for AIM: plaiin jane
WHO GIVES THE RIGHT FOR THEM TO B TRIED?
ARE THERE ANY RACIAL, GENDER,ETHNICITY ISSUES THAT ARE GIVEN A THOUGHT IF THEY SHOULD BE TRIED AS AN ADULT? IF NYONE CAN HELP ME WITH THESE QUESTIONS OR GIVE ME ANY DIRECTION TO WHERE TO FIND THESE ANSWERS!!
I stole a car (my fathers)when I was 15 years old. I was on the run for 7 months. They (DJJ) tried to send me back here to florida from michigan, But I got off the plane after the people left in NC. I went back up to michigan and was locked back up. They extridicted me from Michigan to Florida. I went to a program in largo florida call florida youth academy for 9Months. It is a level eight. (there are levels 2-school,4-most are closed,6,8,10)then I violated my after care and was sent to another where I am at now. I have been here 11 months. I won't be out until June or july.
If you want to email me I will write you when I get out.
My email address is
Libertystar1@excite.com
Thanks!!
I am writing a problem/solution paper and I was wondering if you can email some information on this topic. It will gladly be appreciated. I need statistics on this subject as well as what solutions are out there already. Thank you very much.
and uh anyhot guys out there give me a call
Teens shouldn't be tried as adults, it is too brutal in the prison. they are more lickely to be raped beat or even killed in prison than in juvinile facilities.
they also dont recieve the right amount of education htye should.
At least they recieve a little in the facilities.
Well if you wanna talk to me. email me, it is real, oh yeh yoyu probably wont understnad it
anyways
Jason out
Sarah Montgomery
I feel that if a juvenille has not been in the juvenille detention centers that he/she should be given the chance of going to one of the juvenille facilities for rehabilitation.
I have a son who have never been in the juvenille system before and was charge with a murder(there was no physical evidence and his DNA was negative) that three other juvenilles that had been in the system from 4 to 17 times accused my son of being the killer. That is not right. Our judical system took the word of 3 juvenilles whom had been in and out of the system for not just once but constantly. My son took a plea because he was afraid that he would be sentence to death (this is what the detective told me) or if we would go to trail he would get 44 years. My son and I did not know the law so I hired a attorney who took my son to the prosecutor's office to sign papers for a plea bargin.
What is going to happen to our children if the are lost in a system that do not care. Who will protect them?
Maryland should join the eight states that currently have a policy of segregated incarceration. In these states, children convicted in criminal court can be sentenced to a program that separates children from adults. The youths remain in the program for the duration of their sentence, which may continue after they reach adulthood. Through the program, youthful offenders receive educational, vocational and life skills training as well as substance abuse treatment. Segregated incarceration offers rehabilitation that teens need in order to have a second chance in society.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could lead me in the right direction.
say a 14 yr old kid takes a gun to school to kill a kid because he hates him and he kills him. he knew what he was doin so i know he is responsible for his actions and he should be given adult time because he did a adult crime
who gives a crap?!
as long as its not me gettin locked up, who cares!
thNKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That must be pretty bad.
Juveniles think differently then adults.
They should be sent to a juvenile court. When you are a adult, you should get tried as a adult, when you are a kid, you should get tried as a kid.
Many people think, "When you kill someone, you should be killed." I think no. The USA is one of the very few countrys in the world that kills people. So far 6 states have executed children. Thats 6 too many.
What goes on inside a kids mind when they kill someone. Probably confusion, they don't know what their doing when they kill someone, its right after that, then they start thinking.
Now I think that they should spend as many years in rehabilitation as they need, becuase if you kill someone you must have some kind of confushion. Some of you out there who have kids. If some other kids killed your kid you would want that kid to be executed. But, if your kid killed another kids you would want your kid to stay alive and go into rehabilitation. So i think, either way, that kids should go into rehabilitation.
I don't think adults should be executed either.
Im just one of the millions out there who think kids should not be executed.
Maybe thats becuase im a kid, but thats my opinion.
Im a teenager, and I know right from wrong and i know that killing people is a crime, so why would you take the chance, Accidents arent meant to happen.. and people always say that certain things were accidents but really in life, everything does happen for a reson, and maybe if you obey by the laws and rules that the world has laid out for us, accidents wouldnt happen. An accident is something that cant be prevented, and most "accidents" can be. Children need to realize that just because they are younger that they shouldnt get away with what they are doing and teh crimes they are committed, the law system needs to come up with a better solution other then just committy service, to prove to a teen or child that committing a crime is not right, i think that what ever the sentence is for an adult who committs the crime is should be the same for an teen or child.
lalalalalalaalalaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
who gives a crap?!
as long as its not me gettin locked up, who cares! i Care you should too if tyour not serious then you shoulded give you opion so get it together !!!
i think the parents of juviniles should be charged for any crime thier child committ.
I totaly agree i think that the abusive parents should be held accountable for what they pushed there son/daughter too do what they did !
~Tigress~
to the victim or the victims family for the
suspect to be out in our communities and
they are suffering. It is just not fair.
Some individuals come from a very different background with diferent family morals and values. If someone doesn't know right from wrong, then they shouldn't be punished for their ignorance, they should be corrected and rehabilitated. If you see a crime being commited like drug abbuse or something acted by your parents, your "role models", then an individual is more likely to commit the same act.If a person has a problem, it should get fixed,but not punished.
And finally, if a person has been in trouble for the same crime multiple times and has made no effort to correct his or her mistake, then their punishment should increase in severity or adapt to what teaches them.Only then, should they be put into an adult prison.
doing. I have had an experience and wuz almost arrested for something i didnt do but wuz part of i had no intentions but i still got suspended from school for 10 days for nothing cuz nothing happened.
i do not want to release my name so i am anonymous.
i dont think u can tell, diferent people act diferent ways,you'd have to no a person to diside.Kids are smarter then adults think so they can do it on perpose or not,but nomatter why i dont think they shoud be charged as adults or go to juvy, even if the things they did wernt rite.
as adults
as adults
Also, there have been many cases that have had innocent people getting sentenced to death, and while being ON DEATH ROW, the real criminal testified, and also, even worse, many INNOCENT people have been killed from the death sentence and the real criminal was found.
This goes to show that not only the thought process is different, but also that the court system might be WRONG.
Also i am a christian and the bible says that the only things taht have the right to killl are god and the law/goverment
(to answer Cornelius, up one post)
With me just entering my teen years and before I've always believed that teens under the age17 should not receive the same punishments as adults,but murder(done deliberitly) should be trialed as an adult case.
if you do the crime then you shouild pay and thats word to my life. What if that was you gettin killed or shot.Would you want your child to die. Yea thats what I thought
Somebody wrote: "I think that if the government charges minors as adults then the children should get equal rights as adults"
Well, maybe the government doesn’t give them equal rights like: drink and drive at young age because they will do more crime.
If they do crime with all the restrictions, how do you think they would act with more freedom?
More responsible? I don’t think so.
Somebody else wrote: "If these juvenilles end up in prison with the adults. Their life is taken away"
Hey, but sure they can take somebody elses life and get away with it.
And other people say: "What if it was your child. No parent would want they child to be put in that situation"
Well, what if it were a member of your family the one who gets killed because some teenager wanted to steal something their house? or in another situation.
Since human are born, we've been listening and learning that killing somebody else is NOT right and you will get in deep trouble if you do it. We learn this from fables, dictactic stories, at school, on tv, from family, friends. The lesson is EVERYWHERE.
So, don't tell me that "they don't know what they are doing"
If a kid kills another person, he or she will be either guilty or innocent. If they can prove that is was an accident, then the kid would be innocent. But if the kid did it on purpose, he or she should pay. The kid should be sent to a rehabilitation program. It's about helping the kid while there's still a hope for recovery. But if the court just sent the kid home because "kids don't know what they are doing" Are you solving the problem? or Are you endagering the life of other individuals out there?
you have a point but i still dont think that a kid should be charged as an adult cuz sometimes when a kid does a crime they still get charged as an adult
Let's say that one of your family members is killed by a 16 year old. Wouldn't you want something to be done. Normally the penalty would be 20 to life in prison but if it is a 16 year old he or she will be let free after only a few months of rehabilitation. Think about it. Wouldn't you want something to be done about the person who killed a member of your family?
Stacie
i also feel that they as young adult are in the right mind set when they go to kill someone because if not they are sombody that sould be in therapy or something.
ialso think that if they as teens can pick up a gun and work it properly than they should go to jail and they sould also be tried as an adult. in that split second it takes to react to kill somone you could be doing something productive with your time, i know that you probably hear that a lot from your parents but its true. because what parent wants that sad call on the phone saying that they're child has been killed! i know that that would kill my mother. why commit a crime that big and not think that you won't have to face doing the time.
Another point that i need to make is this why should a teen have to go to the same jail as an adult but if they were to go to an all teen jail the same things that happen in regular jails can also happen in an all teen jail.so in conclusion why commit a crime of any type if you could face being tried as an adult or even face being put to DEATH???? there's absolutely no point in that.
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN. TEENAGERS AND ADULTS DOING A CRIME
TEENAGERS SHOULD PAY THE TIME BUT NOT AS ADULTS.
oh ya and Happy St. Patricks day
What if they had no idea what they were doing? They arent criminally responsible then. What if in their past they were mentally, physically, or psychologically abused? What if they were raped by the person the committed this crime to? They aren't dangerous to the rest of the world!!! You guys need to realize that teens are more likely that adults to be motivated by emotion or peer pressure. Teens lack the experience, intelligence, judgement, and maturity of adults!!!! Which makes them less able to evaluate their consequences of their conduct.
xo's John.
I apoligise for the length and format..
Do you have someone close to you between the ages of 11 and 15? Most people do: whether it be a relative, a neighbor or maybe a friend. Well picture that child. Now picture them in their best suit or dress. Now imagine that they are in a court room in front of a judge and jury. They are being charged with murder, and not in a juvenile court but an adult court. If convicted they may be sentenced to spend the rest of their life in an adult prison, or even worse they could be sentenced the death penalty.
This situation that I just had you picture is a very scary situation. The fact is that there ARE children as young as 11 that are convicted of murder and sentenced to serve time in adult prisons.
So how does our judicial system judge a child to be an adult? Well for one it depends upon which state you live in. Every state has a different age in which you can be tried as an adult. For example: a 15 year old child in Minnesota can be convicted of murder in an adult court and sent to an adult prison whereas here in Wisconsin, if that 15 year old child committed the exact same crime they would be tried in a juvenile court and sent to a juvenile facility. According to the book “Juvenile Justice” there are 11 states in the U.S. that do not have a minimum age criteria for when a child can be charged as an adult. Also in Vermont a child can be an adult in the courts eyes at the age of 10.
Then of course there is the competency issue. If you are over the age of 18 you are deemed competent just by age, but if under how do you gage whether or not a child is completely accountable for their actions. One criterion is how far under 18 is the child. If the child is 11, they do have a lot better chance of staying in a juvenile court then say a 16 or 17 year old. According to the JCPR newsletter, competency in court for juveniles is having the ability to think hypothetically and to have being able to logically make decisions while understanding the consequences of those decisions. Generally children over the age of 16 do have those abilities, but the grey area is from 10 to 15. That is were a judges opinion comes into affect. That is also where many people believe that racial discrimination takes place. For example, a white judge may perceive a black child to look more dangerous than a white due to an unconscious or conscious bias.
My point with this is that there are no distinct lines. Every state is different, every judge is different. This creates inequality. To fix this problem, we need to draw a line for each state to follow. 16 and older may be tried as adults. Below that line you are tried as a juvenile. For 16 and 17 year olds there must be very distinct lines for defining competency. The least left up to the bias of a judge the better.
The fact that we are sending teens and preteens to adult prisons starts to raise questions also. Have we given up on youth today? What ever happened to trying to reform? The juvenile court system was created over a hundred years ago with the intent to deter and to reform. It was brought into place to teach juveniles right and wrong and how to be a successful part of society. The juvenile court system is under constant criticism for being to light on offenders. Some say that the system isn’t a punishment at all. So instead of working out the kinks with the juvenile courts, we are just sending more and more children to the adult system. An adult system that is robbing children of their youth and not teaching them how to be productive in society. It is teaching them to be scared. If the child is released how could they ever go back to a normal existence. They are placed in a very hectic environment at a very formative time in their development.
It is a statistical fact that children that are sent to prison are more likely to commit a crime after being released than children that went through the juvenile system. According to the Bureau of Justice, “72 percent of state prisoners under age 18 released from adult prison…were rearrested within three years”.
Prison is not a very safe environment for anyone but especially not for children. To mix children in with adults could almost be construed as cruel and unusual punishment. They are around adults that are in prison for crimes that they actually have the mental capacity for. Adult prison is a lot more stressful for children than for adults. According to the Bureau of Justice children in prison are 8 times more likely to commit suicide than children in juvenile detention centers. That fact right there should tell the officials that are sending these children to prison that it isn’t safe for them. Then there is also the abuse from the adult criminals. Again through the Bureau of justice I learned that 50% of juveniles in prison suffer violent victimization. Sexual assault is five times more likely, beatings my the jail staff are twice as likely and children in prison are almost 50% more likely to be victimized by a weapon. Obviously, prison is absolutely no place for children.
There are I believe 8 states in the U.S. that have separate prisons or correctional facilities for adults and minors. They are in place so that juveniles are not subject to the victimization that I just discussed. I believe the way to keep children safe is to either not send them to prison period or to have every state have separate institutions for adults and children.
Finally, how can children be tried as adults anyway? Children have virtually no say in the government that is imprisoning them. They cannot vote, cannot be a member of the armed forces. There are many researchers and psychologists that say that the mind is still in crucial development beyond the age of 18. Children are in a stage were their morals and values are still being developed. They cant possibly understand the implications of life in prison. I, at 20 years old, would have a hard time understanding life in prison. Also, through the media children have an abstract view of life. The violence in the media may make it seem to a child that a life is less valuable. Also revenge in the form of murder in movies and television shows a lot of the time is portrayed as a needed form of revenge. I think that children a lot of the time don’t know that it is never ok to take someone’s life.
My intention in this speech has been to inform you of the great injustices that are taking place with the youth in America. Children make mistakes that they do not fully understand and the government in which the child has no say in is taking away their life. What’s next, 10 year old children being sentenced the death penalty? It is gradually coming to that. What we need is reform. We need to keep children out of prison. They do not belong there and we shouldn’t just be throwing away youth. Juveniles should be placed in a strengthened juvenile system in which the intent is to rehabilitate the troubled child.
All right, now picture that child that you are close to again. But this time picture them in a juvenile court in which the judgment is that there is still hope for that child. Now you tell me, which is better? Throwing away youth, or hope.
ily
Amanda
THIS IS FOR DEBATE THINGY MER BOB.
:D
Thank you sincerly
Lil Mete
no way jose
even if you hate me now
maddie
yall have a good day. bk