Should juveniles be tried as adults?

As a 15-year-old, former freshmen David Dominguez allegedly stabbed two other freshmen, one of them several times in the back. Last month, two Whitman High School students—Andrew Klepper, 15, and Ryan Baird, 14—allegedly beat and sexually assaulted a young woman. John Lee Malvo, 17, admitted to pulling the trigger in at least one of the local sniper shootings, including the one that killed 72-year-old Pascal Charlot.

To allow these violent criminals to be released after spending a few years in juvenile correctional facilities would be a crime in itself, to the victims and to society. The current justice system protects the public and gives young criminals punishments that fit the severity of their crimes.

The maximum punishment that criminals prosecuted as juveniles can receive is time at a juvenile correctional facility until 21, regardless of their age when they committed the crime. For a 17-year-old murderer to serve a maximum four-year sentence would be not only a stinging insult to the victims but also a hazard to society. Under this policy, young killers could be back on the streets at the age of 21, ready to commit more crimes. Harsher and longer sentences are possible only through the adult criminal justice system. Studies have shown that juveniles tried as adults are more likely to serve terms that fit the severity of their crimes.

Harsh punishments also deter other young criminals from committing the same crimes. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 44 states and Washington, D.C., passed laws between 1992 and 1997 enabling the judiciary to transfer juveniles to the adult court system. Since then, juvenile arrest rates for violent crimes have decreased: In 1999, the percentage of all juveniles arrested for violent crimes fell to an 11-year low. Treating violent juveniles as adults sends a message that age does not excuse them from facing the consequences of their actions.

Some opponents of the current justice system argue that youths tried and sentenced as adults are disproportionately racial minorities. Regardless of whether or not racism exists in the criminal court system, the idea of trying juveniles as adults is not itself racist. Judicial racism and adult sentencing of juveniles should be treated as two separate issues; fixing one does not necessitate reforming the other. No matter what their race, all juveniles should be equally subject to the possibility of facing adult punishments.

Allowing juveniles who commit violent crimes to serve short, lenient sentences in juvenile correctional facilities simply does not do justice to society and to the victims involved. For a young man who repeatedly stabs a fellow classmate, for two minors who premeditate a violent sex assault and robbery, for a 17-year-old serial sniper who shoots innocent people and for other juveniles who commit heinous crimes, a few years at a juvenile correctional facility is an unjust punishment that fails to serve the victims and safeguard society from danger.