Adult or a Minor

Minors commit crimes all the time, but should they be prosecuted as an adult or a minor? There's a big controversy on whether minors should be tried as an adult or as a minor. In most states, the law requires that juvenile cases should be transferred to adult crimes, depending on the crime. With serious cases such as murder, rape or serious violent offenses. As years are going by teen crimes keeps increasing. In 2016 over 800,000 teens were arrested of the age 18 and under.

As in result, teen crime is serious issue, but should teens be trial as an adult or as a minor when a crime is committed? One reason for the wrongdoing of convicting a teens as an adults is when they send a minor to prison at such a young age. When a teen takes in prison for a long period of time and once they get out they're more likely to end up back in prison. Most minors that are trial as adults are placed in adult facilities and don't get the education they need. When they are released years later as adults, they know nothing about life other than crime and are most likely to commit another crime and end up back in prison. An alternative that people have suggested is to send these teens to a type of rehab to straighten them out.

People have said it's a good idea to give teens another chance to better themselves instead of sending them to prison and ruin their lives for a crime they committed at such a young age. Another thing is that teens lack maturity. They're in a stage where they don't know any better. Minors don't know how serious committing a crime can be. Teens brains don't fully develop till the age of 20. Teens don't know from right or wrong as a grown adult would. Teens tend to live in the present and not think about their future. So how can a teen be prosecuted as an adult if they don't know any better? How can we help to prevent teens from committing crimes? There are many reasons why teens commit crimes and get into trouble.

A lot of time is when kids feel alone they tend to act out for attention sometimes, or lack of education. Sometimes parents lack on their kids needs and as a result kids tend to act out, or at school they're being disaffects so they have no motive to try to stay out of trouble. That's why it's always important for adults, parents and teachers to try to reach out to kids/teens. If kids get the attention and the education that's needed is less likely that they will act out and commit a crime. Society today shows that crime rates have increased, and how statistics prove that the majority of the crimes are being done by minors.

Their ages range from nineteen and under, most are younger than fifteen years. In Ken Stier's article, Getting the Juvenile-Justice System to Grow Up, in Time Magazine, the fact that every year, some 200,000 youths are trial, sentenced or incarcerated as adults. Juvenile delinquents trial as adults have to assume the same consequences as any other criminal and are subjected to state penitentiaries with inmates much older and who have probably committed crimes far more devious then they could ever have. These minors range depending on the crime committed, or on how many times they are prosecuted and believe to be unchangeable. However many disagree and they believe if these young offenders are capable of committing a crime like murder, no matter their maturity, they should be trial as adults. Children who rob and murder should be punished in accordance with the severity of their crimes, not the tenderness of their age.

William, Chambliss. Juvenile Crime and Justice: Regulation of Adolescence (2011). Many people claim that the child did not know any better, or that he was brought up with the belief that this behavior is acceptable. Putting these children and teens in the juvenile court system leads to a shorter sentence resulting in them getting out of jail earlier. Because the courts and juvenile rights advocates believe that second chances should be given to youths who commit crimes, criminals are walking the streets, living as our neighbors, and in many instances committing additional crimes. Studies show that children learn bad behavior from their parents, things like murder, rape or drug abuse.

There are some people who believe children are abused and come out of jail more dangerous and damaged then when they went in. An example can be the recent event from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, February 14, 2018. Nikolas Cruz the school shooter was indeed a broken child as many can agree with. On the day of the shooting, Nikolas Cruz took the lives of 17 students along with teachers in total, as members of this town and across the world people were not going to let another incident like this slide. Other people's point of views can change other people's point of views when they say Everyone deserves a second chance. Well as human beings we can agree that the statement is true.

Yes indeed we deserve second chances, however as a human being taking the lives of others will not be tolerated. Gun laws can agree that teens are old enough to acquire very strong military type of weapons such as the AR-15 rifle. Where haven't we heard that gun from right? So if laws such a gun laws can agree that these teens are adults, what makes it any right for them not to be trial as adults? There are millions of school shootings globally and they never seem to stop. As of today Nikolas Cruz is waiving right to speedy trial through his attorney Melisa McNeill.

The state of florida is not allowing Mr. Cruz to choose his own punishment State Attorney Shari Tate told the court. Many say he deserves a second chance and others don't see it the same way. Inmates who know Cruz described his life in prison as very quiet, cooperative, and logical. He is hated by mostly everyone in the prison for the actions he took on February 14, which was supposed to be a day of love toward each other. Cruz also suffered from autism but showed to be very logical. Mental illnesses always seem to surface after a school shooting but that should not be another excuse to let these crimes slide. 2 years ago Stoneman douglas students would send out warnings telling their parents and the police that Cruz is going to explode one day. The law did not take action at the time and 2 years later, Cruz indeed exploded. On that same day a police officer was inside the campus during the shooting but did not choose to go any further down the hallways where Cruz was already at. It's only fair that the law starts making the right choices to maintain our communities healthier and stronger that we can ever imagine.

Many people can agree that the law needs to start to trial teens as adults. Overall, in our opinion about whether teens should be tried as an adult or as a minor, we have decided that teens should be tried for their crime base on the type of crime. With that said, my group and I believe juvenile detention centers would best fit teens whose crimes are not inadequate instead of prison. The rates of crimes are committed by teens more than adults and with their actions they don't know how its been affecting the society.

Due to teens committing crimes in today's society are mostly based on home behavior and the parents. For example, Nikols Cruz wasn't a stable teen due to having problems back at home and he would explode his anger to his peers at school. Teens have to know how to control themselves and need to speak up if they are having problems because maybe speaking to someone or speaking out their feelings will prevent a person from doing bad.

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