Juveniles being tried as adults...

Well normally I nevver go on the argument and debate forum because I'm not really a good arguer and I don't want to get into it. But for Literature class I have find information/facts and pick a side on the topic whether Juveniles should be prosecuted as adults for adult crime.
So, I was just wondering what all you thought of the idea. I'm completey torn and I have no idea so I think I'm basically screwed for the debate and writing the essay.
But go at it:
Should juveniles be prosecuted as adults for adult crimes?

That depends. Depends on how old they are, and the circumstances of the crimes. 16 year olds (with few exceptions) have the mental capacity to know what they are doing is wrong. Do they always think through their actions? No, but they still know it is wrong. Especially repeat offenders (there's one guy from here I'm thinking about, was charged like 20 times for car theft and joyriding etc, kept getting probation, and eventually killed a teacher in a crosswalk on one of his joyrides.)

yea, i think they should be treated the same as if an adult commited the crime. i know nothing about the issue fact-wise though lol.

I just read in article where ns Pennsylvania, a person as young as 10 years od can be tried as an adult for commiting homicide. TEN YEARS OLD!!!! The kid who the article was about was 11 and he shot his step parent in the head. Obviously there is something mentally wrong with the kid if he shot someone, no sane person can just take a human life because they want to. The kid is now in jail in a 16x10 cell. Like, some on people! He does not belong there! He needs to be psyco-analyzed. Obviously the step parent had done something wrong for him to want to KILL.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I dont believe in it. I believe a child should be tried as a child. Their mental compacity and maturity are not developed enough and there may be problems mentally that need to analyzed, so there fore it could possibly be something that would have been hard to hinder.

Red R1der wrote:
As for the crime itself, the kid is definitely disturbed. I'm not sure how much the national media picked up on this, but it's the general consensus here that he killed his step mom because he was jealous of having to share his dad's affection with her.

wow, i seriously just learned about that in ap psych haha. It's called the oedipus complex, where you're in love with your mother and want your father out of the picture. i didnt think it actuallly happened though.

alex-likes-running wrote:

Red R1der wrote:
As for the crime itself, the kid is definitely disturbed. I'm not sure how much the national media picked up on this, but it's the general consensus here that he killed his step mom because he was jealous of having to share his dad's affection with her.

wow, i seriously just learned about that in ap psych haha. It's called the oedipus complex, where you're in love with your mother and want your father out of the picture. i didnt think it actuallly happened though.

Oedipus was an orphan right? and didn't know he was marrying his mother? Thats not thaat creepy. hah
I've never actually read the story...

Teenagers should be tried as adults if the punishment would get them more the a few years in jail. Basically anything that would put a child in jail past 18 years old if he/she got an "adult" sentence.

Otherwise, try and rehab the kid, maybe they'll turn out alright

People should be held accountable for their actions -- no matter what age. Most of these stories getting media attention aren't kids stealing some kid's toy on the playground. They commit serious felonies or are stone cold killers who I wouldn't want to be walking the streets.

For the situation the Red R1der told with the kid that used a pillow to muffle the shots shows premeditated, almost assassin-like murder. Then for the kid getting on a school bus and going to school like normal just isn't right.

I was watching Good Morning America the other day while I was eating breakfast, and they showed a story about an eight year old that shot and killed his dad and another man. During a taped police interview, he says that he reloaded the rifle in between shootings. It was obviously something he thought about and carried through.

I don't think any amount of counseling/rehab could help that much disregard for human life in either of those cases. If you give someone a slap on the wrist for something serious, they will never learn their lesson.

Tell me how many people who commit felonies learn from their mistakes. Jail doesn't teach criminals anything and the death penalty is even worse. The government looks down upon people like Hammurabi who believed in the eye for an eye concept, yet we do the same thing. Some people just don't belong in society and jail is where they might belong. If you send a kid to jail he'll either be scared shitless or be turned into an even bigger criminal. Letting him off the hook doesn't solve anything. Let him suffer.