Essay Sample: Should Juveniles Be Given Life Without Parole?

📌Category: Crime, Criminal Justice
📌Words: 1325
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 18 June 2022

That's the controversial question of the decade. Personally, I believe that juveniles should not be prosecuted as adults while under the legal age to do so. A juvenile is a person who is under the legal age of 18. This question has been a major controversy that has divided our nation into two. What is the Juvenile justice system and what is its main purpose ? The Juvenile justice system is a mix of both state and local-based courts with the purpose to reply to young offenders who have been accused of breaking the law. Their purpose is to maintain public safety while instating skill-development, treatment needs, and hibilition to the young offenders.

Prosecuting juveniles to life in prison as if they are adults is unfair and morally wrong when considering what studies reveal on the brain about juvenile behavior.  In the article “Juveniles don’t deserve life sentences”  author Gail Garinger addresses that an adults' brain is more alert than a minor’s. Garinger states “Compared with adults, teens tended to make less use of brain regions that monitor performance, spot errors, plan, and stay focused—areas that adults seemed to bring online automatically. This let the adults use a variety of brain resources and better resist temptation, while the teens used those areas less often.”. This proves that minors don't use the same amount of brain functions that allow them to make sensible decisions unlike adults who use all those functions inevitably. Therefore, juveniles should not be judged on their actions when their brains aren’t yet completely matured. Garinger then proceeds to state “Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not fully developed. They cannot be held to the same standards when they commit terrible wrongs.”. This reveals that juveniles should not be held to the same accountability as adults for the reason their brains are not fully matured compared to an adult', therefore they should be given more consideration when being sentenced than an adult. Under these given circumstances, young offenders should not have to deal with the same sentencing as an adult when their minds do not function the same, it's wrong and unlawful.

Most juveniles instantly regret what they did the moment they committed the crime or later when they have had nothing but time to reflect on their actions. Some spend the rest of their lives feeling guilty and try to become better people without forgetting their horrible mistakes. The problem is that most juveniles don’t get the opportunity for a second chance. Once they have committed their crime that’s all anyone ever sees them as. In the article “Juveniles don’t deserve life sentences” Garinger states, “Nationwide, 79 young adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison—, a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation  programs and left without help or hope.”  This shows that the  juvenile justice system doesn't bother to see these juveniles as children anymore; they view them as criminals and believe those young offenders don’t need any education since they will be in prison for the rest of their lives. Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison because of the reason that they are still children and they should be given a second opportunity to evolve into better people and should be given the help that they may need to thrive as better human beings. Furthermore, Garinger writes “There is little evidence to suggest that treating juveniles as adults in the criminal justice system decreases crime or has any deterrent effect. In fact, what evidence does exist suggests the opposite. Studies show that incarcerating children more often than not results in higher rates of recidivism; essentially, it turns children into hardened criminals.”. This reveals that most studies show that juveniles are more likely to become hardened criminals if they aren’t treated like sensible human beings. This proves that by allowing jurors to give young delinquents life sentences they are just turning them into worse criminals since prison is the only life they will ever know. As a result, prosecuting juveniles to life in prison ultimately does more harm than good

In 2012 the Supreme Court made the decision to take away life sentences for juveniles who were prosecuted before the age of 18 due to it violating the eighth amendment. However, this was in no way beneficial to the juveniles. Josiah Seth Ivy is one prime example. In an article “Josiah Seth Ivy resentenced for 2002 murders” written by Lance Benzel he states “A state court judge has resentenced Josiah Seth Ivy to 84 years in prison. He had been serving two life sentences in the 2002 murders of Gary Alflen and Stacy Dahl in Crystola…Ivy was 16 at the time he committed the crimes, so after accounting for time served, he is now looking at basically 70 more years in prison, plus 15 years probation.”. This shows that although juveniles are not allowed life without parole they are still given extreme years to serve that will keep them in prison for life. The decision of the supreme court is extremely critical to the future juveniles so they can’t be sentenced to life especially since people of color are the police main targets. In the article “Jim Crow Policing” by Bob Herbert he writes “ During that period, more than 450,000 people were stopped by the cops, an increase of 13 percent over the same period in 2008. An overwhelming 84 percent of the stops in the first three-quarters of 2009 were of black or Hispanic New Yorkers. It is incredible how few of the stops yielded any law enforcement benefit. Contraband, which usually means drugs were found in only 1,6 percent of the stops of black New Yorkers. For Hispanics, it was just 1.5 percent. For whites, who are stopped far less frequently, contraband was found 2 2 percent of the time.” This is to show that police often target people of color the most even when the numbers show that people of color are less often found with any possessions unlike white people who are less often stopped. As a result, juveniles should not be given such extreme sentences for mistakes they made as young minors when people of color are the ones who often suffer the most when being sentenced.

Notwithstanding, people who believe juveniles who commit serious crimes should be prosecuted and sentenced as adults. In an article “On Punishment and Teen Killers’ by Jennifer Jenkins, she states “ The offender in our case was a serial killer in the making. He came from privilege. Whenever he got in trouble, his parents fixed it. After a series of other crimes, he planned the murders for months, carefully and privately. He did not act on impulse or because of peer pressure. He was not mentally disabled—in fact was quite intelligent.” This quote is stating that the juvenile had no excuse to commit a crime and was a  serial killer in the making. Although there is validity to this argument, this claim is flawed because even though there is a small percentage of juveniles who will kill for no reason. Most of the juveniles that commit crimes are often ones with mental issues and have been victims of abuse or assault. Small percentages of juvenile serial killers should not make up for the fact that the majority are there for mistakes made by their trauma and still have the potential of turning their life around. Holding the whole juvenile system accountable for small percentages is unfair to those who want to genuinely be better citizens. With all considered , juveniles should not be written off based on their mistakes they made as minors or based on the small percentage of juvenile serial killers.

Juveniles should not be prosecuted as adults and sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as youths. It has been proven that minors are less likely to use brain regions that spot errors , and stay focused than adults. Not to mention, juveniles who are in prison have no access to education, or mental help, leaving them with no help to become better people. Finally, due to the Jim Crow laws once created, some states will target and give people of color or poor people a heavier sentence. In conclusion, is sentencing  juveniles to life in prison really benefiting them, or leaving them worse off.

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