Should Juveniles Get Adult Jail Sentences

Do you believe juveniles should get tried as an adult would? Sources say that in some cases juveniles can be tried as an adult but some people including myself think that is wrong. As hard as jail is for some adults, what makes you think a kid can survive in there? Some people may argue if they did the crime, they can do the time, well that’s a good point but not exactly true. 

Sometimes when juveniles commit crimes such as murder, rape or robbery with a weapon it's not their fault. Parents play a huge role into how the kid acts. Some kids were raised to think maybe killing someone or raping someone is okay when it's really not but they don’t understand that. Juveniles' minds may think differently than adults when committing a crime. As a younger child you have a younger mental capacity than an adult. 

In the United States the age to be tried as an adult is 18 years old. Which is the age you legally become an adult, so it is rightfully so. In some cases, 17-year old’s can be tried as an adult based on how close they are to turning 18 and the crime they committed. That means prisons are full of 17-year old’s to 90-year old’s. If a child at 16 commits a crime and they are being considered to be tried as an adult I think it is wrong because first they are going to be thrown into a cell with someone most likely a lot older than them and they will be picked on and disrespected. They will have a hard time trying to fit and will start to do things to help them to start fitting in which could be bad things in the end. I think trying children as adults is a bad idea because we just put these kids in a worse environment which may lead them to come out even worse than when they went in. If we put them with kids their own age and discipline them there, I think we have a better chance of the coming out of jail a changed person. 

There are roughly 10,000 children who are currently being held in adult prisons and jails in the United States. While in prison, children are exposed to several elements of needless risk. Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted when serving time in an adult prison than if they were housed in a juvenile facility. Not to mention children in adult prisons are thirty-six times more likely to commit suicide. Subjecting children to adult prison facilities disregards their potential untreated mental illnesses, lack of experience in managing trauma, stress, and anxiety. 

In conclusion hundreds to thousands of children are killing themselves each year or are being brutally assaulted in jail. I believe that if we can get them stabilized with people their age in a juvenile detention center it will be better for them than just throwing them in actual prison where they could be exposed to more violent criminals who they may begin to look up to. Prison is about rehabilitation and if we are sending our children in with adults for the crime they commit, they might come out worse than how we put them in there.

Works Cited

· DeBlasi, S. (2020, October 12). When Are Juveniles Tried as Adults? Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/when-are-juveniles-tried-as-adults.html 

· Chief, E. (2019, March 26). 22 Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults Pros and Cons. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://connectusfund.org/22-should-juveniles-be-tried-as-adults-pros-and-cons 

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