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For
about a decade all states except Nebraska have passed laws
allowing juveniles under 16 to be tried as adults. This
action was taken after politicians fed up with the increase
of youth crime, decided the best thing to do was to take
juvenile cases to adult courts. This solution is an entirely
bad one since when children are sent into adult prison,
they are much more likely to turn to crime again, be victims
of violence and sexual abuse, and even be killed by their
much older cellmates. So by exposing children to this type
of behavior, they do not learn to change their ways but
these experiences in fact cause them to become traumatized
and even tougher when it comes to breaking the rules. Thus,
the children worsen instead of improve when it comes to
behaving acceptingly.
Teens that are sent to juvenile prison are given rehabilitation
and are released usually on their twenty first birthday,
while those sent to adult prisons are not rehabilitated
and are given longer sentences. So had these children been
tried in juvenile court, then they would’ve been given
a second chance by going through a program that helps set
them on the right track. What possibly could be done is
that the youth can be placed in juvenile prison until they
reach a mature enough age and are switched to adult prison
to serve the rest of their sentence depending on the severity
of the crime. This would be better since children who remain
in confinement with adults are not given any help to make
them better people at a time when they are still growing
into mature individuals. Also, most of youth sent to adult
prisons are black so racism is playing a big part in this
procedure. So this new system is being charged with discrimination
and failure to prevent juvenile delinquents from becoming
livelong criminals.
Research has shown that children under the age of 16 are
less capable of understanding court proceedings and getting
their lawyers to defend them. However, there are some people
arguing that youth offenders have the same capacity to be
tried in adult court as those who are older do. So as a
result of these disagreements, currently the laws are staying
the same. This is because while some people wish to give
youths a better chance to function better in society, while
others want them off the streets possibly forever in cases
of brutal crimes or feel that being with adults will teach
them a lesson for their delinquent behavior. Officials are
becoming more focused on keeping the children off the street
than they are with rehabilitating them in youth facilities,
which will much more likely be of benefit to them than spending
time in jail with adults.
The more serious crimes generally cause youth to be sent
to adult prison like the New Jersey case in which two teens
aged 14, 15 may be prosecuted as adults because police found
guns, sword, knifes and ammunition that were to be used
in a failed carjacking attempt which they supposedly planned
to help them launch a killing spree. Unfortunately youth
are now being prosecuted in adult court even when they commit
less serious crimes than homicide or attempted murder even
for things that are not necessary to spend time in prison
for. In Boone County, Missouri a twelve year old, three
seventeen year olds, two sixteen year olds, and a fourteen
year old are being prosecuted in adult court for possessing
tobacco, a crime in the state ever since last August. This
is bothering some officials since they do not want to have
to send children as young as seven or eight years old to
adult court and plus they are not sure if a court appearance
and fine would necessarily keep youths from smoking. One
of the teens even said that they are not going to stop smoking
even though they got caught.
The ability to prosecute youths as adults is getting way
out of hand with states such as Kansas and Vermont sending
children as young as eleven years old to adult prison. Children
this young are no match at all to grown inmates. There are
even states with no age limit so it’s a possibility
that an eight year could even be charged as an adult. Something
must be done to keep dangerous children off the streets
and at the same time giving them a chance to change their
ways without having to treat like adults since they are
not. This is because any one under sixteen may possibly
be too young to be placed in prison with adult criminals.
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