Juvenile Treatment in Court

Young lives have been turned sour by gang violence and outside suggestions from their convict peers. Juveniles and adults are treated differently when it comes to punishment for crimes. But the severity of the crime from a juvenile can be worse than a crime committed by an adult. The question that is being addressed in this paper is whether or not juveniles should be prosecuted as adults, or minors. During the younger years of their lives, juveniles still have developing brains and their judgement capabilities can be deficient. This opens them up to more outside suggestions of violence. If juvenile criminals can be corrected, they can live out their lives contributing to society. If punished as an adult, juveniles can be exposed to more gang violence that happens at high security prisons. This does not correct them. Juveniles should be sent to a place where they can be educated about how to stay out of crimes and violence.

The mind of a young child is still developing until about 25 years old. This developing brain does not make the best decisions. The natural rebelliousness of a young child can contribute to the crime problems that they are so inclined to commit. Young minds are also more gullible and willing to do things for a higher power. This can lead to a crazy parent to tell their kid to shoot someone for example. Because they are doing this for another person that they not only trust, but look up to and follow, are they the ones responsible for what they were tasked to do? This could go either way. Children, most of the time, are doing this willingly. If they could just take a step back to see what they are being tasked to do or what they want to do, to realize what crime they are committing, they could make a rational decision using their common sense to prevent them being punished as adults for their crimes. “The limbic system is associated with processing and managing emotion and motivation. When operating at full capacity, the limbic system is a gauge that keeps people from “overheating” or losing control of their behavior. Yet, in adolescence, the limbic system is gradually maturing.” The limbic system of your brain when you are a child is still developing so you do not have full control over it. This can lead to bad decisions because of the blinding emotion that you don’t have control over. This leads to the question of whether or not juveniles should be prosecuted as adults or not. If the crime is serious enough for an adult punishment of a juvenile, there should be a background check to find out if that person has any mental illnesses. But if they don’t, should they still be punished as adults because of their developing brain? This is only part of the answer to the question.

Because the mind of a child is still developing until 25, juvenile’s that are sentenced as adults and that are sent to adult prisons cannot grow up in a supportive environment that they need growing up. When a child is sent to prison, they are surrounded by adults and gangs that they have to adapt to in order to survive. Some children cannot deal with the change due to a variety of reasons that affected them before their stay at a prison. These reasons can include abuse from peers and emotions caused by poverty and crime. Dealing with the emotions caused by a communal dispute can be hard to deal with in prison when surrounded by rival gangs that constantly are on edge with each other, ready to break into a fight at any time. “Many young children in America are imperiled by abuse, neglect, domestic and community violence, and poverty. Without effective intervention and help, these children suffer, struggle, and fall into despair and hopelessness.” This kind of environment does not promote children to learn how to live a sustainable, crime free life after prison, leading them to commit more crimes after their sentence is over. It is a downward spiral that needs to be straightened for these children. If children were sent to a place where they are able to be rehabilitated, they can contribute to society instead of resorting to crime to have a house and food. If they can not be sent to a place where they are unable to be corrected, juveniles will just add to the crime problems that certain cities have.

In order for this to happen, juvenile criminals should be sent to a safe place where they can learn to change into a contributing member of society and to not turn to violence to solve problems. Juvenile correctional facilities have programs that help juveniles find their place in the world so that when they fulfil their sentence, they can go and have a life and a job. Not on the streets, fighting for survival and money. Crimes are committed because the criminal needs money or something that they do not have that they can’t get because they have no money. There are places where juvenile criminals with records can go to correct their ways of violence and crime. If you want juveniles to stay out of crime, you have to educate them and help them get a diploma so that they can have a source of income to sustain a crime free life, away from stealing things they can’t buy. “Youth whose commitment period is too short to fulfill that requirement are guided through a GED curriculum. DJJ considers a diploma or GED a minimum requirement for parole consideration. Certificates in a variety of vocations and college classes are offered to graduates as well.” An organization called DJJ, Division of Juvenile Justice, helps juveniles succeed later on in life by providing them with an education. If their sentence is shorter than the required years of school, DJJ guides them through their GED outside of their facilities. This allows juveniles to meet minimum requirements to get a job when they fulfil their sentence. They will have a chance to get on their feet and not resort to crime for a source of income.

Some say that instead of being sent to a nurturing program like the DJJ who supports and cares for children, juveniles should be punished as adults because they need to be straightened up in a place where there is a strict set of rules and where they can be silenced. These strict rules are said to prevent juveniles from acting up towards their peers, fixing their rebellious nature and teaching them that what defiance they had was pointless. Having children straightened up can fix the crime problems that juveniles are inclined to commit and teaches them that crime is not the way to success. This certainly seems promising, but there are some flaws to this idea. Adult prisons are meant for adult offenders who are way more dangerous than children. If a juvenile were to get into a fight with an adult, you would know who won. Also, there are more gangs in prison than you might think. Gangs dominate the population of prisons, each have their own area that they hang out in. Juveniles would have a hard time adapting to this way of life. Prison gangs are also violent and hard on their members. This is not the right environment for a juvenile to grow up in because all they will know when they get out of jail is to survive by stealing, crime and murder. The system of jail is to keep people out of the streets, committing crimes. Not for rehabilitating juveniles to responsible individuals.

In conclusion, juveniles should not be prosecuted as adults because they have still developing brains that lack the responsible decision making skills that adults have. The environment of a jail is not fit for the rehabilitation for juveniles into responsible individuals. An organization called the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) places juveniles in an environment where they can live away from outside influences of violence and crime so they can grow as contributing members of society. All of these are reasons juveniles should not be punished as adults. Juveniles need time to grow up as a kid and live a healthy life. This can only be achieved if America takes action. If juveniles can be treated as juveniles and are helped to fix their ways of crime and violence, the world can become a better place for all of us.