Child Persecution

There exists a controversy about child persecution; should individuals under eighteen be prosecuted as adults and not as minors. Should judges and jurors dismiss the fact of immaturity when they handle children; that the child is as guilty of the crime as if it was an adult that committed it.? Certainly not! A child or teenager cannot be judged as adults because they are still growing and learning. They have yet to become grownups.

Also, prosecuting children as adults has a great disadvantage to both the criminal and the public. Studies have shown that children prosecuted as adults and placed into adult correctional facilities are more likely to commit crime when they are released.

Minors cannot drink alcohol like adults. Minors cannot drive cars like adults. Then why should minors be prosecuted as adults? They shouldn't. A teen's mind functions very differently from the adult's. That is because it hasn't fully developed. That's why minors can't drink or drive.

Growing up mentally is very important to decision making. Morals are very important in decision making. The education of morals comes steadily, sometimes sooner or later, perhaps never. In fact, studies have shown that around the ages of eighteen to twenty-one, the minds of individuals fully develop.

Such a question has no right answer. People are different, some change and others don't, and thus the future cannot be foretold for anyone. It is predestined, however, that we will benefit and lose from children persecuted as adults. Those who would have changed their lives for the better would not have a chance (if they were prosecuted as adults) yet those who would not change their lives for the better would not have a chance