Try Minors as Adults

Are juveniles as under control today as they were in the past? Crime plays a major role in today's society. The government follows the policy and has always followed the policy that no crime goes unpunished. The controversy that surrounds the United States courtrooms today is whether or not a minor needs to stand trial as an adult for committing a serious offense. These decisions made by the judge or jury in the preliminary hearing affect the rest of the suspects life. The opposing argument to the issue of juveniles being tried as adults remains that the minor is too young and immature to understand the consequences of what he or she did wrong. Juveniles need to be punished according to the severity of the crime in which they committed. Ultimately, juveniles should stand trial as adults.

The opposition believes that holding court cases where juveniles remain tried as adults undoubtedly violates the rights of the juvenile. Initially, the age of a person when the alleged crime occurred decides whether or not he or she will be tried as a juvenile. "Definitions of who is a juvenile vary for different purposes within individual states as well as among different states" (Rosenheim 36). Children, ages seven to seventeen, who are suspected of crime, must be treated as children in need of guidance and encouragement, and not as vicious criminals (Emerson 6). Also, the opposition feels that the juvenile cannot accept full responsibility for his or her actions. Some people insist that each minor who committed a crime was influenced in some way or another (Emerson 8). Not only does the opposition believe that the minor was influenced, but they also believe that the juvenile was not able to control his or herself (Emerson 8). In addition, juveniles have not yet reached the necessary maturity level to share a prison amongst other adults. Minors, isolated for punishment, do not deserve this radical treatment (Staff Report C13). Numerous lawsuits are filed annually to fight the improper incarceration of juveniles who were tried as adults (Staff Report C13). Most importantly, courts must not rely on prosecutors to prove that a child knew whether or not that the crime committed was right or wrong. "The court is exhorted to treat children brought before it with the same kind of care, custody, and discipline that they would receive from good parents" (Emerson 6). Young offenders should be tried as minors because they do not know what is right from what is wrong (Fox 20).

Juvenile crime has mushroomed into an enormous dilemma for the legal system. The juvenile court system needs to devote more time to backing up what the judicial system stands for. "The courts allow the majority of juveniles off of the hook for committing crimes instead of arraigning them as adults like they should" (Stapleton 117). Due to the overflow of cases in lower circuit courts, the courts cannot handle the cases with the diligence necessary (Snyder 3). Moreover, a boom in juvenile crime poses a threat to the way that the judicial system conducts itself. Crimes that need to transfer to adult criminal courts are instead dealt with in the misdemeanor court (Snyder 3). Howard Snyder, Director of the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, in his report, demands that the courts must not continue letting minors leave the courtroom with minimal sentences for dangerous crimes. Most importantly, juvenile crime forces the courts to neglect time from the adult criminal courts. Juvenile crime has done nothing but increase in the past, and because of the increase in crime by minors courts have been forced to place less emphasis on lower criminal cases (McPolin 26). Increasing crime amongst minors will be the primary cause for the "downfall of the American judicial system" (Stapleton 119).

The statistics pertaining to the crimes that juveniles committed in the past proves that a statement must be made by trying more serious juvenile offenders as adults. First of all, minors believe, and the statistics show that the system lets the juveniles off easy because they have not yet reached adulthood. Teenagers feel that because they are young and innocent they can beat the system (Howard C2). Out of the many minors who go to court for serious offenses, "over half leave the courtroom smiling" because the judge decided for them to be prosecuted as children which means the punishment is easy (Howard C2). Furthermore, minors who commit serious crimes easily slip through grasp of the judicial system. Of the 20,000 juvenile delinquency cases that went to court, only one fourth were tried as adults in a criminal court (Snyder 1). Also, of the 5,000 minors who stood trial for serious crimes such as murder or attempted murder, few were convicted; therefore, the judicial system needs to prosecute more juveniles as adults for more criminal offenses involving such felonies as breaking and entering or auto theft (Snyder 2). Lastly, statistics illustrate that minors need a wake-up call to begin curbing the crimes committed by minors. "Youngsters need a serious disciplinary jolt before they can understand the bigger picture" responds James Austin, a member of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. A report rendered by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency shows that a recent