Juvenile Justice

Is it right or is it wrong to try a child in court and have them tired as an adult? Many think that it is wrong to send a child to adult jail some believe that it isn’t. Some believe that it is wrong to send a child to court and for them to be tried as an adult, others do not. They say that kids are only kids, or that adult jail is only for adults that they are not old enough or that sending them to juvenile detention centers will help cure them or that they don’t have morals but I do not agree with this. It’s wrong to have minors who commit horrendous crimes to be tried as minors they should be tried as adults. People always argue that kids don’t have any morals and that is one reason why they commit crimes.

Jessica Wilde proceeds to say that “A lack of human morals cannot be treated or cured in rehabilitation centers morals are inherited from birth, the acknowledgment of right from wrong”(1). As Wilde carries out her point she adds that ” people either have morals or they don’t…one may argue that morals are evident in one situation but not the other. Does this mean that they can pick and choose when to follow their morals”(1)? This I believe is wrong you should never choose when to follow your morals and when you don’t that is just plain wrong! You should never make exceptions in one scenario and not the other. Many say that in adult jail kids do not get the same help that they could get in rehabilitation, they say that with rehabilitation kids can be cured and have a second chance, but if given that second chance what if they take it and do something much worse? Then what do you do? Wilde states that “The obvious problem in trying minors as minors and not treating them in the same way for the same crimes is that rehabilitation will not fix these young criminals”(Wilde 1). If they can commit dangerous and horrendous crimes then they should be treated as an adult because if they can do that then they should be tried as an adult.

People always argue with the fact that if kids go to adult jail that “They’re abused and come out more dangerous and damaged” and I believe that they do need to answer for their crimes but just making them go to rehabilitation and for people to think that they have been cured and then to go out into the world and do it again then what is the point of going to rehabilitation? (Hendricks 2). I have heard a statement in which it says that if someone does something bad then they are going to feel bad, and that if they commit murder then they are going to feel terrible and that they have to live with it their whole life so isn’t that better than having them go to adult jail? That is not going to stop a murderer from killing again you can’t just think that by them living with that guilt is going to stop them, we also have to think about the victims and their families. Think about all those families who never get any closer because the minor who murdered their child was sent to rehabilitation and they never get over it because they know that the child could be out in the world right now and could be hurting other kids. Even Jessica Wilde states that “All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard, if not to punish heinous acts, then to provide justice to the families of victims”(2). Just imagine if you had a child that was murdered by a minor and you never got justice because that kid went to a rehabilitation center and came out a couple months later and is still doing the same thing just try and feel the pain and hurt that those parents feel because they can’t do anything about it. I believe that all minors should be tried in court and treated as an adult.

I agree with Jessica Wilde and I believe that minors are capable of doing and thinking things out for themselves.