Article Rebuttal – Children Should Never Be Tried as Adults Dena Cox BCOM/275 March 24, 2013 Lynda Sohl Article Rebuttal – Children Should Never Be Tried as Adults Article controversial subject: Should children be tried as adults? Robert Schwartz is the co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center in 1975 and has been the executive director there since 1982. This is a nonprofit public interest law firm that ensures the youths in foster care and justice systems are treated fairly and have the same opportunities in life in their adult years.
Studies also show that the juvenile justice system protects the public much better than the criminal justice system. He argues that “kids are incompetent to be tried as adults, trying them as juveniles it not excusing the crime. ” (Schwartz 2010). He thinks that at a young age a child could not process information and plan horrific crimes like an adult can. Youths struggle with impulsiveness, immaturity, undeveloped decision making, susceptibility to negative peer pressure and lack of future orientation.
They do not have the common sense, problem solving or thinking capabilities like an adult. Young teens lack the skills to consult with a lawyer and come up with a courtroom strategy. The MacArthur Foundation Research Network recognized “that legal sanctions for misbehavior should not be based only on the harm a youth causes, but on the youth’s culpability. ” (Schwartz 2010). You see people everyday getting different sentences and consequences for the same crimes. This happens because defendants differ when it comes to mentality, past crimes, culpability and blameworthiness.
There has been recent brain imaging technology that shows from the “prefrontal cortex to the limbic area, the teenage brain is undergoing dramatic changes during adolescence in ways that affect teens ability to reason, to weigh consequences for their decisions and to delay gratification long enough to make careful short and long term choices. ” (Schwartz 2010). MacArthur and his researches concluded that young people under the age of fifteen should never be tried as an adult. There are always studies being done over this type of stuff but I do not feel it is the same for everyone, majority maybe but not for everyone.
I think the studies are great and give some sort of feel, but each instance is different and they should never base it solely on age. The brain may be developing the most during the adolescent years but I believe young adults know the difference between right and wrong. The youth knows what a gun is and what a gun is capable of. So for an 11 year old to pick up a gun and shoot it and end up killing someone because of their decision, I feel they should be tried and responsible for their actions just like an adult would be.
I do not think they are mentally the same as an adult but overall they know they shouldn’t do it, and they did so its time for them to face the consequences. Each case should be taken on a case by case basis and judged based on many things and factors. For a young adult to not be tried as an adult I feel they need to prove some sort of mental disability. They need to evaluate if there is a real danger to society from the child, why it happened, and what lead to it. Overall I do not feel a personas age should excuse them for their actions.
