People can certainly agree any age below eighteen are people who are too young and immature to fully comprehend the consequences of their actions. This is what we define as minors-- an age group of juveniles that are under the age of full responsibility. This brings on the question: “Should they be charged as adults in violent crimes? Should they never be charged as adults regardless of the type of crime they commit?” Juveniles should not be charged as an adult because they are not adults due to their undeveloped brains, prompting them to make irrational decisions and the harm and bias in juvenile cases.
Throughout David Dobbs’ Beautiful Brains article, Dobbs writes about the immature brain. He writes, “a National Institutes of Health project . . . showed that our brains undergo a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years.” This fact reaffirms that teenagers are complicated-- rather, they’re going through turmoil because the brain is undergoing through extensive remodeling which is similar to a network and wiring upgrade. Moreover, teens usually make less use of brain regions that monitor performance, spot errors, plan, and stay focused-- which are areas that adults seem to use automatically. This continues to prove that adults have better brain resources and give better behavior whereas teens use such areas less often and are more impulsive. Juveniles, with an incompetent brain and inability to control and use their brain to its full potential, shouldn’t be tried as adults due to such immature brains.
News headlines consist of the mistakes and crimes of teenagers, and we tend to hear, “Oh, they were so young…” This comment implies that they deserved a chance in life, and they do deserve such a chance. It’s remarkable how corrupted this justice system is as it’s blatant in how biased it is. From Human Impact Partners, in California as of 2015, 88% of juveniles tried as adults were youths of color. This states how youths of color are more likely to be tried as adults than white youth. No ethnicity or race can or should determine a criminal sentence. It’s unfair for these minors to be tried as adults simply because of their race, so why should the justice system continue to have the option in trying them as adults if it’s going to continuously be used against minors of color?
It still remains the truth criminals are criminals, and they should atone for their illegal acts. It’d be unfair if juvenile criminals weren’t faced with any charges or indictments, so it makes sense for minors that have committed illicit actions to be held responsible. There is also the fact that there are victims within these cases the juvenile offender committed, and these victims should be awarded with a sense of peace as they should know their offender has been captured and held for their actions. What type of justice system would this be if the same system allows only certain groups of people to be off the hook and still continuously sends other people into jail or to their death? However, what type of system would this be if it continuously sent minors into long periods of time in jail time beyond their adult years because of their immature actions due to their undeveloped brains?
It’d be best for criminals of youth to serve their sentences. They simply shouldn’t be tried as adults unless the crime they’ve committed is severe and cruel. However, that does not justify for pre-teens and teenagers to be sentenced for life or to serve impossible life sentences as it will eat away their life. All criminals should be rehabilitated, and this should be established for everyone. At most, juvenile criminals should be released by the age of 25 and less which already is enough time for them to reflect back on their actions and try to serve their life back in society better.
The justice system shouldn’t possess such a devastating power to affect a juvenile’s life as this life has barely started. In such a system, it possesses heavy bias and harm towards minors especially towards those that are tried as adults, and it also is blundering as juvenile brains are still immature and undeveloped. Minors shouldn’t be tried as adults in all cases, rather, they should be tried as adults in severe violent cases if they are nearing adulthood. Nonetheless, they shouldn’t be given life sentences as they are not technically adults. This is one way out of infinity to make a fairer justice system.