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Should the government be allowed to sentence juvenilles as adults?

should adolecents be able to be tried as adults?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 18.8%

  • no

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • depends

    Votes: 7 43.8%
  • Total voters
    16
Iwa

Iwa

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Illinois. I wish i lived in a Socialist country.
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Depending on the sevarity of the crime yes they should be able to try adolecents as adults, like murder, theft, or something to that affect. If it is minor, there is not much to be worried about, but to stop a life of crime punish them.
 
Iwa said:
Depending on the sevarity of the crime yes they should be able to try adolecents as adults, like murder, theft, or something to that affect. If it is minor, there is not much to be worried about, but to stop a life of crime punish them.
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No. If we, as a society, have decided on an age of adulthood because it's the age when people are able to make responsible decisions...then why would we try juveniles as adults? That is saying that they fully understood the ramifications of what they were doing.

So 17-year-olds are too irresponsible to vote, to smoke/drink, to enter into legal contracts, to gamble, etc...but they are just as aware as an adult of the ramifications of committing crimes?

Absolutely not. Juveniles should be tried as juveniles. Adults should be tried as adults.
 
Not with how our system is set up.

Currently we have just 2 groups: juvenile delinquents and the adult prison system.

There is nothing, though, for juveniles who commit adult crimes - and there should be. There should be a 1/2 way area for those sentenced in such a way, away from the other lesser-degree offenders and also away from the adult prison population.

I think that trying them as adults - and sticking them in an adult facility - is absurd.

Would an adult ever be tried as a juvenile for any reason or sent to a juvenile detention facility? Nope - so why is it the other way around.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Not with how our system is set up.

Currently we have just 2 groups: juvenile delinquents and the adult prison system.

There is nothing, though, for juveniles who commit adult crimes - and there should be. There should be a 1/2 way area for those sentenced in such a way, away from the other lesser-degree offenders and also away from the adult prison population.

I think that trying them as adults - and sticking them in an adult facility - is absurd.

Would an adult ever be tried as a juvenile for any reason or sent to a juvenile detention facility? Nope - so why is it the other way around.
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the 1/2 way point is a decent idea.
 
It's unfortunate - but it's becoming necessary, really.

Kids didn't use to kill other children and adults intentionally in the numbers that they do now. Yes, it did happen, but now it's becoming more and more common.

But there's also a maturity/social expectation that has changed - 100 years ago, for example, a 15 year old was practically an adult and lived as such. In modern times, though, 15 years is still considered underage - emotionally and developmentally - teens are leaving home later and later, so the line of 'on your own' is shifting and so the criminal system needs to adapt to our changing social and cultural condition.
 
Depends on the nature of the crime, the juvie's record, and his age.

Given that totally retarded school officials are willing to suspend a seven year old boy for carrying a two inch plastic Lego gun (a "deadly" weapon?), the law (written by legislators, not judges) must be carefully crafted. Otherwise they'll be letting 17 year old rapists go and putting 7 year old Boy Scouts with a picture of an axe in his Boy Scout Manual in prison for life.

ADULTS who compel kids to commit crimes should be sentenced for the maximum adult sentence that crime would carry, and get an extra ten years, to be served sequentially.
 
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Aunt Spiker said:
It's unfortunate - but it's becoming necessary, really.

Kids didn't use to kill other children and adults intentionally in the numbers that they do now. Yes, it did happen, but now it's becoming more and more common.

But there's also a maturity/social expectation that has changed - 100 years ago, for example, a 15 year old was practically an adult and lived as such. In modern times, though, 15 years is still considered underage - emotionally and developmentally - teens are leaving home later and later, so the line of 'on your own' is shifting and so the criminal system needs to adapt to our changing social and cultural condition.
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which is very true.
 
Judges should not legislate from the bench - they should judge within the laws written by the legislation system.

What you really mean is that legislators should consult and consider the advice of those who are qualified to make these judgment calls within the criminal justice system.
 
Yes it should, though it should be relatively rare. There are situations(repeat offenders who are a threat to those around them mostly) where it is beneficial to do so.
 
Yes. The idea that victims are somehow less deserving of justice because the offender is a minor is absurd. I am not saying we should throw a minor into an adult prison but he can stay at a juvenile facility until he turns 18 and then throw his ass into an adult prison.
 
Absolutely not. If they are old enough to be held responsible as adults for their crimes, they are old enough to have the other rights and responsibilities of adults. This double standard makes hypocrites of all of us.
 
Either minors are fully responsible for their actions or they aren't. Consistency under the law in the cornerstone of our society and applying a double standard undermines that. I love minors receiving serious adult charges for possessing child pornography or having sex with minors of their own age. You can be too irresponsible to consent to having sex or photographing yourself naked, but still considered fully responsible for criminal charges for such acts that are only illegal because you aren't responsible enough.
 
I think that many teens should be tried as adults, but then again, I also think they should be treated like adults and be given the rights and responsibilities of adults.
 
An 8-year-old and a 16-year-old committing a serious crime shouldn't be held to the same standards. Nor should that 16-year-old be tried completely as an adult.
 
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