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    This document discusses the issue of sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison without parole. It notes that the Supreme Court has ruled against mandatory life sentences for juveniles. However, many states have not followed this ruling. The document argues that juveniles are still developing biologically and that the juvenile justice system, which focuses on rehabilitation, is more appropriate for youth offenders and makes recidivism less likely compared to the adult criminal system. It concludes that we should reform our treatment of juvenile criminals to focus on rehabilitation rather than solely punishment through the juvenile justice system.

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    This document discusses the issue of sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison without parole. It notes that the Supreme Court has ruled against mandatory life sentences for juveniles. However, many states have not followed this ruling. The document argues that juveniles are still developing biologically and that the juvenile justice system, which focuses on rehabilitation, is more appropriate for youth offenders and makes recidivism less likely compared to the adult criminal system. It concludes that we should reform our treatment of juvenile criminals to focus on rehabilitation rather than solely punishment through the juvenile justice system.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    390 views4 pages

    Juvenile Justice English Essay

    Uploaded by

    api-355285322
    This document discusses the issue of sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison without parole. It notes that the Supreme Court has ruled against mandatory life sentences for juveniles. However, many states have not followed this ruling. The document argues that juveniles are still developing biologically and that the juvenile justice system, which focuses on rehabilitation, is more appropriate for youth offenders and makes recidivism less likely compared to the adult criminal system. It concludes that we should reform our treatment of juvenile criminals to focus on rehabilitation rather than solely punishment through the juvenile justice system.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    Hunter 1

    Holly Hunter

    Bowyer

    Expos Period 2

    27 Feb 2017

    Who Gets the Life Sentence.

    Children are sentenced to prison for life without parole in our country every day. One

    issue in our society is how we let these children gain a life sentence in prison before theyve

    experienced anything in their life. The supreme court has decided to abolish mandatory life in

    prison for juveniles, but many other Americans have not been so lenient. These young adults

    should still be held accountable for their crimes, but pushing them through the adult prison

    system for life is not the way to handle it.

    Juveniles are biologically different than adults. Brain imaging studies reveal that regions

    responsible for controlling thought, actions and emotions are not fully developed in adolescence

    (Garinger). This, however, is no excuse or a deciding factor for young people to misbehave and

    get away with crime, just a factor to consider when discussing life in prison for these minors.

    Few believe that criminal genes are inherited, except in cases of parental abuse and negative

    home lives can leave children with little hope and limited choices (Grainger). Brazill, a thirteen-

    year-old boy, brought a gun to school to shoot a teacher he considered one of his favorites

    because she did not let him say goodbye to some classmates on the last day of class (Thompson).

    Now older, Brazill sees it as a stupid mistake. We notice these troubled children, such as

    Brazill, dont seem to understand how to handle emotions and because of this we need a system

    to help children who make these horrible stupid mistakes gain skills to cope and handle
    Hunter 2

    situations in an appropriate manner (Thompson). As seen in the documentary Prison Kids, a

    system for troubled elementary kids, or any other level kids, is necessary. In this alternate

    system, they had it so if a child acted up they could go there to get help with coping skills and

    behavior/attitude, it was an alternative to calling the police if the children acted in a threatening

    way or if the school did not want to handle it themselves (Prison Kids).

    Some may think these children are being sentences to die in prison. However, children

    are not being sentenced to die in prison, the juvenile death penalty was abolished years ago, in

    2005 (Jenkins). And in fact, the ones who are receiving the sentence for life in prison are the

    ones who have killed multiple people. But the real question here is are we caring for these felons

    and attempting to help them on the right path not if they are just getting sentenced to die? If

    these or any other minor who commits a crime is thrown into the criminal justice system, they

    are more likely to be a repeated offender. If theyre thrown into the juvenile justice system,

    however, the likeliness is lower due to the focus of the system being rehabilitation rather than

    punishment (Prison Kids). Therefore, we shouldnt allow our children to be thrown into the adult

    criminal justice system: to ensure they do not end up repeating crimes such as murder, and to

    ensure the safety of our loved ones and our community.

    A new generation of criminals in the 1990s arouse with no mental flaws or harsh

    backgrounds, who simply just wanted to experience the thrill. In 1990 a teenager shot and killed

    a pregnant woman and her husband, when the teenagers friend testified for him he explained that

    it was a thrill kill and the boy had wanted to see what it would be like to shoot someone

    (Jenkins). These are the kids that make people want to lock up juvenile criminals forever, the

    ones who make it seem like there is no hope for deviating the kids from the violence. But, does it

    not make sense that these are the kids who need the most help of all? Should they not be allowed
    Hunter 3

    the chance to receive help and coping skills, because even though it was supposedly for the

    experience and trill, does it not scream louder than words that there is an underlying issue that

    needs to be resolved? Therefore, we need to put minors into the juvenile system and not sentence

    them to life in prison, because they need help and rehabilitation not sole punishment.

    Many minors have fallen victim to life in prison. As Lundstorm said the bigger the

    crime, the more eager we are to call them adults and throw them into the adult criminal justice

    system because of it (Lundstorm). It is time to start helping the kids we love and stop calling

    them adults when the crime is too big and scary for us to handle. The juvenile justice system was

    created for a reason, it should not just be set aside when someone does not believe they can

    change, because chances are lower they will commit another crime if they are put into the

    juvenile justice system and higher if thrown into the adult criminal justice system. Therefore, the

    adult prison system isnt the way to handle youth crimes, but holding the youth accountable is

    still mandatory.

    Word Count: 839


    Hunter 4

    Work Cited

    Garinger, Gail. Juveniles Dont Deserve Life Sentences. New York Times 15 Mar.

    2012. New York ed.: A35. Print.

    Jenkins, Jennifer Bishop. On Punishment and Teen Killers. Juvenile Justice

    Information Exchange. 2 Aug. 2011 Web. 11 June 2012. <http://jjie.org/jennifer-

    bishop-jenkins-on-punishment-killers/19184>.

    Lundstrom, Marjie. Kids Are Kids Until They Commit Crimes. Sacramento Bee 1

    Mar. 2001: A3. Print.

    Thompson, Paul. Startling Finds on Teenage Brains. Sacramento Bee 25 May 2001:

    B7. Print.

    Prison Kids Juvenile Justice. Prison Kids Juvenile Justice. Incarceration Nation, 18 July

    2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017.

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