Juveniles Being Tried as Adults

How would you feel if one of your family members was brutally murdered by a young teenager? With the increasing amount of crime being committed by juveniles, officials are trying to come up with ways to prevent such crimes from ever occurring. More and more teens are committing crimes they know they can get away with because of their age. Juveniles know how far they can go before they really get themselves into trouble they cannot get out of. Usually when you are being tried as a juvenile the punishment is less severe. If a juvenile commits murder he or she has the knowledge of the crime they have committed. Juveniles should be no less accountable than adults, and treating them as such may also help to deter crime. However, juveniles differ from adults in more than just their age. They do not possess an adult’s capacity to judge and allowing them to be tried as adults is inconsistent with many other laws addressing juvenile behavior.

Imagine that you are a parent whose son or daughter has been killed by a 16-year-old. The teenager is brought to court, found guilty of the crime and the judge sentences him to two years in a juvenile facility, after which he will be free with not even a criminal record to follow him. Many people see these light sentences that some juveniles receive for serious