Juvineles Tried as Adult

Since the beginning of time justice officials have been faced with a difficult decision should juvenile offenders be given smaller sentences because of their age. Today officials still are having trouble with this situation. Some experts believe some offender should be tried as adults , others believe no juvenile offenders should be tried as adults and some even think all should be tried as adults. My opinion Juvenile criminals the way all offenders should be tried.

According to Mr. Steve Smith 40% of inmates in prison are juveniles and he also says 150,000 prisoners are repeat offenders who started as juveniles. This means over 50,000 prisoners are juveniles and the others are adults who in the age of 18-26 says and has risen 40% ver the last few years, and according to the book Juvenile Justice in 1996 2,171 murder cases were charged to minors.

Juvenile offenders are not only a threat to a town doing "small crimes" or misdemeanors but are committing more serious crimes as time goes by and yet still no efforts has been made to keep criminals where they belong. In the Kent Vs United States Trial a young offender 16years of age was charged with rape and because juveniles do not get the same rights as adults Kent's attorney was not allowed to review any files that where obtained making it unconstitutional thus overturning the sentence given to him. My question is if people do not want for juveniles to be tried as adults why give them adult rights? If they wan to be tried as not adults why do they need right if they only committed a minor crime? As Mr Steve Smith said "Majority of criminals in prison are repeat offenders who started as juveniles and most of them did not get tried as adults" this can only tell me if they would of received adult sentences maybe they would of had a chance to correct their mistake and not become and statistic of just another repeat offenders. According to the Census Bureau:There will be 1.8 million more males 14 to 24 years old, the most crime-prone group, in the year 2005 and 1.2 million more in 2010

im Missouri these action were taken in the legislature

Removed the minimum age _ currently 14 _ for trying as adults kids who commit the most serious crimes like murder, rape and armed robbery.

Lowered to age 12 the minimum age for trying a child accused of other, less serious felony crimes.

Allowed a child of any age to face trial as an adult if the child already have been convicted of two or more felonies.

Allowed a juvenile judge to determine the minimum length of time a juvenile offender must spend in a juvenile facility. Currently, the state's Youth Services Division decides when to release a juvenile based on the child's progress in changing behavior.

Provided public access to many juvenile records in criminal cases. Under current law, juvenile records are totally closed to public access.

Not to mention most of the 50 states have harshened their policies on juvenile crime.

Juvenile criminals also targets drugs. According to the Breaking the Juvenile-Drug cycle: