Juveniles charged with violent felonies ought to be treated as adults in the CJS

Resolution: In the United States, juveniles charged with violent felonies ought to be treated as adults in the criminal justice system.

Pick a side and debate away. This was an old Lincoln-Douglas debate topic during January/February of this year and I thought it was quite intriguing.

 

no, seeing as we dont treat adults properly atm

 

As twisted as the criminal justice system is, unless pleading insanity. Juveniles should be held accountable for certain crimes such as murder, rape, etc. Being reasonable in the charges being laid. Example being something like having to serve jail time for stealing candy opposed to jail time for killing people; these offences easily being distinguished from one another.

 

They haven't had their brain fully developed, so why treat them the same?

I would only support this under the condition that they get treated entirely the same in all cases.
They can vote.
They don't get paid crappy wages.

Personally for a juvenile to be held accountable for their actions the exact same as an adult is, and then to say they are not mature enough to participate in adult activities is nothing more than a blatant double standard.

 

I'd only support the system if it included the high degree of felonies such as homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, etc.
Unless they were harming someone else or the community their in, then I don't support it.
If it was simply for a drug possession then I disagree again.
Simply put, if it's a misdemeanor don't try them as an adult, if it's a felony show them how adults are tried.

 

You wouldn't let a kid who just slaughtered innocent people back in society after a few weeks or months in a detention center. Who knows if they will act like that when they are older? Waiting until it happens again would be a serious waste of people's lives.

 

I say no. That makes no sense. Children/Juveniles shouldn't be treated or put in a trial as an adult unless they are given the same rights as adults. If I were the juvenile in that sort of case I'd say:

"If you're going to try me as an adult, I'd like to be treated like one. That means rights, the same rights adults have: driving, smoking, drinking, the works. Its simply not right. Why should I go to a prison with adults when I'm merely a child in the eyes of general law?"

 

If they're over 10, they know better. Circumstances do matter though so we can't just say everyones treated as an adult. Depends on the crime and what happened.

 

before you fully mature, your frontal lobes are not fully connected to the rest of your brain. this leads to a deficiency in the ability to plan long term, to reason and to conduct yourself properly.

 

But a lot of people around my age (14-17) seem to be able to think ahead. I live NEXT to a reaalllyy bad town...The school has to have 5 on duty cops at all time (the rumor though is 10-15, but it's actually 5) and the kids there are just terrible. There is one kid at my school, named Jr., (nobody knows his real name 0.0) and he's been to juvy twice now, each for getting in a knife fight. He seriously wounded both guys, putting them in the hospital for weeks, having to get stitches and what not. I think he should be put into jail. Those guys could have EASILY died. So, iSupport making crimes like this more of an adult-punishable thing. :\

 

deficiency =/= inability

gentrification at its best

 

This is a really difficult topic for me to debate.

I firmly believe that violence in children is picked up from parents. If while being raised you were consistently beaten for example, chances are you will violently release your anger, frustration and anguish. After a certain age however, you should determine what is right and wrong.

Therefor, I don't believe children under fourteen should be treated as adults when charged with violent felonies.

 

I believe that people older than 12 should be held accountable for what they do.

 

Why 12? What is the difference between 11 years and 364 days and 12 years and 0 days? Is there some form chemical changing inside your brain that says hey I'm 12 time to wake up?
No.

 

I think juveniles when committing some violent crime such as rape, homicide, things of that caliber should be treated as adults. They did it as a kid, what's to stop them for becoming worse. I'm not saying they can't get better, but they've done it before, so what's stopping them from committing the same crime again? Especially if all they got for it was a month or a few months in a detention center?

 

So you are telling me that if a 17 year old juvenile killed a family of 4, that they should not be punished the same way as an adult?

As for your brain not being developed BS, that is the dumbest thing I think I've possibly ever heard. So you also want to try and tell me a 17 year old doesn't know any better, because his brain isn't developed fully? LOL, OK. I would seriously LOVE for someone to try and tell that to a judge in court.

And as for the bolded, participating in 'adult' activities (smoking and drinking, I assume) is MUCH different than ending someone's life, or raping someone.

So HELL YES they should be treated as an adult, only for VIOLENT crimes. If a juvenile kills someone, rapes someone, stabs someone, etc, then that juvenile needs to be charged as an adult.

 

please read a simply biology textbook on human development and the brain.

 

Before debating I would have to ask for an outline of 'violent crimes'.
I myself comitted burglary at 15, entering into somebodys house.
Although this is a felony, and is an 'audacious' crime that some might consider violent, others would feel it isnt.

 

this thread is 7 months old just sayin'

 

Hey nothing wrong with bringing back good topics,
it appealed to me personally so I clicked on it...
*famous last words before computer crashes*