Do you think that juvenile offenders who have committed a homicide should be tried as adults - Essay Example

Juvenile Offenders School There is a neurological research that s that human brain is not fully developed until the ageof 25 (Chang, White & Weaver n.pag.), which means that some of people’s actions may come from lack of brain development. This definitely makes the issue concerning juvenile offenders and the punishment that they deserve complicated. The issue of what legal measures should be applied to young assassins is one of the most contradictory in justice system. Even though there are multiple controversies in this issue, everyone should be punished for the felony one has done; so a young offender should at least be evaluated on the matter of psychological abnormality and must be provided with special mental treatment along with some legal measures of punishment like a short sentence in prison.

The main question is whether children are capable of acknowledging their actions and their consequences. Thus the claims concerning lack of brain development in kids doesn’t justify any criminal actions that children may do. If it was so, then any juvenile offender would be excused just because it was not his fault for commiting the crime, but it was lack of brain development which made him act cruelly. Such excuses would let children do whatever they want and no one could have blamed them for anything.

However, a great argument was stated by representatives of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Offenders who reasonably noted in one of NY Times articles concerning this issue: “While juvenile advocates often note that a youth’s brain is still developing, we all learn from an extremely early age that killing is wrong” (Kozlowska n.pag.). The statement definitely makes sense as it is difficult to imagine a child who wouldn’t know that killing is a bad thing to do. Thus it means that when a juvenile offender was about to make a crime, he had already known that the action was extremely bad and illegal.

Moreover, it is obvious that if someone close to a child died, the child would feel grief, because one would know that death is a bad thing, especially when people kill each other. Doesn’t this mean that kids’ brain is developed enough to understand moral standards and discern good from bad? Although when a child kills a human, for some reasons people say that children’s brains are not developed enough, so they shouldn’t be charged for anything. The situation creates a kind of double standard regarding the issue.

As far as an action must be evaluated according to a person’s acknowledgement of what is good and what is bad, if a child is aware of the fact that killing people is bad and still kills for no evident reasons; moreover, if the child does it apart from self-defense and not as a response to another’s aggression, then it makes the kid’s action intentional. This means that juvenile offenders should be charged for their actions and hold responsibility for them. Works CitedChang, Juju, White, Maureen, and Weaver, Justin. (2010) “How Young Is Too Young to Face Life in Prison?”. ABC News. March.