Is it right to charge adolescents - Essay Example

Introduction Adolescent stage is the transition stage between childhood and adulthood (Salkind 128). It is an essential stage in human growth as it leads to self discovery. The scientific understanding of this phase of life is that the stage creates a lot of physical transformation due to the replication of cells in the body. Adolescent stage is indeed vital and cannot be detached from human life system (Slee 47). Technology is another factor that has led to a lot of speculation over influence of adolescent stage in children’s morals.

This has raised the idea of whether or not children in the adolescent stage should be charged of crimes they commit. In ‘Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence’ Laurence Steinberg states that the criminal legal system should not only be based on the damage caused but the blame worth of the criminal. The adolescent stage can be referred to as the stage of juvenile as a person is not fully grown t maturity at this phase. Therefore, it is a stage with a lot of life experiments that often land children into trouble with their parents as well as the authorities (Donald 93).

The need of strengthening the juvenile justice has been a major topic of focus in many countries all over the world. The developing countries are the most affected by children’s crimes as a majority of the young societies in these countries are under privileged due to the high poverty levels. Most children do not complete their education and end up being victims of illegal drug abuse and crime. The juvenile death penalty is viewed as a harsh form of justice ruling in both international and local courts.

Diminished responsibility should be endorsed in our court system in order to defend children as it reduces conviction of manslaughter.Conclusion It is hard to establish the mostly behind juvenile crime as it is mostly committed under the influence of impulsive reasoning (Hess & Robert 27). In this case, crime is committed under a lot of confusion. It is therefore not fair to pose harsh ruling on children after committing crime. Juvenile crimes should be charge under developmental immaturity and diminished responsibility so as to provide room for a balanced form of justice.

Work citedDonald Shoemaker. Juvenile delinquency: New York. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print Hess Karen M. Drowns, Robert W. Juvenile Justice: New York. Cengage Learning, 2009. PrintSalkind Neil .An Introduction to Theories of Human Development: New York. SAGE, 2004. Print Slee Phillip .Child, Adolescent and Family Development: London: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print