Week 6, Entry 1: Trying juveniles as adults-The right thing to do?

While juveniles can commit many of the same crimes as adults, should they be tried as adults? If so, at what age should they be tried as adults and for what crimes? These questions are questions that states have been struggling with for quite some time. Unfortunately, as with many other issues related to justice, prejudices and politics come into play and unjust laws result.

In 2006, an estimated 200,000 juveniles ended up in the adult justice system in the United States. That number is a 200 percent increase over the numbers a decade earlier, and the increase is a direct result of laws passed in various states with the ever popular, but ambiguous stance of being “tough on crime.” While it may be logical to sentence the most dangerous juvenile criminals (such as those who commit murder) by adult standards, the 200,000 in the system were not all murderers or dangerous criminals. In fact, many states permit the trial of children as young as 10 years old as adults.

These laws have resulted in children as young as 14 or 15 being given adult sentences and being jailed along with hardened criminals. There is no evidence that these laws have reduced crime and there is some evidence that such standards create career criminals out of youths who might have been rehabilitated. Some states have recognized this have reconsidered or are reconsidering these laws. Even the Justice Department questions the effectiveness of such laws. In the coming posts this week, I’ll expand on this topic a bit and discuss life sentences for juveniles and how the law defines an adult. This is an area of our justice system that too often gets overlooked, but plays an important role in our future.