Prompt Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults
PROMPT
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that "Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features-among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appriciate risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home enviornment that suurounds him-and from which he cannot usually extricate himself-no matter how brutal or dysfunctional."
However, four justices strongly disagreed, agruing that mandatory sentences reflected the will of American society that heinous crimes committed by juviniles should always be punished with a sentence to life in prison.
Justice Alito noted that otherwise, "Even a 17 year old who sets off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen stude3nts and teachers is a 'child' and must be given a chnace to persuade a judge to permit his release into society..."
INSTRUCTIONS
Write an essay analyzing the issues raised by these arguements. Be sure to indacate which side you most strongly agree with. Support your position, providing reasons and examples from your own experiance and observatios, discussions you have participated in, and texts you have read for this module. Your essay should be clearly focused, well organized, and carefully written as you c an make it.
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Should Juveniles be tried as Adults?
The legal interpretation that the death penalty for juvenile offenders is unconstitutional is based on violation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause where juveniles are treated as adults, and go through mandatory sentencing. The surge in violence necessitated the passage of more stringent laws to address this from the 1990s where juveniles are believed to have committed “adult crime” and held more culpable for their actions. Supporters of treating the juveniles as adults argue that dangerous juveniles are accorded leniency, yet they commit serious crimes and some are habitual offenders, and there is also support for harsh treatment among the US public (Redding 940). Juveniles should be tried as adults, but should be judged on a case by case basis and severity of crime.
Trying juveniles as adults mostly focus on homicide cases and likelihood of reoffending. Additionally, trying the juveniles as adults makes it more likely that they will be placed in detention and correctional facilities together with adults. The notion that there is diminished responsibility for juveniles assumes that they are less likely to reoffend as adults (Steiner and Hamilton 3). The previou...