Has your thirteen-year-old child ever killed someone? Have they ever been in a trial for a murder case? All over the world children have been carelessly murdering and breaking the law. It says that, “All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard, if not to punish heinous acts, then to provide justice to the families of victims” (Wilde 2). I absolutely agree with this quote because, kids these days are doing adult crimes therefore they should be receiving adult punishment. This is the only way kids will truly learn that what they have done is wrong.
Right now kids are being put in Juvenile Detention for a murder. Murdering someone is a serious crime so you should get a serious punishment. Wilde says, “Excuses should not be made for these offenders” (1). I believe that just because we are dealing with kids doesn’t mean they should be getting special treatment. We shouldn’t be feeling sorry for a kid that just murdered an innocent person! Kids aren’t helpless; they can make decisions for themselves. “The National Center for Juvenile Justice Profiles explains that juveniles are treated differently from adult criminals because ‘youth behavior is malleable’ and can be reformed with treatment and successful rehabilitation” (Wilde 1). Rehabilitation doesn’t always work. Sometimes a kid may have a special problem and requires special help. For these kids we can help them, we can give the kids that have problems special help, but instead we just send them to Juvenile Detention. It’s dangerous to make them go to Juvenile Detention for a while and then just set them free, because we don’t help then at all we just send them there and they get released and nothing has changed. We need to keep them in Juvenile Detention and then when they are old enough send them to real jail. If we just set them free they could be at high risk of doing the same thing again and could really endanger our community.
Many people believe that kids are too young to be tried as adults. I am fourteen-years-old right now and I might not be considered an adult but I at least know right from wrong. There are many kids out there that are my age and haven’t matured yet. “Kearie Brown, 14, will be tried as an adult for a murder she’s accused of committing when she was just 13” (Hendricks 1). Kids like Kearie Brown should go to jail, because they are endangering our community. I want to go home at night knowing that a thirteen-year-old kid won’t rob my house. The only way to do this is to start treating kids like adults when it comes to crimes. It would make me feel safer at night.
Trying kids as adults would not only teach them a lesson, but it could also be a coming of age experience. They could learn right from wrong in a different perspective. It could also help them to mature faster. It might seem harsh to put a little kid in jail, but it is also harsh to murder someone. People think that they should get a second chance. The people that are dying don’t get a second chance, so why should the kids. Don’t we want the best for the next generation? Think about that next time someone brings up this topic.