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Infants Behind Bars

Infants Behind Bars
In today's society, crime has become a major factor. A crime is an act that is intentionally done to violate the law (The New American Webster 1995). The majority of people believe that no crime should go unpunished. There is a serious controversy, in the United States, on whether or not minors should be treated and tried as adults. By the 1920's, most states in the United States had separate juvenile justice systems. The juvenile system provides separate courtrooms, developed different procedures, and opened separate institutions for housing youthful offenders. Lawmakers felt that even though juveniles have their own system, adult time for adult crimes. The juvenile justice system was developed on the principle that youth are less developed mentally than adults and are more susceptible to intervention so they should be dealt with in a different way.
In recent years, most states have amended their juvenile laws doing away with the minimum age requirements on transferring to adult court. Twenty-three states currently have no minimum age while Kansas and Vermont can try ten year olds as adults (www.cbsnews.com). In a report done by CBS News, they reported around twenty-five thousand children a year have their cases sent to adult court (www.cbsnew.com). In 1990 five boys, ranging in ages from fourteen to seventeen, were charged and convicted for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a woman in one of Wichita's local parks. They all were apprehended and tried as adults, receiving the hard forty. That means each youngster must do at least forty years before seeing their freedom in reach. The youngest offender will be fifty-four when he completes his sentence. Do you agree with the Justice system trying these youth as adults? Some would agree, based solely on the fact that juveniles are committing more heinous crimes and need to be held responsible. Others disagree, believing that juveniles have not fully developed to their full...