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Should Juvenilles Be Tried As Adults For Capital Offenses

On May 9th, 2001 Lionel Tate, at the age of fourteen was sentenced to life in prison from a Florida judge. He was charged with the beating that resulted in death of a six-year-old neighbor girl, Tiffany Eunick (Where It All Began: 14-year-old Gets Life 1). Lionel claimed he was performing professional wrestling moves on Tiffany when she stopped breathing (Where It All Began: 14-year-old Gets Life 2). Lionel, along with many others, do not dispute the fact that his actions were the cause of Tiffany's death. The disagreement arises when one looks at the sentence Lionel was given. Did Lionel realize that his actions would result in the death of Tiffany Eunick? Should Lionel or any other juvenile be held responsible in the same manner as an adult for capital crimes? Recent studies show that juvenile brains are not fully developed making them incapable of fully understanding the transgressions of there actions and therefore should not be tried in adult courts.
To understand this situation in it's entirety, one must first know Lionel Tate's full story. On July 28, 1999 Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a highway patrol trooper for the state of Florida, brought Tiffany Eunick to her home to watch over her. This was not unusual being that Kathleen was a good friend of Tiffany's mother. Tiffany had been over to this residence a considerable amount of times before and played with Lionel without having any problems. After Kathleen finished preparing dinner for the two, she let them watch television. While they watched the television she went upstairs. Around the time of 10 P.M. the children's playing grew too loud for the Kathleen to ignore. The initial annoyance the two caused was swiftly replaced by terror 40 minutes later when Lionel informed Kathleen that Tiffany was not breathing. "Tate claimed that he put Eunick in a headlock and banged her head on a black lacquer table…" (Where It All Began: 14-year-old Gets Life 2). The grand jury that was investigating Lionel's case started...