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Jonathan Zelaya
Mr. Bovingdon
Honors English II
Nov 13, 2015
Should Adolescents be tried as Adults
A boy is bound to a gurney, a man comes over and positions several heart monitors
throughout the boys skin. Then two needles are inserted into his veins, just in case one fails.
Soon after he is sent into an adjoining room. The needles then inject sodium thiopental into his
body, causing him to sleep. Next he is injected with flows of pancuronium bromide, which then
paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops (Description of Execution) the boys breathing,
then eventually causing his heart to stop (Description of Execution Methods). This actually
happened to a 17-year-old boy who, on January 27, 2004, was sentenced with the death penalty
(Juveniles and the Death Penalty). Adolescents sometimes commit crimes, and their crimes
lead to bad consequences, such as jail time. Adolescents are now being tried as adults for their
actions, even is some extreme cases. Adolescents have been sent to death row before, even
though they are too young. Adolescents are not adults. Punishment is not the answer, but there is
a way. Many people say that treating them as adults will reduce crime, but thats not really the
case. Adolescents should not be tried as adults.
Even though some adolescents act like adults, that does not mean they are. The legal age
in 47 states is 18. At this point in their life, adults can smoke, vote, get married, and purchase
chewing tobacco. However, they are now responsible for their actions. If they violate any laws,
they will be treated as an adult. But adolescents are younger than 18, and are not classified as
adults (Incarnation as Youth). How can the government charge an adolescent as an adult if

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even our own justice system does not classify them as adults? Harvard University had concluded
that the brain matures from back to front, and the last section of the brain to mature, which is in
the front, is the part of the brain that is responsible for cognitive processes, such as reasoning,
planning, and judgement. This mental merger is not completed until somewhere between ages 25
and 30 (The Teen Brain). It takes many years for peoples brains to fully develop. The
government should not treat adolescents as adults, since adolescents clearly are not.
Punishment is not the answer to keep crimes low for adolescents. First of all, jail time
does not work as you will read about later, and punishing the juvenile does not help much either.
Not a single study has found reductions in recidivism, habitual relapse into crime, using
punishment oriented program, in fact it actually makes it worse. A majority of studies have
shown that correctional treatment interventions have reduced recidivism rates. (Does
Correctional Treatment Work?) What we need to do to juveniles is identify the factor that drives
them to committing delinquency. That is looking at family, friends, history, origin, and antisocial
attitudes, then using that information to try to get the juvenile back on the right path. (Pealer)
James Gilligan, a clinical professor of psychiatry and an adjunct professor of law a New York
University, says, I have shown that an intensive re-education program with violent male
offenders in San Francisco jails reduced the level of violence in the jail to zero for a year at a
time. He also mentions that prison doesnt really help the person, just restrains them from doing
harm. We should help the person, not just restrain them. (Gilligan) This is another reason we
should not punish adolescents. We just need to get them into the right program: Juveniles need
help for them to change their behavior and return to a normal life.
Many people believe that sending adolescents to prison will reduce crime. Since violent
teens are put away, they will not cause any more trouble, and when they come out, they will be

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different. Marsha Levick, deputy director and co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law
Center says, Were deciding at a point in his life when we simply dont have the ability to know
who hell be in 10 or 15 or 20 years. The government send them to prison, expecting them to
come out clean. But when a juvenile is in prison, he is also surrounded by older criminals. He is
surrounded by people who are bad influences, and then the juvenile gets released, and we expect
them to be normal (Juvenile Justice). A new study by the Chicago youth incarnation shows that
sending juveniles to prison will make the countrys crime problem worse. The study, conducted
by Anna Aizer of Brown University and Joseph Doyle, Jr. of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, analyzed about 35,000 former Chicago public school student that are now all grown
up. They compared groups of adolescents that committed crimes and went to jail, with who
committed similar offenses but didnt do time. What they found out was the going to jail as an
adolescent has strong negative effects on a juveniles chance to get an education, even young
offender who were not imprisoned were better off. They also learned that adolescents who go to
jail had a higher change of offending again. Prisoned juveniles were 67 percent more likely to go
back to crimes, then by people who were not prisoned. (STUDY: Throwing Kids in Jail) This
shows that sending juveniles to prison actually has a real negative effect on adolescents.
Adolescents should be tried as adolescents, and not adults. Adolescents are too young and
their brains are not mature enough to make clear choices. Juveniles should not be in prison since
it will not help the adolescent and it would cause the opposite effect and cause more crimes. If
we want the crime rate to go down and adolescents to learn, we have to stop sending juveniles to
prison, and instead send them to a rehabilitation facility, and bring them back to normal, to make
the world a safer and happier to place to be.

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Works Cited
Beauchamp, Zack. "STUDY: Throwing Kids in Jail Makes Crime Worse, Ruins Lives." ABC
News. ABC News Network, 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
"Descriptions of Execution Methods." Descriptions of Execution Methods. Death Penalty
Information Center, 2015. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
Gilligan, James. "Punishment Fails. Rehabilitation Works." New York Times. New York Times,
2015. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
Gendreau, Paul, and Francis T. Cullen. "Does Correctional Treatment Work? A Clinically
Relevant And Psychologically Informed Meta-Analysis *." Does Correctional
Treatment Work? A Clinically Relevant And Psychologically Informed Meta-Analysis.
John Wiley and Son, 7 Mar. 2006. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
"Incarceration of Youth as Adults." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, 2015. Web. 12 Nov.
2015.
"Juveniles and the Death Penalty." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, 2015. Web. 13 Nov.
2015.
Pealer, Jennifer A., PH.D. What Works/ What Doesnt in Changing Behaviors. n.d PowerPoint
presentation. Nov 13, 2015
Khan, Huma. "Juvenile Justice: Too Young for Life in Prison." ABC News. ABC News Network.
Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
Ruder, Debra Bradley. "The Teen Brain." Harvard Magazine. Harvard Magazine, 1 Sept. 2008.
Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

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