Teens who commit crimes must not be treated as an adult.

According to Juvenile Law Center, over two hundred thousand minors are charged in
adult courts every year. There you can see, the skyrocketing trend to get tough on juvenile
crime has resulted in an increasing number of minors being tried as adults. However, this
can have negative effects on teens. Therefore, our side Negative believes that “Teens
who commit crimes must not be treated as an adult.”
First, who are teens? Currently in Vietnam’s Law, we don’t have a definition or age
limit for “teen”, but according to Cambridge Dictionary, teens are people from 13 to 19
years old. Here are the reasons for our side.
Firstly, teens are not as mature as adults to be aware of their actions. For example, in
laws of countries around the world, teens cannot smoke, drink, or vote but adults can, so a
teen should not have the same consequences as an adult. According to John Hopkins
Medicine, at the beginning of puberty, neurons (brain cells) are gaining and losing up to
25 percent of their connections each week. By the time we reach adulthood that number
drops to 10 percent. This rapidly changing adolescent brain affects a lot to awareness of
adolescent. Unlike children, adults know what they are doing when they get into the
situation that they are in. This is the same reason why laws don’t have exceptions such as
“because this election is important, let’s give children voting cards,” or “this war is
important, let’s dress kids in camouflage, give them guns and send them to war”.
Secondly, adult prisons do more harm than good for juveniles. A report in 2018 by
the Center for Policy Alternatives reveals: Youths held in adult jails are eight times more
likely to commit suicide, five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to
be beaten by staff, and 50 percent more likely to be assaulted with a weapon than youth in
juvenile facilities. Moreover, minors sent to adult prisons are significantly more likely to
reoffend, and twice as likely to be arrested for a more serious crime, than minors in the
juvenile justice system.
Finally, there are fewer opportunities for rehabilitation in adult court. Teens that
receive sentences in adult court are usually given lengthy prison stays or long-term
treatment that restricts their freedom well into their adult years. An incident in Wisconsin
where two 12-year-old girls stabbed their classmate resulted in sentences of 25 and 40
years respectively at a mental institution. Both juveniles decided to plead guilty in the
case. That means after their time is over in these facilities (when one girl will be 52),
there won’t be many options available to start a new life.
Kids are kids and they make bad decisions but so does everyone else. Mistakes
should not be punished with an adult charge when there are thousands of programs to
help teens make better choices. In conclusion, teens are not adults and must not be treated
as such if they are not allowed to do the same legal things that an adult.