At What Age Should A Child Be Tried As An Adult

2934 Words12 Pages
RESEARCH PAPER: ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY At What Age Should An Adolescent Be Tried as an Adult? Abstract This is a research paper for Adolescent Psychology that answers the question; at what age should an adolescent be tried as an adult? This paper covers three main points; moral development, social and emotional development, and parenting styles as supporting evidence that an adolescent should not be tried as an adult. Every year thousands of adolescents are tried as adults in the United States. In an online site, Building Bocks for Youth, it states that in the year 1995, 9,700 juvenile cases were sent to adult court. One may ask oneself; what is the point of juvenile court if thousands of these cases are being transferred to adult court every year? The age restriction for a juvenile varies from state to state; however, generally speaking, it is a person under the age of eighteen. Throughout the course of an adolescent’s life, he is learning new concepts, values, and overall defining his character. This is done through moral development, social and emotional development, and parenting styles. As an adolescent grows he defines himself as a human being, and therefore, defines his personality. It is crucial that an adolescent not be tried as an adult prior to reaching the age of eighteen (Building Blocks for Youth). Moral development is one of the main issues to be examined when trying a juvenile case (Thompson, 2006). Moral development is a part of internalization: understanding what is right in terms of societal standards (Berk, 2006). Children, around the time of preschool, also start to understand the role of guilt (Thompson, 2006). Starting around age 2, children start to develop self-conscious emotions and begin to have an understanding of themselves (Berk, 2006). This is the beginning of moral development in a human being. Children will

More about At What Age Should A Child Be Tried As An Adult

Open Document