Hannah Mr. Elenbaas Advanced Composition 8 January 2014 Should Minors be Tried as Adults? There is much controversy over the issue of whether a child should be tried as an adult if convicted of a violent crime. Minors are starting to watch adults who are doing violent crimes, and they think it might be okay if they do it too. But does this mean we can punish minors like adults? Minors should not be tried as adults because they have not experienced the world like adults have, and they are not competent enough to go through or understand a trial.
Banning 18-year-old adults from buying and consuming alcohol, has pushed adolescents behind closed doors and away from supervision by parents, residence life staff, and other adult authority figures. Alcohol has gained this forbidden allure. 90% of the alcohol being consumed by 18-20 year-olds is when the individual is engaged in an episode of heavy drinking. There are a lot of flawed and superficial arguments against having young adults drink, when in reality the argument is this: if we are really considered adults in the eyes of the government, should we not have all the rights 21-year-olds do? In my opinion, 18-years-old should be able to purchase and consume alcohol because in nearly all other cultures alcohol consumption
Others may argue that lowering the drinking age could produce negative results. There would be an increase in teenage drunk driving, which could lead to an increase in alcohol related car accidents amongst teenagers. Adults are more responsible and mature mentally at the age of 21 rather than the age of 18. High school students would be exposed to more alcohol, which could result in even more underage drinking. Consuming alcohol at a young age could damage a teenager’s body badly.
As a result it created a huge controversy over the issue and lead to the debate of whether or nor the legal drinking age should be 18 or 21 years old. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 21 year old minimum drinking age law is needed in order to reduce the number of fatalities caused by young adult drivers (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1996). Those that are in favor of keeping the legal drinking age law the same claim that people between the ages of 18 - 20 are not mature enough to tell when they have reached their tolerance level, which causes them to make irresponsible decisions while under the influence of alcohol. Supporters of the law say that the main irresponsible decision made by many young adults while intoxicated is to operate a car. When this is done it increases the chances of them harming themselves and others if too much alcohol has been consumed before operating a vehicle.
Running head: Drunk Driving Drunk Driving 1 Drunk Driving: Has There Been Any Improvement Juanita Kirkwood Business Ethics May 20, 2012 Drunk Driving 2 Abstract Drunk driving has always been an issue. At times, the concern of driving while under the influence has arisen because of a tragic event that has caused public outcry. While it is hard to identify why there seems to be no way to prevent repeated drunk driving offenses one thing is clear. Something needs to happen to stop needless loss of life due to the actions of repeated drunk drivers. Several ways to prevent reoccurrence of drunk driving is to help the legal system to
However, “recent research on the prevalence of defensive gun use has prompted growing concern that government efforts to regulate gun ownership and use may be counterproductive” (Ludwig, 2000, p. 363). Gun violence is a big problem in the United States and should be reduced. However, despite the claims of gun control activists, I argue that by banning all firearms as a means gun control does not reduce crime; it leaves law abiding citizens increasingly vulnerable to violent crime. It is late afternoon one day, and you're in heavy rush hour traffic going home. You double checked to make a lane change for your upcoming exit when all of a sudden another driver in a Ford Mustang speeds
The main problem occurs when students resort to binge drinking. “Allowing 18-20-year-olds to drink alcohol in regulated environments with supervision would decrease unsafe drinking activity.” (Procon, 2013). The prohibiting of this age group from drinking in monitored establishments encourage the drinking to be done in unsupervised places, such as frat houses, sorority houses, or house parties, this could in turn began the binge drinking and other unsafe behavior. Binge drinking leads to several serious problems. Injuries that result from binge drinking include, but are not
Since the government gives 18 year olds those responsibilities, young American adults should legally be allowed to drink alcohol. The drinking age needs to be lowered from 21 to 18 because it could prevent alcohol-induced accidents and more enforcement should be put on preventing drunk driving. Drunk driving is a serious issue that occurs in the United States. According to the website The Cool Spot, “…alcohol is linked with an estimated 5,00 deaths in people under age 21 each year” (Too Much Online). Something must be done to reduce those innocent children from dying and it can happen by lowering the drinking age.
Drunk driving is the act of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Because a person’s motor skills are impaired while drunk, driving under the influence is a major threat to public safety and is a criminal offense in most countries. (3 100) A number of suggestions have been made to combat drunk driving, including reducing the number of underage drinkers, imposing restrictions on licenses to keep drinkers off the roads and increasing the use of sobriety checkpoints. The current legal limit for drunk driving is 0.08 BAC which some people feel does not go far enough. Many advocates support tougher penalties for DUI and are in favor for a zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving.
More so, a teenagers body is not matured enough mentally, nor physically, to execute decisions that hold another person’s life, or freedom at stake. In greater depth, if eighteen year olds could buy alcohol, they would be driving their underage friends around at wee hours of the night. Thus, risking them curfew tickets, possibly even letting an unlicensed, underage driver, be enabled to drive his friends around and put them at a greater risk, just because the designated driver was too intoxicated. Lastly, if some grown-ups cannot even drive, or function under the influence, how could a teenager manage? Secondly, teenagers at the age of eighteen have a lot of unfamiliar responsibility coming their