Should Minors Be Tried as Adults for Crimes Commited

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Minors and Crime Serving adult time Angela Thomas Strayer University Minors and crimes Accountability is the word that needs to be used when it comes to minors who commit crimes. There are countless crimes being committed by minors of today. Crimes like burglary, robbery, rape, assault and murders just to name a few. These minors will grow to be the adults of tomorrow, so there has to be a better solution to this problem that society is facing when it comes to minors who commit crimes. What is a suitable sentence for these minors? Some believe that rehabilitation is the answer because they feel that minors are not mature enough and that they do not think rationally about most of their actions. Others feel that by locking them up and throwing away the key is the answer to solving the problem. Crimes are a serious and something indeed has to be done about it. A minor in general is someone under the age of 18. So the question at hand is should minors be tried as adults for crimes that they have committed? The answer is no (excluding murders)because in most cases minors are peer pressured into doing things that are not acceptable, and in some cases, can change as they grow and mature into adults. How about rehabilitation in a suitable facility can be a start, and then education and special activities can follow. According to (Zimring,1978) “The view is that young offenders deserved less severe punishment than adults justified the separate juvenile justice system and persisted, seemingly with broad public support, throughout most of the last century”. Minors in most cases will not be given the same opportunity as adults to have their case heard. Stated in (Kent v U.S., 1966, p. 30) “grounds for concern that the child receives the worst of both worlds: that he gets neither the protection accorded to adults nor the solicitous care nor rejuvenative treatment
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