A juvenile can be tried as an adult and be given a life sentence in prison for numerous reasons, but the main one being murder. According to the Offices of The United States Attorneys, a juvenile is someone who has "not attained his eighteenth birthday." In other words, a juvenile is a minor, which is someone who is under the age of eighteen. A juvenile is someone who is legally not yet considered an adult in the eyes of the law. A juvenile is basically a child. Although the child may have committed a heinous crime, it is cruel to try him/her as an adult and thus possibly receiving a life sentence. No child should have to spend the rest of their life in a prison cell. Juveniles started being automatically tried as adults for their crimes some time in the nineties due to a theory that rised up. The article "Parsing sentence: Juveniles in prison" in The Economist explains the theory, "In 1995 a Princeton professor, John Dilulio, predicted that young 'superpredators ' would number in the hundreds of thousands by 2010" (Economist). This theory made many people afraid and so many states prepared for what was expected by automatically trying every juvenile offender as an adult, resulting in many life sentences for juveniles. The article went on to inform, "According to the Department of Justice, after peaking at 107,000 in 1999 the number of minors behind bars fell year after year until it was cut nearly in half by 2013" (Economist). This shows that Professor Dilulio 's theory never came to be. The crime actually went down instead of up. The wave of juvenile 'superpredators ' did not happen but all juveniles still continued to be tried as adults, this did not change. The precautionary action should have been removed. Giving a juvenile a life sentence is basically sending them to their death. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California states, "No one sentenced to life without parole has ever been released on parole, in California or in any other state. Prisoners sentenced to LWOP actually remain in prison for the rest of their lives and die in prison" (ACLU). This shows that if juveniles are sentenced to life in prison without parole, they will have almost no chance of ever getting out, they will die in their cells. A life sentence takes your life away, no more freedom, all that 's left is a hard, cold prison cell. These children are being sent to rot in a cell. Some people may argue that a juvenile still has a life and gets to live it even though they have to spend it in prison. In Jennifer Jenkins ' article "On Punishment and Teen Killers" in Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, she argues, "The juvenile death penalty was abolished years ago and a life sentence still allows a great deal of living to be done--even behind bars" (Jenkins). She is saying that a person 's life is not taken away when they are sentenced to life in prison, that they still get a chance to live. She believes they can still live their lives. A person stuck in prison cannot live their life like any other child or teenager would. Someone living their life in prison no longer has a life, they are stuck in a cell being told what to do at all hours of the day. They are stripped from all of their privileges and their freedom. This is no way for a child to live. Some people believe that a juvenile serving a life sentence deserves what he or she got because of their crime and automatically
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The two are completely different. An adult has had many more years of life, giving them a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong. The brain of an adult and the brain of a juvenile do not function the same way. An adult brain is more developed. Gail Garinger, a former judge, in her New York Times article "Juveniles Don 't Deserve Life Sentences" argues, "Young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not full developed. They cannot be help to the same standards when they commit terrible wrongs" (Garinger). This means
The two are completely different. An adult has had many more years of life, giving them a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong. The brain of an adult and the brain of a juvenile do not function the same way. An adult brain is more developed. Gail Garinger, a former judge, in her New York Times article "Juveniles Don 't Deserve Life Sentences" argues, "Young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not full developed. They cannot be help to the same standards when they commit terrible wrongs" (Garinger). This means