Question

Should youth under age 18 who have been convicted as adults in criminal court be incarcerated in adult prisons rather than in juvenile correctional institutions? Why or why not?

Answer 1

A crime is a crime be it committed by adults or teenagers. There are multiple instances where we have seen murders, rape, Cyber Bullying, etc being committed by teenagers, causing a lot of damage to the individual and the family of that particular individual as well. There are some crimes that are not debateable at all. There have been cases where teenagers have murdered adults and posted the same on social networking sites to update their friends about their brutality. This is something that is really not acceptable and poses a serious question of them being really treated as kids and teenagers and not carry on criminal proceeding considering the nature of the crime. There should be no preferential treatment given here.

Depending on the gravity of the crime, juveniles should be tried as adults if the crimes that they have committed are adult.

Not all crimes should lead to the same sentence as adults such as shoplifting, etc as one is bound to make mistake and needs to be counselled on what is right and wrong.

However any teenager who tortures and kills a human being or commits rape should not be treated as a child and should not be allowed to get away with it. By letting it go they would be further encouraged and erode the entire world as well.

There should be no excuse. Youths who commit crimes are criminals and the age factor should not allow them to be on the streets, living as neighbour’s, and in many instances, committing more crimes.

Thus in case of major crimes like murder, rape, etc teens should be held accountable for their actions and tried as adults and incarcerated in adult prisons rather than in juvenile correctional institutions.