Arifi 1 Huma Arifi Professor S. Thao ERWC second period 1 October 2021 “Should 11-year olds be charged with adult crimes?” Teenagers are not grown-ups and should not be charged with adult crimes. Children under 18 are legally not allowed to make any legal decision. Therefore teenagers should not be judged as adults when committing a crime. In the U.S., an increasing amount of children are being sentenced to life without parole for committing crimes, notably murder. However, why are children committing crimes? A good answer could be that children's brains are not fully developed. Teenager's brains are not functioning like adults. Therefore, they cannot make decisions for their benefit. On the other hand, there is a willingness in a teenager's brain to prepare them for adolescence and can significantly impact their mental development. As Holloway states, "the fact remains that children are children—they are not adults, and their minds do not work the identical as an adult." Thus, charging teenagers with adult crimes directly ignores the science of adolescent development. Moreover, charging teenagers with adult crimes causes severe mental illness and breakdown in teenagers' lives. Teenagers have minimal experience managing their anxieties, fear, and stress. Being sentenced for life and especially going to an adult prison can impact teenagers' lives and actually who they are. As claimed by Human Impact Partners," there is a strong link between childhood trauma, for example, physical or emotional abuse or witnessing violence in the community and a variety of physical and mental health outcomes, including Arifi 2 disruptive behavior, antisocial behavior, psychosis, and mood disorders." These teenagers are at risk of being sexually assaulted, raped, and traumatized as a result. The fact remains that teenagers are not adults yet and should not be changed with adult crimes. Instead, children should be given a second chance. Then, they can make better who they are. Finally, they could be good personalities in their life. In some cases, the offender is an adult, and children are just victims of the case while innocent. Dying in prison or spending whole life in prison without parole is not fair for a child. Children should not be tried as adults. Instead, all children should be tried as juveniles and be given a chance to change, make up for their mistakes, and learn. Works Cited Philip, Holloway. “Should 11-Year Olds Be Charged With Adult Crimes?” CNN Legal Analyst. Arifi 3 October 14, 2015. https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/14/opinions/holloway-charging-juveniles-asadults/index.html “Juvenile In Justice: Charging Youth as Adults is Ineffective, Biased, and Harmful.” Human Impact Partners, February 2017.
