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Samantha joy castillo Samantha Joy Castillo - Juvenile Justice - Open Letter
Everyone is familiar with the phrase, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” I’m sure that we can all come to an agreement that this phrase is true. Although, there are explanations behind people’s crimes. Especially with teens who commit serious crimes, there are reasons that cause them to act a certain way. Reasons such as: brain development, environmental factors, and risky behaviors are some examples of why teens shouldn’t be incarcerated, nor tried as an adult despite the serious crime they’ve committed. However, teens should still receive some kind of punishment for their crime. When teens are incarcerated in adult prisons, they’re more exposed to an unsafe and uncomfortable environment that is unacceptable for teens to face. According to the article, “Should 11 Year Olds Be Charged With Adult Crimes”, the author, Philip Holloway, brings awareness to the truth about children being incarcerated in adult prisons which is, “These are kids who are five times more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted than in juvenile facilities... This raises the issue of whether prolonged incarceration of children violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.” It’s shocking to see that teens are still being put into adult prisons when they’d have a greater chance of experiencing these situations. Even though teens commit a crime so serious, they don’t deserve to be sexually assaulted as part of their punishment. From the documentary, “Young Kids, Hard Time”, the Campaign for Youth Justice has found that, “Youth housed in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than youth housed in juvenile detention facilities.” While being in prison, teens should be able to serve their sentence and reflect on their actions, not go through these unacceptable experiences. Although they committed a serious crime, teens shouldn’t be put into adult prisons where they’d have a greater chance of experiencing sexual assault and committing suicide. During teenage years, teens start to develop a riskier behavior and tend to take more risks. As a teenager myself, and I’m sure for other teens as well, we make plenty of dumb mistakes and regretful risks during this age. We take these risks and make these decisions in order to impress those (our friends) around us sometimes. According to the article, “Beautiful Brains”, written by David Dobbs, he mentions that, “Teens prefer the company of those their own age more than ever before or after. Adolescents want to learn primarily, but not entirely, from their friends.” I believe that the people you surround yourself with reflect who you are. It’s true that teenagers do want to be more independent and that they want to learn more from their friends because they’re in the same age group, so they’re able to understand each other on a different level. Also, I think that as they spend more time with their friends, they also begin to develop those same habits as them. Dobbs also points out that, “where the period from roughly 15 to 25 brings peaks in all sorts of risky ventures and ugly outcomes.” Because of teens’ risky and dangerous behavior, their brain isn’t fully developed to know which risks they should and shouldn’t take, which is another reason to why teens shouldn’t be tried as an adult, since they’re unaware of the consequences that come with these risks. From the article, “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins of Punishment and Teen Killers”, the author, Jennifer Jenkins, argues against the statement of brain development is the reason for teens to act wrongfully by saying, “If brain development were the reason, then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all over the world.” I can see how this statement can be true. However, Jenkins should acknowledge the other reasons to why teens would do adult crimes. Even though brain development is a big factor to why some teens are given less harsher punishments for their crimes, other factors contribute to it as well. For example, the juvenile court system may ease the punishment for teens because they are simply teens and there’s a reason why we have an adult prison and a separate jail for juveniles since adults and teens are completely different. Brain development is not the only reason for teens to receive a smaller punishment. The Human Impact Partners, in their article, “Juvenile InJustice”, wrote, “The juvenile court system ignores the environmental factors that affect adolescent behavior. By contrast, the juvenile court system (at least in theory) is meant to focus on reasons for the youth’s behavior rather than just their guilt or innocence”. When determining the final verdict for a teen’s crime, the juvenile court system doesn’t touch up on the environmental factors that affect a teen’s behavior. They don’t consider the type of community they grew up in, what state their family was in when they were younger (poverty), any childhood traumas they experienced, and so on. These factors are very important to know and discuss in court. Without knowing these factors, they wouldn’t know what caused them to act this way or have a reasoning behind to why they committed that crime. Teens make plenty of mistakes, especially at this age where they’re figuring out everything and learning from their wrongdoings. If teens were to commit an adult-level crime, they shouldn’t be in an adult prison where they’ll encounter unnecessary and traumatic situations. I’m not saying that teens deserve no punishment at all, but they don’t need an adult- level punishment. Some teens might’ve gone through horrible experiences during their childhood to cause them to react this way. Teens are teens, they don’t have the same mindset as adults, nor are their brains as developed as adults. They take in things differently and react differently than how an adult would. Therefore, for these reasons, teens should not be incarcerated or tried as an adult.
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