Should juvenile offenders, under 16, who commit serious crimes(rape, murder) be tried, convicted as adults? y?

Ms. H

Yes they should. Everyone says that they're just kids, and legally they are but kids now days act a lot older than they really are. and teenagers, though going through major growth and dealing with hormones, can think for themselves and should know right from wrong.

cork

yes............
regardless of public--display...

cub6265

Yes, because they are at high risk to repeat their behaviors.

Leogirl0804

yes, even as an 8 year old I knew right from wrong.

doodlebugg

Yes. That way maybe they would take it more seriously if they knew that the consequences would be more serious.

roy40372

yes if they do serious crimes then they should be treated serious and keep them the hell out of society so they cant kill again.

Papa

I think so...

Kwick_Chick

yes.
they commit an adult type crime, they should be held accountable as adults.

by age 10 you should know what is right or wrong.

rural diva

YES. aCROSS THE BOARD. You know good and bad, right and wrong. maybe not what is legal or not. No excuses.

clcalifornia

Yes, they are doing grown up things. Making choices that an adult would make. Some kids grow up way too fast.

Do the crime ....be prepared to do the time!

FADERERA O

yes no questions asked

fm290566

Yes, they should. If they are old enough to commit such a horrible thing, they should be able to take full responsibility for that. The victim will still be a victim no matter how old was the convict

fr_chuck

Yes they should

Mama Pastafarian

In Indiana, a juvenile is a person under the age of 18, and offenses committed by those persons are heard in juvenile court. When the allegation is made against the juvenile, the juvenile is referred to the probation office where we talk to the juvenile and parent(s) and then we make a recommendation to the prosecutor as to whether or not the case should go to juvenile court, if it should be handled within our office on an informal adjustment, or if the case should be dismissed.

There are certain offenses which are automatically waivered to adult court if committed by a person under 18. One of those offenses is murder.

For other offenses, as a probation officer, if I think the offense is serious enough, I can request that the prosecutor waive the juvenile to adult court. I've done that on cases involving a large amount of drugs when the juvenile is 17 and nearing their 18th birthday.

Sally G

Yes, they should be held accountable for what they have done.
They have taken someones innocence away, plus they have hurt
and killed them. No person should go through this experience.
They should get 25 to life or the death penalty. Same as an Adult.
If they act like an adult then, they will will be treated like an adult
with NO BUTS.

timm1776

Absolutely not.

Unless the government extends all of the privileges of adulthood to juveniles, they should not be held to same level of responsibility as adults. It is unjust for the government to say:

"You're too young to sign a contract, or get married, or vote, or purchase an alcoholic beverage, or enjoy any of the rights of an adult.....but you ARE old enough to pay taxes and to be judged as an adult."

It is often said that "with rights come responsibilities." If that is true, than the reverse is true as well- "with responsibilities come rights." The government can not rightly treat a person as an incompetent child for some things, and as a responsible adult for others. That is inconsistent, discriminatory, and unfair.

Middleclassandnotquiet

It seems a bit unjust that they're not adults when they're good but when they're bad, they're thinking like adults? We have proof brains aren't even developed yet. We need to fix the juvenile system. Here's an interesting article that points out it hasn't worked out the way they thought it would.

http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010318jintro0318areg2.asp

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