Young,1

Lilyana Young
Mrs. Porraz
ERWC
3 March 2015
Awkward sentence structure
Grammar/ conventions error
Need more explanation/ too vague
Awkward phrases/ need to reword
Juvenile Justice Essay Writing
A topic that is not very commonly discussed in this nation, is the juvenile justice system.
Many people however,have strong opinions on this topic and whether or not they believe
children should be tried as adults and spend their lives in prison. Four of our nine supreme court
justices believe that juveniles who commit heinous crimes should always be punished with a
sentence to life in prison. As Justice Alito states, Even a 17 year old who sets off a bomb in a
crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teachers is a child and must be given a chance
to persuade a judge to permit his release into society Justice Alito has a very valid argument
because if we just based a childs crime punishment off of their age, then kids could commit any
type of vicious crime without fear of punishment.
Just because a child is not of a certain age does not mean that he or she doesn't know
what they are doing. In the article On Punishment and Teen Killers an incident is described
where a teenager shot and killed a man, his wife, and their unborn child because he wanted to
see what it would feel like to shoot someone. The fact that a person can take another humans
life without any remorse because he wanted to experience murder is a very shameful idea. The
victims family must have gone through an extended period of traumatic loss and there are people

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out there who believe that the killer should be let go just because he isnt 18, therefore
considered a child.
Justice Elena Kagen, on the other hand, stated, Mandatory life without parole for a
junvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among
them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences. I do agree that
kids lack maturity and do things based off of their own judgements and not the consequences that
come along with it, but in contrast, kids are not stupid and they know the actions that they
pursue. This is not to say that I believe every child who commits a crime should spend their
entire lives in prison, but heinous crimes do call for major consequences. In conclusion, just
because a murderer is not of a certain age, does not mean that they should not be severely
punished. If they are willing to commit a vicious crime then they need to accept the equal
consequence.

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Works Cited
Jenkins, Jennifer. "On Punishment and Teen Killers." Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
(2011): 49-50. Print
Thompson, Paul. "Startling Finds on Teenage Brains." Sacramento Bee(2001): 47-48. Print.