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Should Adolescents Be Charged as Adults for Crimes They Commit?
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It is always a big challenge to judge whether children should have the same treatments as adults when they commit crimes and the best way to approach this kind of issue is through the knowledge of psychology and understanding of the child’s brain development throughout their lives. Children should be guided by their already grown parents to do what is right and to understand that every wrong thing they do has its consequences both morally and legally.
Delinquent acts are in two different categories, that is, grave offenses and status offences. Grave offences are acts that are said to be crimes when committed by adults and in some cases even the children are tried as adults depending on the depth of the issue. Status offences, on the other hand, are such acts that could not actually be considered as crimes even adults committed them but are not good deeds either, for example, underage drinking or even violating curfew law at home. It is quite possible that rebellion could be a cause of such status offences as parents struggle to show their children the right thing to do and the children end up doing the exact opposite.
Children are still learners, that’s why they are in school, performs several experiments to observe and understand the outcome. It will be unfair to treat children who are just learning more about life as adults. Their brains have not yet developed as that of an adult and putting them in the same category or even in the same cell will make them even worse as they will feel they are being punished for learning.
It is also worth noting, however, that some juvenile crimes are serious and should be punished like so. Murder, for example, is a serious offence whether committed by a minor or an adult and it may be quite dangerous to let such children who commit such grave crimes to walk free because of their age.