If we begin to treat our kids like adults our society will no longer function properly. We'll be convicting first-time juveniles to prisons with adults that have committed a wide range of crimes. From child-molesters to murderers, do you want our kids to be sent to the mercy of these repeat-offenders in jail? The majority of Supreme Court have ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not sentenced to life in prison. I agree with the Supreme Court because juveniles are mentally underdeveloped, who deserves a second chance and there are many other influences to blame than them.
A common phrase that is often used in this case of young juveniles committing crimes is "Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time." This phrase should be cleared to people that juveniles are not adults, and with this being said it will not make them one. Young juveniles are minors and less mature to think about the bigger picture of any given situation. In the article "Startling Finds on Teenage Brains" he says, "A child is not a man" (Thompson 47), a little boy cannot be a man because child is not as experienced, and doesn't have the knowledge to be an adult. Is a child capable of doing the same thing as an adult with the same intentions? Of course not, a child has a different way of thinking. They manage to get things done, but don't completely understand from right or wrong. An adult knows what the risks are going to be when they make their decisions, but a child does mostly what comes first instinct, they don't think things over. Another example is the author begins his article with an example of a 14 year old boy, who was tried and found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of his middle school teacher. Even though the research on the teenage brain has shown that the cerebellum is not fully developed at this stage. He states, "But what really caught our eye was a massive loss of brain that occurs in the teenage year" (47), meaning that the loss of brain tissues a teenager loses, it affects the areas controlling impulses, risk-taking and self-control.