Each year, thousands of adolescents in the United States have been tried and sentenced to life in prison without parole, a punishment that has many of its own controversies. Debates are held on whether or not these kids should be tried and sentenced in the same way that adults are tried and sentenced. Many justices say that since children are emotionally, physically and mentally different than adults, they should never be tried in the same way that adults are. Other justices argue that if these children are capable of committing murder, they are also capable of undergoing the same punishment that an adult would undergo. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional because it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Adolescents deserve to be tried differently simply because of the fact that they are not adults, and the legal system shouldn't treat them as such. Furthermore, juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole because they have not yet reached their full maturity, they are capable of rehabilitation, and if they were sentenced as adults, they should be given the same privileges as adults in the first place. .
Adolescence is defined as a transitional period in human development and maturity. This is a time where teenagers are rapidly undergoing change, specifically in the brain. Paul Thompson, a writer for The Sacramento Bee, includes in one of his articles that there is a "massive loss of brain tissue that occurs in the teenage years." This explains why teenagers often act with impulsive and erratic behavior. This brain tissue is gray matter, which aids in regulating self-control and impulses, and it is being purged at fast rates. Thompson goes on to say, "These frontal lobes, which inhibit our violent passions, rash actions, and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.
