When a child hits another, what do you do? You probably would scold them and give them a little spanking. Now what if that same child murdered someone ON PURPOSE, while knowing it was wrong. Would you just let this child get away with it? The logical answer is NO. Children should be put in adult prisons for the crimes the commit. They knew they would get in trouble, so they deserved the punishment. Yet some courts will not try these kids as adults, why? Mainly,because the children are still considered minors. But age is merely a number, and it doesn’t determine the level of intelligence the being is able to comprehend. But then there are courts that will try these kids as adults because they mainly focus on the crime, not the age of the murder, because that is the only way they will ever be able to create justice.
In 1993, England, two 10-year-old boys kidnapped a two year old, Jamie Bulgar, and molested and murdered him. Later these boys set the baby on the railroad tracks to destroy all evidence of what they had done. Now would you say that these boys are not intelligent enough to know that murdering is a horrible crime? No, because obviously they are smart enough to think of a clever way to cover up the evidence. But what do you believe their fate shall be? Should they go to prison? Think about it from the perspective of the two-year-old’s mom. Now the fate of these boys was that they were relocated and given new identities. These boys got a chance to restart their life over again, but the mother has to live with the haunting memory of how her precious baby was brutally murdered. Now how is that fair? Well it is not. These children knew what they were doing and knew what kind of trouble they could get in, but they still followed through.

People will say that these children’s brains are not fully developed yet, but where is the proof? Of course their brains are not as developed as adults, but they at least have common sense. My second to youngest brother is ten and I know that he is intelligent enough to know wrong from right, murder or not, and I know he would feel insulted if he was not tried as an adult because he knows that if he murdered someone he is the one accountable and will take on the responsibility of being treated as an adult. Further more, children who are not punished are more than likely going to try to attempt to get away with crimes again. It is like allowing someone to lie. If they lie once and do not get caught or punished, well they are not going to attempt to get away with it again, then you never will be able to know whether or not they are telling the truth. Age does not matter, what matters is that the problem is dealt with appropriately. Now what is the appropriate way to handle these juveniles? Prison. Prison is what these juveniles need because Juvenile Detention? That is just merely a joke to them.
Others might argue that putting children in adult prisons is horrible, and that they come out more dangerous than they went in. Also, how would you know that they did not come from a horrible home with bad parents? When a child lives in such conditions, they have a higher chance to live a life like their parents because that’s all they know. They also might dispute that these children do not deserve to have their life taken away from them cause of one simple crime, and that they should be sent to rehabilitation and given a second chance at life. I come from a private school and I have seen kids do drugs and drink and be sent to rehabilitation, but they treat it as a joke because rehab does not help these children because they know when they get out their life will still be the same as they left it. There fore they need to be dealt with in a way that will set them straight.
Punishment is good for children. It teaches them to learn from their mistakes. They may have grown up in a horrible home, but everyone has that gut feeling of what is wrong and what is right. Adult prison is not bad for children because it makes them realize reality and seriousness of their crimes. It is not a joke like juvenile detention because it is not guaranteed that they will come out because in prison, they do not put up with anything and bad behavior can get you in there for life. Children MUST be sent to prison, because just giving them a new life? That is not justice. Justice is treating these children as adults, because think of how would YOU feel if you were one of the millions of people who fought for equality, JUSTICE, and freedom.