Imagine, one of your family members has just been brutally murdered. Now think of a punishment that would be fair for the circumstances? Would your view change if the murderer was under eighteen? In the case of Bulger two ten year old boys set out with detailed intention to brutally kill a two year old for fun. The two boys scoped out the young child all day until he was alone to take captive. Once the child was alone, the boys abducted the young child brutally murdered him, then lied his mangled body on the train tracks to be left there. Kids who commit crimes that are intentional and planned out like that should not just be sent juvenile jail for “rehabilitation” (Wilde 1). In the article “Juvenile Criminals Must be Tried as Adults” Jessica Wilde argues that the “judiciary should not make age-based exceptions” (1). I agree with Jessica Wilde because kids who commit violent and harsh crimes like adults should be punished like adults in regular not rehabilitation centers.
This makes sense because children that commit “rape, robbery, assault, murder and attempted murder” should not be excused from a criminal trial because they are too young (Wilde 1). These kids need to be sent to adult prison or else they will not learn their lesson and keep killing once they are out of juvenile prison. You either have morals or not, “a lack of human morals cannot be treated or cured in rehabilitation centers” (Wilde 1). A kid learns morals from their surroundings, their parents examples and rules, and they way their brain works. If these kids are born in non-loving communities, no rules from right and wrong, and violent surroundings, most likely they will be violent forever. When a kid commits a crime severe enough to even be considered being tried as an adult, sending them juvenile prison instead would be a much worse decision. Sending them to adult prison gives the victim’s family justice, for instance, “two boys who killed your son, purely for fun, were taken to juvenile detention, received rehabilitative aid and released with new identities…”(Wilde 1). These boys escaped not even learning a lesson on why their actions caused grief and why what they did was bad.
The other side of the argument is that kids should not be tried as adults. Mikes Hendrick’s article “Stop Trying 13-Year-Olds in Court as Adults” argues that trying minors as adults is heinous way of dealing with kids who commit crimes. I do not agree with this article. In Wyandotte County young, “Keaire Brown, 14, will be tried as an adult for a murder she’s accused of committing when she was just 13” (Hendricks 1). Mike Hendricks argues, “kids are not adults. Their brains are wired differently. They don’t think things out the way we do” (1). However every kid should know that murdering is wrong, and is against the law. A kid should not fell pleasure is killing someone for fun; they must have some idea why it is bad. So why should they be excused from adult jail for not thinking things out before murdering someone. Another argument is that “kids so young are denied a chance at rehabilitation in the juvenile system” (Hendricks 1). Sure kids can be counseled in the juvenile system, but will they change their ways? In the first place if kids are already committing crimes at young ages, they have no clue between right and wrong. If for one moment we think that kids can learn right from wrong in a hostile learning environment they had to live in, we are wrong. They will only want to keep their old ways.
I agree with Jessica Wilde because kids who commit crimes like adults should not be excused from adult prison. These children that do commit vulgar crimes should not just be sent to juvenile jail and then get out, because what lesson are we teaching them. It is okay for kids to kill people and get away with it hardly scathed, but once you are eighteen it is bad because you will get sent to adult jail? Have we ever put into consideration the fact that there is so much violence in the youth because they can get away with these crimes? What do you think the best the way to deal with this situation? Have kids who just got out of juvenile jail running around, with no clue from right to wrong? Or have tamed kids who have learned their lesson who come out of adult prison? Think of all the kids that got away with just rehabilitation, they have not learned their lesson. They will keep committing crimes, maybe someone close to you.