Currently, in America, there is a debate about whether or not juveniles should be tried as adults. If I were to ask 100 people a question as to whether kids should be tried as adults, I am sure that I would get many different answers.
Mike Hendricks believes that children should be tried as juveniles and not be dealt with as severely as adults. The children are too young to be considered adults and, therefore, should not be tried as adults. He says that kids, unlike adults, do not think things through and cannot be held fully responsible for their actions. Children’s brains are still very undeveloped in that they do not always fully process their thoughts before they act. Mike Hendricks also thinks that by saying, “The fact is kids are not adults. Their brains are wired differently. They don’t think things through the way we [adults] do” (Hendricks 1). I totally agree with what Mike Hendricks says about the development of the brain because it has been scientifically proven that kids brains are much different than adult brains. I have emotions split on both sides, but I ultimately think kids should be tried as kids. On one side, I deeply think that kids should not be tried as adults.
Jessica Wilde, a journalist, who believes kids should be tried as adults, has a lot to say on the topic of whether kids should be tried as adults. Jessica Wilde’s point of view is that the juveniles should be held fully responsible for their actions and be tried as adults. Wilde thinks that it is right for an eleven year old to be tried as an adult for murder because they know what they are doing and understand the difference of right from wrong. Wilde believes that kids should be tried as adults especially when she hears someone say, “Two year old Jamie Bulger … was taken by two ten year old boys and was mutilated and murdered” (Wilde 1). After reading this it made me feel enraged. If it were up to me, I would have punished them severely because what they did was disgusting. In a sense, I understand her thoughts and emotions with what she is saying. However, kids are kids and they are very different than adults and should be tried as kids.
Overall I think it is not right to try kids as adults, because if they are to be tried as adults why are they called kids? Juveniles are called kids for a reason, the way they act and the way they process their thoughts is much different than the way adults do.