So when should a child be charged as an adult for the commitance
of a crime? Should we go based on age? We currently do, but with certain
exceptions. Even then, there exceptions for those exceptions. So
let us discuss what would be the best way to determine when a child should be
charged as an adult.
Age does not cut it: To go by age is silly in my opinion
for violent crimes. My reasoning is that some crimes are more heinous
than others. Murder for one should not be lessened merely because an
individual is under the age of 18. Rape too will be devalued as a crime
in my opinion if a 16 year old gets a lesser charge than an 18 year old for the
same crime. Therefore age should not be the distinguishing factor for
criminal activities when it comes to physical assault, armed robbery,
rape/child molesters, and murder and attempted murder. These violent
crimes should not know age as a criteria. But some of you might be saying
why? How can we not use age for these violent crimes? Yes I know
some people are out there who think these children who have strayed from the
right path deserve a chance because you feel they are victims too. So age
13 and under as you really are not a child at age 13, but a young adult.
And thus as a young adult you will meet the full brunt of the law for
committing such a violent act.
None violent Crimes: In this case, age can be more of a
criteria. But this is due to better ways to punish petty theft, defacing
public property, and similar non-violent, but victim creating crimes. So
age nine to 14 I would say the punishment should be community service. In
this case, the number of days doing the community service will be equal to the
value it costs (using the minimum wage as the standard) to replace or fix the
stolen/damaged property. For those aged 15 to 17, it will depend on the
judge if the young adult does community service, goes to jail, or is forced to
work a part time job (or at their current employment) with all earnings being
used to replace or fix the damaged or stolen items. Is it harsh? Well
yea, but how else are you going to teach these young adults to behave like what
they are "young adults".
Conclusion: So for violent crimes, age really
should not be factored in. In fact in Mexico, the cartels use children as
hitmen as they are not tried as adults, and are released back into society
faster. We cannot let our emotions prevent us from meting out an
appropriate punishment for committing a wrongful and even downright evil act.
The nonviolent crimes we have wiggle room, but that is only to a certain
extent and it can in fact be applied to people age 18 and over too as an
alternative to jail. So it really comes down to differentiating violent
from nonviolent crimes and then providing the appropriate repercussions.
This is my opinion on this issue and if I was in charge I would implement
this idea. But would you? Would you do it the same way? As
always feel free to tell me what you think. Hope you enjoyed the read and
maybe got you thinking.
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