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Jessy Vonada

Bowyer

Expos

15 Feb. 2017

Sentenced to Life

When should the line be drawn between adolescents and adults in the eyes of the court?

Never will it be morally correct to rob a child of their future and sentence a juvenile to life in

prison without chance of parole. Murder is the most heinous crime someone could commit and

no matter the age of the murderer, children do not deserve life in prison because it doesnt give

them the chance to turn their lives around. Due to lack of brain development, immaturity and

mental illness in adolescents, life sentences should not be an option for juvenile offenders.

The age old question is now being answered: why is it easier to impose life without

parole sentences on adults? Author of Juveniles Dont Deserve Life Sentences, Gail Garinger

believes Supreme Court Justices are more inclined to assign adults with harsher sentences.

Juveniles are not deserving of spending the rest of their lives locked in a cell. Judges convict

more adults to life in prison because adults are mature enough to know what is legally and

morally right or wrong.

Teenagers on the other hand suffer from extreme loss of brain-tissue during the youth

years. Paul Thompson, author of Startling Finds on Teenage Brains, Thompson shares, the

brain cells and connections are only being lost in the areas controlling impulses, risk-taking, and

self-control(Thompson1). Loss of brain-tissue does not excuse teens from homicidal behavior

but researchers can use this as evidence that adolescents should not be tried as adults. The legal
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system needs to recognize that juveniles are not yet adults and do not deserve the same

punishment as an adult killer.

In addition to severe brain-tissue loss, mental illness plays an enormous role in juvenile

criminals. In the film, Prison Kids, all of the juveniles put in jail suffered from some sort of

mental illness. Instead of receiving help from rehabilitation centers they are spending up to of

the year in solitary confinement. Former President Barack Obama states, we've got to make sure

our juvenile justice system remembers that kids are different(Prison Kids). Kids are different.

Mental illness correlates to criminal activity but children should not be punished for life due to a

lack of mental stability as a child. Mentally ill adolescents should be required to be placed into

intensive rehabilitation centers specially designed to help teen criminals suffering from mental

illness in order to regain mental stability. A juvenile jail, where children are treated like

monsters, is absolutely not going to help a mentally ill and confused child become stabilized.

Aside from brain tissue and mental illness, the maturity of a juvenile cannot compare to

that of an adult. A child who is completely dependent on their parents, has no responsibilities

other than brushing their teeth once or twice a day, copying homework off a friend just to pass

school, is supposed to know the backlash of committing a serious crime? It's a simple concept,

kids just don't understand the consequences of their actions. Kids have never been taught the

weight that their mistakes will drag them down. In the article Kids Are Kids- Until They

Commit Crimes the author, Marjie Lundstrom, strongly suggests that a judge should not be able

to assign the age of a juvenile in court based on how heinous the crime is. Lundstrom notes,

the zeal to corral wildly troubled, ever-younger kids and ram them through the adult system

belies everything the juvenile justice system is all about: that kids are different. Their reasoning
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is not fully developed(Kids Are Kids2). Children are not yet mature enough to know right from

wrong, legal from illegal, good from bad, and well thought out choices from rash and violent

decisions. Adults are completely capable of understanding the extent of a crime such as murder

and the consequences that follow.

The defense would argue that juveniles are just as deserving as adults for a life sentence

in prison. Jennifer Jenkins, author of On Punishment and Teen Killers, is a passionate advocate

for JLWOP (juvenile life without parole). Jenkins claims, many JLWOP offenders are repeat

violent offenders and many have killed multiple people(On Punishment2). Although this

statement seems promising, it is incredibly false. Former juvenile court judge of Massachusetts

has firsthand the enormous capacity of children to change and turn themselves around. The

same malleability that makes them vulnerable to peer pressure makes them promising candidates

for rehabilitation(Juveniles Dont Deserve2). Juvenile offenders should not be locked up for life

when they are capable to stabilize themselves and turn their lives around for the better.

Juvenile offenders who suffer from brain-tissue loss, mental illness and lack of maturity

dont deserve life in prison without parole. The juvenile justice system needs to realize that

adolescents are not fully developed and don't deserve the same punishment as an adult. Children

should not be sentenced to life in prison because they are not adequately deserving of spending

the rest of their lives behind the bars of a jail cell.

Word count: 943

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Works Cited

"Children Should Never Be Sentenced to Die in Prison." The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of

Youth. Take Part, June 2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017.

"The Sentencing Project." The Sentencing Project. Ed. Joshua Rovner. Take Action, 2016. Web. 21

Feb. 2017.

Thompson, Paul. "Startling Finds on Teenage Brains." Sacramento Bee (2001): n. pag. Print.

Lundstrom, Marjie. "Kids Are Kids Until They Commit Crimes." N.p., Mar. 2001. Web. Feb. 2017.

Jenkins, Jennifer. "On Punishment and Teen Killers." N.p., Aug. 2011. Web. Feb. 2017.

Garinger, Gail. Juveniles Dont Deserve Life Sentences. N.p., Mar. 2012. Web. Feb. 2017.