Should Teens Be Tried As Adults | Teen Ink
  1. Home
  2. Opinion
  3. Should Teens Be Tried As Adults

Should Teens Be Tried As Adults MAG

By Anonymous

   Should teenagers be tried as adults? Opinions differ. Some people argue that teenagers don't know what they are doing when they commit a crime and are still too young to comprehend what is right and wrong. I totally disagree. I am old enough to know that committing a crime is wrong and that if I commit one, I will be punished. Anyone who says teens can't tell right from wrong is either too old to remember what being a teenager is like or they are a teenager who has committed a crime and don't want to be tried as an adult. In either case, they are wrong. All teens know that killing is wrong, yet they do it anyway and get away with a light sentence because of their age. Even if a teen didn't know it was wrong, it doesn't mean it's right. They should still be punished. If they aren't, they willthink that crimes are okay and continue to commit them.

Teens today don't fear the law because they don't think they will get caught. And if they do, they know they have a good chance of getting off because they are tried as teens and not adults. We have to get tougher on crime. There should be a law that everyone over eleven years old will be tried as adults. That way more teens would be discouraged from committing crimes. They would know that murder would get them a very long sentence instead of staying in juvenile hall until they are eighteen. If we want to cut down on teen crime, we have to have tougher laws. ?




Post a comment
Submit your own

Similar Articles

Previous Next
Opinion
The Future MAG
By Anonymous
Opinion
Poverty MAG
By Anonymous
Opinion
Don’t Mess With Love MAG
By Anonymous
Opinion
System Overload MAG
By Anonymous
Opinion
Canned Hunting MAG
By Anonymous
Opinion
It Ain't Easy Bein' Female MAG
By Anonymous

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 323 comments.

Mommy2010 said...
on Sep. 19 2011 at 3:16 pm

I Don't think teens should be tried as an adult becasue they are not adults the are children and they still got time to change there life around and make it better but if you trie them as an adult then they are never going to be able tochange there life. For example When I was younger I was bad and I did what I wanted and one day I got in trouble and they was trying to put me in prison until I was 21 years old but I got lucky and they threw that out of court and every since that day I havent been in trouble .

You just got to give the teens  second chance a life more likely they are going to change there life. but if you treat them like an adult then they aint never going to be able to change there life. This is my opion on this subject

Kimberly Stickley said...
on Sep. 8 2011 at 12:36 pm
Kimberly Stickley, Shorewood, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
View profile
Teenagers know what is right from wrong. We have been taught those things since before we could walk and talk. Stealing a pack of gum should not get tried as an adult case but killing someone should definately get tried as an adult. Police officers and court systems should look at the severity of the case before making that decision.
Aztec said...
on Sep. 2 2011 at 2:37 pm
I just want to commet on something, I know that is wrong taking anyones life no matter how old you are but, its not fair to give life to a teenager, I think that everyone deserves a chance in life to change. If we dont change the system right now and try to help teenagers instead of just locking them up and throwing away the key that does not help them at all. It just makes them more mad at life and at the system so they do more harm in jails. I just think that they should not give life to teenagers especially when its there first time in prison. Thats my opinion and i respect everyones opinion.
MoonHeart SILVER said...
on Aug. 28 2011 at 9:32 am
MoonHeart SILVER, PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania
5 articles 0 photos 7 comments
View profile
Teens shoud definetly be tried as an adult. My uncle was murdered by a 17 year old and they didnt try him as an adult, and he should have been. If your stupid and smart enough to come up with a plan to murder or steal or commit any crime you are mature enough to be tried as an adult.
Wpetrie1 said...
on Aug. 26 2011 at 11:30 pm
U couldn't post this 15 years when I was 16, & went 2 prison 4 12 years for drug use, stealing a car, drug distribution, & felony armed robbery, if I had known I could use that as a defense I would've.
authorkid BRONZE said...
on Aug. 6 2011 at 5:24 pm
authorkid BRONZE, Hazel Park, Michigan
1 article 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Teller of untruths, your pants have combusted!" I wish I knew the guy who came up with it. I'm borrowing it in my book. I found the saying on MLIA

View profile
Isn't 11 a bit harsh? Maybe like 14 or 15, but 11? Seriously? some states its better to be tried as a teen. Because if your not, you get the death penalty. So if the law says 11 is the age to try people as an adult....then the government is killing kids, and thats just heinous.
nessarobin said...
on Jul. 28 2011 at 3:54 pm
well yu dnt kno whuut another person has ben hrough bhut obviouslt this website is for ppls personal experiences and opinions an lyk i said !!! IT IS NAWT OKAY TO KILL YOUR PARENTS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE !!
little-miss-mistakes GOLD said...
on Jul. 15 2011 at 4:08 pm
little-miss-mistakes GOLD, Plano, Texas
18 articles 2 photos 70 comments

Favorite Quote:
even after all these years the sun has never said to the earth, you owe me... look at what a love like that can do, it can light up the sky

View profile

I see you point... kinda... but you didnt quite sell it as much as you did restate it.... alot.... Besides 11 year olds havent even graduated eleentary school, they might know whats right and wrong, but there are a million different ways their judgement could be clouded manipulated or altered.... Although some teenagers had full knowledge of what they were doing and how wrong it was, not al do.Each case is different and a one size fits all rule would not help nyone.

Besides to be tried as an adult, you need to be an adult? anyone under 15 is in no way close to making adult like decisions.

Atheena said...
on Jul. 15 2011 at 12:13 pm
I disagree with your comment, because an adult can also be manupulated by another person, and an adult could also not think things through completely. I don't think there is any excuse for committing a crime.
writer-in-pearls GOLD said...
on Jul. 6 2011 at 4:57 pm
writer-in-pearls GOLD, San Diego, California
10 articles 0 photos 42 comments
View profile
not every child knows to call CPS, or feels that CPS can help them, leading to further abuse. Abuse may lead a child to feel that they have no way out, and that killing their abuser is the only way out. It is obviously still very serious, but you oughtn't judge a situation that you have not been in. 
nessarobin said...
on Jul. 6 2011 at 12:04 pm
to new york...no it doesnt make it right or okay that the kid did the crime but then again we are not the judge and we do not know what is goin on in other peoples minds...some people have mental issues
nessarobin said...
on Jul. 6 2011 at 12:00 pm
it is never okay to kill your parent ..if the child feels physically or emotionally abused then call child services and ask to be removed ...duh you dont have to kill them
nessarobin said...
on Jul. 6 2011 at 11:50 am
i think it is not fair to try teens as adults, sometimes teens are munipulated by older people , or they may have been throught hings.. i think they should be punished but not as an adult !
Mal15 SILVER said...
on Jun. 23 2011 at 9:18 pm
Mal15 SILVER, Lonsdale, Minnesota
6 articles 2 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain.

View profile
I agree to your post but if a kid kills an abuzive parent it is self defence and doesn't matter anyway
writer-in-pearls GOLD said...
on Jun. 23 2011 at 5:18 pm
writer-in-pearls GOLD, San Diego, California
10 articles 0 photos 42 comments
View profile
This is so simplistic, both in argument and in writing style. The argument for trying teens as juveniles, as opposed to adults, is not that they don't know killing is wrong. There is significant research showing that teenagers brains are not fully developed, making us less able to make rational decisions and control our impulses. 
rockyraccoon said...
on Jun. 17 2011 at 8:18 pm
rockyraccoon, Fort Wayne, Indiana
0 articles 0 photos 54 comments

Favorite Quote:
today tommorow next month next year all look remarkably gray.

View profile
i think it depends on the circum stances. what if a kid kills their physicly abusive parents in those cases their should be special treatment. However crimes of passion and maybe drugs should they should be tried as adults.
Fizzle said...
on Jun. 5 2011 at 5:16 am
Since we're taliking about murder cases, I believe that teens should be tried as adults. If not, they are most likely going to repeat the crime knowing that they won't get in any serious trouble. For example, I know people who have stolen things of mine because they figured they were only 10 and there was no one who would really punish them if they were caught. Now, at 13 they are still stealing because they think it's okay. Now if you're a teenager, you know that murder is wrong (unless it's in self-defense) so there is no excuse for doing so.
thia44 said...
on Jun. 3 2011 at 4:05 pm
that would be fair your thinking an eye for an eye witch makes the world go blind (come on imean its simpel as preschool)and it depends if the kid was mentaly capabel or what he was tought or his background every thing maters.
thia44 said...
on Jun. 3 2011 at 4:01 pm
I compleatly disagrea, i am 14 and have never done any thing that is ileagale. You can never judge a persons capabilty to un erstand or know the right thing or wrong by looking at the general population that is basicaly steriotypeing. And you have to take in the particulare childs age the crime the background every thing counts and it all means some =thing will difer in the type of trial they get. Some teen's if found capabel are tried as adults but others really can not be tried as adults, your coment was looking at things through your eyes and not seeing the other side of thing's witch is verry ignorent, and stupid please think thing's through before you ofend some one.
Brittbyheart SILVER said...
on Jun. 1 2011 at 10:36 am
Brittbyheart SILVER, Yucca Valley, California
6 articles 9 photos 44 comments

Favorite Quote:
No matter what you do in life, in the end, the only person that will take impact is you.

View profile
I read a lot of your comments, and I love hearing each one's opinion. Now here is mine. I am 15. I was raised with a teenage sister, and a lot of kids in my block. I dont know why, but I was always more grown up then I needed to be (maybe devorce of my parents at the age of 5?) I knew stealing was bad and lying was terrible. So I hardly did them, because when I got caught, even though my punishment wasnt really big, I was extremly disspointed in myself. Now, I see TONS of kids who act like they are five, but their grades in classses are A+ and they job life is absolutly perfect. Its just the behavor with their peirs. And thats the problem. If a teen kills my sister, and say he/she was with a group of their friends, I would want eveyone tried. Because that one smart kid was hanging out with a bunch of stupid people. Teens know what is write and wrong, if we didnt we would be in baby clothes sipping on bottles. Murder is no freakin different at all. It really depends on the case, but no teen with murder should get lesss time then their 18th year of life.