Children Should Not Be Tried As Adults Essay

Good morning. Society is faced with an increasingly growing problem. The problem is that children and teens are committing heinous crimes at a young age. The question is, do we sentence these children and teens to incarceration for the rest of their lives, or do we instead try to rehabilitate these teens and children and find the root causes of these problems? Do we not grant them a second chance and let them rot in prison, or do we rehabilitate them and help them become important members of society? Children as young as nine years old are being tried as an adult in trial. Henry Gingerich is a twelve year old boy who was sentenced to twenty five years in adult prison for conspiracy to commit the murder of his fifteen year old co-defendant's stepfather. Is it fair to hold him and all of these other children and teens to the same mentality of adults? Children and teens should not be tried as adults, instead the judicial system should focus on the rehabilitation of these teens and children. …show more content…
The two girls had a four year old sister who was put in custody of child protection services after the shooting. The fifteen year old was tried as an adult in court and sent to adult prison. What the court should have looked at however, was the years of police reports against her brother abusing her, and the fact that both of her parents were arrested for child neglect and abuse. Those facts change things, is the child really a danger to society, or someone who grew up under bad circumstances who deserves a second chance at society? If the system focused more on rehabilitation, this child could have a chance to be rehabilitated and based on her success be allowed to be integrated into an important role in