Should more teens be tried as adults? In this society, I have to say yes. It isn’t only teenagers that are committing more crime now, but even kids in elementary school.
A group of elementary school kids skip school constantly on my block, and have vandalized my house. These are only third- and fourth graders!
Just to let you know, teenagers aren‘t committing more crime. In 2006, people aged 12-20 committed only 27.3% of crime in the U.S., and people under 12 contributed only 0.9%, –making the total percent 28.2%– which is not a lot.
Kids aren’t perfect; so what if they’re only in elementary school? People of all ages still make mistakes.
With popular songs that say things like “You’re under 18, you won’t be doing any time,” we need to set an example that yes, because we mature (at least as far as violent exposure) faster in these current conditions, that criminals have to do real time, not a few months in a cushy therapy house.
It simply isn’t fair for those of us who obey the laws to keep paying for crimes being committed by repeat offenders, or to pay for their nice relaxed hospital stays simply because of biological age.
And this is a problem of agism: criminal behavior in the young has been, redundantly, criminalized. Sentences are made shorter and young people don’t get a real punishment, because society believes they deserve a “second chance,” but the methods that are used instead don’t really work. So the only reason we do this is simply a bias, not because we actually believe that people deserve a second chance.
It’s become clear than biological age has no meaning when it comes to escalating degrees of violent crime, and it needs to be dealt with during these formative years, in my humble opinion.
Perhaps it won’t stop crime, but at least these kids will be doing real penance that they can’t laugh at.
No young person is laughing at crime, but it is true that biological age has no meaning. At least we can agree on that.
