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Cheyenne Rowe

Mrs. DiSomma

ERWC, P.2

7 March 2017

Kids Are Really Just Kids

The worst thing a parent can imagine is having their child taken away from them. When a

child commits a crime, whether or not they had full knowledge of what they were doing was

wrong, shutting them in a prison forever is just about the worst punishment. Sitting in a confined

area for the rest of their lives and never being able to hug their parents again sounds like a

nightmare a lot of kids before the year two-thousand and twelve were living. That is why in the

year two-thousand and twelve, the supreme court ruled juvenile life sentences without parole for

anything less than murder unconstitutional. I agree with their decision.

Some may think that the court was wrong to reach the decision that they did. Some may

even say that no matter how old the criminal, they should all get equal sentences for the same

crimes. In fact, statistics show that regardless of age, juveniles convicted in adult court were

most likely to be sentenced to adult prison (Harris 53). There would be a ruling to see if they

were fit to be sent back to juvenile prison, but it looks like most kids were found unfit. The

people who think kids should be sent to prison forever are wrong. Researchers have found that

when sent home,youth who were pushed through the adult prison were most likely to become

violent criminals (Lundstrom 22). If you treat kids like adults in the justice system, then thats

what theyll become. So when it really comes down to it, the question rises- do kids, no matter

how young and no matter what the crime, belong in prison (Young 4:23)? As far as children go,
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they may know right from wrong, but they do not yet fully understand the consequences to their

actions, nor do they really understand what they are doing when it comes to committing crimes.

There are so many people in the United States that agree with the courts decision- so

many people who hated the idea of never being able to hold their child again, only being able to

see them through a thick wall of glass- having to talk to them through a phone. One mother says

that she has never heard of such a thing. Twelve years old, and we are going to treat him like an

adult. It is just ridiculous (Young 0:54). Children get in trouble a lot. But throwing them in

prison is so much harsher than no video games for a week. And before the courts decision,

people who could not even shave yet were being tossed into jail cells with life sentences

(Lundstrom 10). Some children are capable of some amazing things. The children capable of

committing crimes are no different from the children who can barely act out at school. Nelson

Mandela once shared a thought about how much a person can tell about a society by how it treats

its children (Young 0:58). If we as a country throw children behind bars for the rest of their lives,

what does that say about us?

In retrospect, many of the children committing crimes are in their mid teens, but that

does not mean that they are any less deserving of a normal life than someone younger than them.

After all, kids are only kids. [but only] until they commit crimes. The bigger the crime, the

more eager [people] are to [throw the adult book at them] (Lundstrom 5). If a ten year old found

their dads pistol in the closet, then turned around to play with it, shooting their sibling in the

face, who is to blame? The child, who didnt know any better, or the father for leaving his gun

within reach? To the court, it seems the child is. And in a cellblock in Indiana, fifty-three

children are being held behind bars, carrying life sentences, and who are nowhere near ready for

what lies in their future (Young 2:44). Nobody can tell what the future holds. But for seventy-
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five children who were found unfit in a fitness trial, they know that their lives will be much

worse than the sixty other children who were lucky enough to be sent back to juvenile prison

(Harris 40). What really qualifies as being fit or unfit? The crime, or how old the child is?

Now that the supreme courts decision has been carried out, parents of misguided and

misbehaved children can rest assured knowing that if their kid steps out of line, they wont go

away for life. There is a huge difference between petty theft and murder, but young people have

not yet developed the part of their brain that keeps them from doing stupid things, so they should

not be punished cruelly. Which is why I agree with the courts decision.
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Works Cited

Harris, Kamala. Juvenile Justice in California. California Department of Justice. California

Department of Justice, 2015. Web. (1-113).

Lundstrom, Marjie. Kids Are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes. CSU Expository Reading and

Writing Course. California State University Press, 2007. Print. (87-88).

Young Kids, Hard Time. National Geographic. Vimeo, 2016. Web. 28 February 2017.