Final Draft:

Name: Devanshi Mathur

Class: 10C
Topic: Should juveniles be treated as adults?
Words: 828

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for bearing with me today.Have you

ever heard of recent crimes around us committed by young adults? Is
there an implementation of a law that could reduce this? According to
the recent survey, an average of 5 teens are arrested for murder
everyday, 1 in 6 violent crimes are done by juveniles. As the crimes
done by juveniles increase, there has been an outcry from the public
and affected to prosecute juveniles accused of serious crimes as
adults. We have seen today in society how crime rates have been sky
rocketing and how statistics prove that the majority of the crimes are
being done by minors. According to me, a crime is a crime and
therefore, they should be tried in the same way as adults.
Consequently, in the future the number of violent crimes would
decline as stiffer penalties and punishments be used to keep violent
offenders in prison for longer sentences.

Is it fair to punish a minor under the laws designed for adults? The
issue of morals makes the answering this question more difficult. But
looking at the youth today, the kind of activities they are involved into,
they are no more innocent minors as they used to be a hundred years
ago. Recently, a 14 years old boy, Braziil was found guilty of second
degree murder for killing his teacher, another case reported in Florida,
a 14 year old girl, Lionel Tate killed a younger girl while practicing
wrestling moves on her. Sarah Johnson, a 16 year old girl, committed
a planned brutal murder of her own parents, however, such gruesome
murders are hard to ignore.
Many believe that the juvenile prison system can help kids turn their
lives around, rehabilitation gives them a second chance. Recent
crimes are significantly more serious than those the juvenile court
system was originally designed to face. Christopher Pittman, at the
age of 12, killed his both the grandparents, is a classic example of
treating him as an adult. In Detroit, 14 year old Joshua Smith shot his
mother to death, in another case, a 15 year old girl killed her own
father for the i-phone. Studies show that most of the rehabilitation
programs cannot overcome, or even appreciably reduce the powerful
tendency for the offenders to continue in criminal behavior.
Rehabilitation is therefore a false promise.

Why should they be accorded preferential treatment? Any teenager

who tortures and kills a human being should not be treated as a child
and should not be allowed to get away with it, by not doing so, we
continue to encourage the rot that is slowly but surely eroding the
world. According to 2002 WHO, the US ranks 3rd in murders
committed by youth! In Pittsburg, a 15 year old boy, Eric Hancock, shot
and killed a clerk while robbing a local convenience store. Jesus
Mendujano, a 17 year old boy, murdered a man in his own house, and
invaded another home, assaulting the men there and sexually
assaulted one of the two women. At another place, the world woke
up to a story of the murder of a 39-year-old British citizen called
Angela Wrightson. The murder wouldn’t necessarily have been
front page news if her killers were not two teenage girls aged 13
and 14 and the fact that they excitedly used the photo sharing and
messaging application; Snapchat, to update their friends about
their brutality. In such cases, can the so called juveniles be really
called innocent when it is a known fact that the activities they are
involved in, are of such serious nature?

Some argue that punishment to the juveniles advocates “an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, this notion is barbaric and should not
be encouraged! This could be a thought of the people who have
never become the victims of juveniles. An eleven year old boy shot
his father’s pregnant fiancé in the back of the head while she was
sleeping, Eric Smith, a 13 year old boy, murdered a 4 year old,
strangled him, sodomized him with a tree limb, in another case, a
16 year old girl murdered 2 people by intentionally crashing her
car into them. I am 15 myself and I strongly believe that such
children must be prosecuted as adults.

Presently, In United States, slogan “adult crime adult time” is being

adopted. In 38 states, the upper age of juveniles is 17 ,while in
other 3 states it is 15. Juvenile gang killings are the fastest growing
type of homicide, increasing almost by 400%. . Crime is not
pathology, it is not the product of circumstance, and it is certainly
not the product of coincidence. It is the result of choices made by
the individual. Adolescents are surrounded by adults that get
arrested on a daily basis, they know the risks of doing an adult
crime. The slogan “adult crime adult time” must be adopted, that
will act as a deterrent to the kids who are considering of
committing such horrendous crimes!

Colour codes:

Greeting
Captures attention
General background
Thesis
Topic sentence
Supporting argument
Reason
Evidence
Opposing viewpoint
Clincher statement