Currently, criminals of heinous and serious acts of crime like murder and rape are being freed from jail daily, after just serving short and light sentences to the consternation and disappointment many people, particularly the victims of these deeds (Kruh, Frick & Clements, 2005). People wonder who they are and the very thing that makes them to be treated in that special manner unlike others. This paper refers to the juvenile criminals, who are being tried daily within the juvenile courts. The rulings at the end of their trials are characterized by sentences that are very short. Furthermore they are given freedom and given new names so that they can continue to live in peace and happiness. This trend is not right for the justice system and juveniles who commit serious and heinous acts of crime such as murder and rape ought to be tried and sentenced on equal terms like their adult counterparts.
There is no need of differentiating the trial and sentence of the juvenile and adult criminals yet the victims of their acts of crime face the same magnitude of agony and sorrow. A juvenile and adult murderer causes the same harm to the victims. In this case, when an adult person kills, the bereaved lose their loved one. Equally, when a juvenile criminal kills somebody, the bereaved lose their loved one. Therefore, both the juveniles and the adults have to face the same trial and sentence in the courts.
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It is quite extra-judicial and wrong to give a juvenile criminal short and very lenient jail sentences while the victims of their criminal activities continue nursing the pain and loss caused to them. The people, who argue that juveniles have to face different trial and judgment compared to the adults, say that children have a weaker capacity of reasoning and choosing between what is right and wrong (Steinberg & Cauffman, 1999). However, this argument is wrong because a child might in some instance reason better than some adult people.
References
Kruh, I. P., Frick, P. J., & Clements, C. B. (2005). Historical and personality correlates to the violence patterns of juveniles tried as adults. Criminal Justice and Behavior , 32 (1), 69-96.
Steinberg, L., & Cauffman, E. (1999). Developmental Perspective on Serious Juvenile Crime: When Should Juveniles Be Treated as Adults, A. Fed. Probation , 63 , 52.
