Could you read this for me?~~Volleygirl

Ok I am doing a debate for my Sociology class with a partner. We have to have a 5 minute opening argument and this is what I have come up with so far. Could you read it over so it sounds ok. We don't have to turnthis in or anything, it is just for our notes to read. I doubt this will be 5 minutes but I just have to get started on something. Thanx :)

We believe that people under the age of eighteen, most commonly known as juveniles, should be tried as adults when committing corrupt crimes. Corrupt crimes can be defined as serious crimes such as rape, robbery, murder, child molestation, and crimes to this nature. This has been a hot topic in the US for a while now yet many cannot seem to agree on it.

A lot of people would ask why we should try juveniles as adults. They will say juveniles are not responsible, don’t have the brain capacity or ability to be tried as an adult. Why shouldn’t we try them as an adult when committing these crimes? What are they thinking when they commit murders then? They certainly do not think they are a game in most cases. For example, there was a fifteen year old boy who bashed the skull over and over again of a twelve year old girl who refused to give him her bicycle when he attempted to take it from her during a robbery.

Now, why shouldn’t he be tried as an adult? If an adult committed that crime they would definitely get a long punishment for that without question. If we sent the boy off to a juvenile detention center who knows what would happen. They would try to give him rehabilitation, but who is going to say that is going to do anything for him. So then in a few years he could be let back out on the streets and could very well commit a crime again?

These juveniles should learn from their crimes. If you do a serious crime, you should do some serious time. From the time you are born, your parents and usually people around you are telling not to do things because they are wrong. If you are old enough to pick up a gun and shoot someone or commit an adult crime, then you should be tried as one. All of us in this room know right from wrong. Most of have our license and a vehicle. So say one night you go to a party and get totally smashed. You know you shouldn’t drive because you have been told that since you could remember. Yet, you still drive. That is like having a thousand pound weapon in your hands and you have it while you are drunk. Now, you get into a crash and kill an innocent victim and you maybe get away with a scratch. If an adult did that they would get sentenced and a punishment. I do not think that sending a juvenile to a detention center is going to teach them much. If they were to go to prison they would feel what it is like to be treated as an adult and would hopefully learn their lesson after their sentence is done.

It seems that these days a lot of teenagers want to be treated as adults but when they finally are treated as them, and they do something wrong, they never want to take the punishment. Why should a 15 year old get the same punishment as an 8 year old? Now, if you were a parent and your daughter was raped or murdered by a teen, would you be able to accept the fact that person would be walking the streets soon because they were tried as a juvenile?

In states that punish adults more harshly than juveniles, violent crimes drop 25 percent in the first year an individual is treated as an adult. Property crime falls 10 to 15 percent in the first year. A study reported that juvenile crimes have been increasing whereas adult crimes have been decreasing. Could that be hinting that juvenile crime is not harsh enough? One woman told the press “When it’s a vicious, brutal crime, I don’t want those guys living next to anybody’s family again.” Her husband was beaten to death almost ten years ago by two boys, a 15 and 16 year old, using metal pipes. I highly think that they knew what they were doing when they were doing that. I am sure they didn’t think they were helping the guy.

Right now, there are 23 states that have no minimum age. There was another study done and it found that one third of 11 to 13 year olds and one fifth of the 14 or 15 year olds could not understand the court procedures. So, what about the two thirds and four fifths who can? We should let them off easy just because the other percentage can’t understand what I am sure some adults don’t understand these days.

There was another case I would like to mention. It took place in England but none the less I think it is an important example. There was a 2 year old child who was kidnapped by a 10 and 11 year old. They tortured him, a baby, stuck things into his rectum, beat him, and left him on the railroad tracks to be killed. I don’t think there is anything right and they should definitely be punished for something like this.

I think that kids growing up during this time are becoming smarter at an earlier age. I am sure they are not stupid for their age considering the circumstances. Much of the public today agree that the juvenile court is incapable of responding well enough to juvenile violence. Our continuing problems with juvenile crime are largely due to the ineffective programs of the juvenile system.

Juvenile systems were invented to go “easy” and for rehabilitation purposes rather than punishment. When you see and hear of violent crimes being committed do you think at the time the juvenile was taking it easy on the person or thing they were beating, etc. Murder is a serious crime at any age. Excusing an offender just because they are a juvenile sends a message to other juveniles saying that they can do just about anything they want and they will get away with it or won’t get a harsh punishment.

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