Favor Of Abolishing Juvenile Court - 1061 Words

Proponents of abolishing juvenile court claim that all crimes should be treated the same and children are no exception. They also claim that because a punishment is supposed to fit the crime teenagers who have committed high-level crimes deserve to be tried as adults. Another popular claim is that the adult court system lowers juvenile recidivism. What these individuals fail to see is the psychological trauma that adult courts have on adolescents. Instead of being tried as adults, children should be tried in juvenile because children’s brains are not fully developed, there are flexible sentences, and juvenile courts allow for more rehabilitation. First, children do not have the necessary brain development to comprehend the court†¦show more content†¦Proponents of the abolition of juvenile court fail to realize that even teenagers do not have the emotional development to fully understand what is happening. According to Robin Nixon, adolescents have an entirely new set of intense emotions which makes rational decision harder. She reported, â€Å" Part of the limbic system, the amygdala is thought to connect sensory information to emotional responses. Its development, along with hormonal changes, may give rise to newly intense experiences of rage, fear, aggression (including toward oneself), excitement and sexual attraction† (Nixon). These intense emotions cause adolescents to act irrationally. To say that teenagers have the emotional stability and maturity to be tried as an adult is preposterous. There are many problems that arise when a child is tried in adult court. These issues surface as emotional breakdowns, a lack of remorse, and even aggression. The harsh environment of an adult court does not mix with a child’s emotional needs. Emotional breakdowns stem from nervousness and guilt while a lack of remorse stems from younger children failing to understand what they did and aggression is an automatic response to what is happening around these children. Instead of treating them as adults, the justice system needs to keep the juvenile justice court in order to give these children a fair trial and rehabilitation. Second, children should be tried in juvenile court because of the flexible