Should youth be charged as adults for major crimes ?

Criteria for Debate

• Should youth be charged as adults for major crimes ?
• Adult sentence, Adult Jail
• Youth: 12-17
• Laws in Canada
• Major crimes:
• Homicide
• Attempted murder / Murder
• Sexual assault
• Armed Robbery
• Physical harassment - Assault
• Blackmailing
• Kidnapping
• Other violent violations
• Cyber hacking

Glossery:

• Rehabilitation: The reintegration into society of a convicted person in order to stop criminal recidivism.
• Recidivism: To reoffend
• Incarceration: To put in prison
• Deterrent: Something that discourages someone from doing something.
• Probation: The release of an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under supervision.

Opening Statements:

Pro:

Today we will be debating on whether or not juveniles should be charged as adults. We believe that juveniles should be charged as adults for serious crimes. It should not matter what the age is when deciding the punishment for murderer as the crime would still be severe either way. Therefore we take side of of charging juveniles as adults.

Con:

We believe that juveniles should not be charged as adults as juvenile rehabilitation, in this case means therapy for the reintegration into society, is much effective since youth mindsets can be altered by influence, teaching them about what they did, just talking to them about themselves or even as simple as giving them a second chance. We therefore believe that juveniles should not be charged an adult jails since youth have different mindsets than adults.

Closing Statements:

Pro:

Juvenile crimes are very serious. It doesn’t matter what the age, the criminal act was still done. Victims and their families will still suffer the consequences. It has been proven again and again that youth are mature enough and therefore should be able to take responsibility in their actions and this is why we think they should be charged as adults.

Con:

We shouldn’t charge juveniles as adults. It has been proven many times that juveniles are less developed than adults and prone to positively respond to be rehabilitation. Additionally, adult jails are less effective than juvenile detentions, therefore we should not change our current system and try juveniles as juveniles, no matter what the crime is.

Pro:

1. (Do not use unless necessary) Adult like charging would act as a deterrent against juvenile crimes. The chances of being imprisoned increased in the USA and fell in England and Wales. During the same period, crime fell in the USA and increased in England and Wales.
2. Juvenile crimes are a severe problem. According to the National Crime Analysis Project, the amount of murders done by youth has increased 200% in 10 years and the number of violent crimes committed by youth increased 30 percent in 5. Therefore, charging them as adults would help lower the crime rates.
3. Adult charging and sentencing lead to longer sentences and time in jail, therefore increasing the chance of their reformation. A study has shown that longer sentence had positive effect on recidivism, shown by the NCJRS, or the National Criminal Justice Reference System.
4. Juvenile criminals tried in juvenile courts get ridiculously short sentences, for example, only two years in prison for a murder, and they don’t do not even get a criminal record. In fact, they also get new identities and are able to live their lives while the victim or their families suffer. (Additional) Murder, in adult courts, carries a penalty of 20 to 60 years in prison. When someone in juvenile court is found guilty of a serious crime like murder, a judge has options including probation, short-term confinement, periodic imprisonment requiring the defendant report to a detention center for part of every day, or incarceration in a facility operated by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.
5. The adult justice system gives juveniles a jury, a proper judge, and good representation. In an adult court, they also have more rights. Meanwhile the juvenile system has no jury, and less rights, therefore the juvenile would benefit more from an adult trial.
6. Juvenile detention has been proven to worsen behavior problems. Juveniles are those who ended up being sentenced to juvenile prison were 37 times more likely to be arrested again as adults, compared with similarly misbehaved kids who were not put into the system, according to Richard Tremblay, a psychology professor at the University of Montreal. (Do Not Include) This is because juvenile detention puts juvenile criminals with other juvenile criminals.
7. No matter what age the criminal is, the damage to the victim cannot be undone. Victims and their families will still carry the consequences, therefore it is justified that the offender should get punished based on how severe the crime was, not by their age. (Additional) Crime victims have a much higher lifetime incidence of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than people who have not been victimized (25% vs. 9,4%). Of crime victims diagnosed with PTSD, 37% also suffer from depression. Crime victims also suffer a tremendous amount of physical and psychological trauma.
8. If someone’s family member was murdered, they would want the criminal to feel their pain as well, or at least get more than 2 years of jail. For example in a news article, “The family of a slain British woman said they were pleased with the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox but said there was no sense of celebration.” The victim’s sister also said that  the verdict "does bring a little bit of justice, for us and for her." and that “Life will never be the same without her”

Pro Counters:

1. Only 2 studies have been conducted on whether or not being charged as adults lower youth crime rates. Both have found they have no intended effect on crime rates. The first, was done by criminologists on New York's Juvenile Offender Law. This law treated anyone from age thirteen and up for murder, and to fourteen for rape, robbery, assault, and violent categories of burglary as adults. They compared juvenile crime rate 4 years before and 6 years after the passing of the law. They found that  this had no effect on the levels of serious juvenile crime. The second one was conducted by scientists in Idaho, a state that charges youth as adults in serious crimes. When they compared the results of Idaho with its neighboring states Montana and Wyoming, which don’t charge youth as adults, they found that Idaho crime rate increased.

2. Although it is a severe problem, adult charging will not help stop it, as it is proven to be ineffective as a deterrent. Additionally, guilty findings in Canada are lower than a decade ago, and juvenile crimes in Canada reached lowest point in 20 years, conducted by Stats Canada

3. They would not need to have longer sentences if they were rehabilitated. Being rehabilitated means that they understand the consequences of their actions and are likely not to recidivate.
4. They would not need to have longer sentences if they were rehabilitated. Being rehabilitated means that they understand the consequences of their actions and are likely not to recidivate. New identities and having no criminal record are part of reintegration and helping them become useful member of today’s society when they reach adulthood.
6. Putting them in adult jails won’t help either, as they put the juvenile with hardened adult criminals.
7. According to a recent survey, most victims, while feeling angry about what has happened to them, want the offender to stop offending both against them and against other people, not wanting punishment. (This was conducted by Victim Support's head of research)
8. According to a recent survey, most victims, while feeling angry about what has happened to them, want the offender to stop offending both against them and against other people, not wanting punishment. (This was conducted by Victim Support's head of research)
9. By the time they are 12, they should know the outcomes of their actions, especially if it was something like rape, murder or armed robbery. In fact, people consider 12-13 as an age of maturity because you can legally get accounts on websites such as gmail at 13 and stay home alone legally at 12.

Pro Counter Counters:

1. N/A
3. (Con Counter 3)
4. (Con Counter 3)
7. This survey was only done for victims of non-violent crimes such as shoplifting, car theft and vandalism, and those are not as bad as the violent crimes, therefore the victims would be more forgiving than if for example they were assaulted.
8. This survey was only done for victims of non-violent crimes such as shoplifting, car theft and vandalism, and those are not as bad as the violent crimes, therefore the victims would be more forgiving than if for example they were assaulted.

Con:

1. Juveniles whose cases were seen in adult criminal court were more likely to reoffend and to reoffend sooner than matched samples of juveniles whose cases were seen in juvenile court. For example, juveniles tried and convicted as adults were found to be 32% more likely to commit another crime in the future than juveniles tried for similar crimes in the juvenile justice system. Additionally, in adult jails, the recidivism rates are higher than at juvenile jail rates, with adult jail at 60% and juveniles at 20%.The reason for this would be because trying as an adult is uneffective. (From the Juvenile Justice Prison Policy Initiative)
2. Juveniles at adult facilities are 2 times more likely to be beaten by staff than youth held in juvenile detention centers, 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide than the general adolescent population and 7.7 times more likely to commit suicide than adolescents in juvenile detention centers. (From Juvenile and Family Court Journal)
3. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, one of the reasons why they are placing juvenile offenders in separate facilities from adult criminals is to attempt to curb criminal tendencies before adulthood is reached. In other words, the focus of the juvenile justice system is on rehabilitation and future reintegration, which is better for the juvenile.
4. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, another purpose of placing juvenile offenders in separate facilities from adult criminals is to insulate juveniles from “bad influences” and to protect them. This is because the adults at adult jails are usually hardened criminals and are likely to influence the juveniles negatively.
5. Juveniles, unlike adults, are more prone to irrational behaviour and are much less likely to think through all their actions. Recent studies suggest that the brain's prefrontal lobe, which some scientists (such as Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor) speculate plays a crucial role in inhibiting inappropriate behavior, may not reach full development until age 20.

Con Counters:

1. Although this may be true, the adult criminal system helps protect the society from dangerous criminals, because it keeps them locked up in prisons for a longer period of time, so the juveniles would reoffend sooner based on the incarceration date.
2. Victims also suffer as well. Crime victims suffer a tremendous amount of physical and psychological trauma.
3. It does not make sense that juveniles have rehabilitation instead of punishment. Juveniles should be go to jail for the same reason adults.
5. Maturity
1. By the time they are 12, they should know the outcomes of their actions, especially if it was something like rape, murder or armed robbery.
2. There are proven facts that Yale University proved that babies that are six months old can tell the difference between right and wrong. If six month old baby can tell the difference from wrong and right, a teenager should also tell the difference from right and wrong as well.
3. (Do not say unless necessary) “In one experiment babies between six and ten months old were repeatedly shown a puppet show featuring wooden shapes with eyes. A red ball attempts to climb a hill and is aided at times by a yellow triangle that helps it up the hill by getting behind it and pushing. At other times the red ball is forced back down the hill by a blue square. After watching the puppet show at least six times the babies were asked to choose a character. An overwhelming majority (over 80%) chose the helpful figure. Prof. Bloom said it was not a subtle statistical trend as “just about all the babies reached for the good guy.” In another experiment the babies were shown a toy dog puppet attempting to open a box, with a friendly teddy bear helping the dog, and an unfriendly teddy thwarting his efforts by sitting on him. After watching at least half a dozen times the babies were given the opportunity to choose one of the teddy bears. The majority chose the helpful teddy. A third experiment used a puppet cat playing with a ball with a helpful rabbit puppet on one side and an unhelpful rabbit on the other. The helpful rabbit returned the ball if the cat lost it, while the unhelpful rabbit stole the ball and ran off with it. In this test five-month-old babies were allowed to choose one of the rabbits, and most chose the helpful one. When the test was repeated with 21-month-old babies they were asked to take a treat from one of the rabbits. Most took the treat from the unhelpful rabbit, and one even gave the rabbit a smack on the head as well.”

• If the crimes are somehow done by accident, or if the criminal has a mental disorder, this would be taken into consideration by the court, therefore it would not be difference from juvenile court.

Con Counter Counters:

1. Wouldn’t being rehabilitated be better than having to be locked up in a prison? Rehabilitation would allow for the criminal to be a useful member of the community in the future, while doing such does not.
3. Because juveniles are not as mentally developed, they can still be easily rehabilitated and altered so that they will understand the consequences of their action. (Use after/with maturity argument)
5. That may be true, but the teenage or ‘youth’ years are when hormones are the highest. This is relevant because hormones are proven to cause irrational behavior, whereas in a baby, hormones are not that dominant.