Stakeholders

The Argument

It may seem that there are two basic sides to this argument. Simply you either agree with juveniles being sentenced to prison without parole or you are against this happening. As we all know nothing in life is ever this simple. That would be way too easy, as things rarely are. You have your two basic groups but then those branch off into why you choose that side. 


There are many people that believe that juveniles should not be given life in prison without parole but they all believe it for various different reasons. There are many that believe that juveniles should not be sent to jail and that their parents should be punished instead because the juvenile is not a legal adult yet. If you visit the following link, con juvenile life imprisonment , and read the comments you will see that one person believes that this young man, age 17, should not be punished himself for what he did but that his parents should instead be punished. This is an interesting concept that I haven't heard before, yet I see where she is coming from. If children under the legal drinking age are caught drinking they are not the ones punished by the law it is there parents who are punished. The child may be punished by the school but their parents take the responsibility outside of that. If the police find a pot farm in your back yard you are not punished the owners of the land, your parents, are instead. People under the "adult" age of 18 have to have permission to do anything from going on a class field trip to getting a tattoo or piercing. Does it seem fair that a child who can't experience the benefits of being an adult, such as voting, suffer the consequences of the law as an adult?

There are many who believe that juveniles shouldn't be given life in prison without parole because they think that juveniles have the ability to rehabilitate and change their ways. In the following link, rehabilitation, a women talks about how she does not understand or see the point in sentencing a juvenile to prison when he will just go and learn nothing. They will spend years in prison and do nothing but get angry at the world, and about 10x stronger, and then when released hold all this bitter anger against the world and release it by killing someone. The belief that juveniles should be rehabilitated is one that many agree with. It would be much more productive to keep them out of jail and watch over their shoulders. During this time people could work with the juvenile and teach him differently. If this person really wants to change they will put the effort into it and become different. But on the other hand many argue that you can't rehabilitate a minor and that keeping them intertwined with the society is a danger to us.  

There are many people on the flip side of this argument that don't think minors should have a second chance and definitely don't think they will change. Many people on the con side of this argument argue that minors should be given a second chance because it has been proven that the frontal lobe of their brain has not been fully developed yet and therefore their decision making skills have been impaired. While this is a valid medical point the pro side of this debate argues that you can't blame their brain development on everything. They need to be held responsible for their actions. They believe that although they may not be able to think through their actions and the consequences of these actions they still know what they did and therefore need to be held responsible. If the juvenile isn't responsible for his actions, because you just let him free, then when will he ever learn to be responsible for what he does? He will go on living the rest of his life care free and without worry because he is in the mindset that, if I do something wrong someone else will take care of it and I won't have to worry because nothing can happen to me.

People who are pro juveniles spending their life in prison also argue that because these children were acting like adults when they committed the crime they should be tried as adults. This is a very valid argument. They act as adult and therefore should be looked at as an adult in the criminal system, even though they can't receive the legal benefits of being an adult yet. The juvenile clearly thinks that he is an adult and therefore we should treat the juvenile like one. If he doesn't want to be treated like an adult then he shouldn't commit crimes like one.