Trying a child as an adult

I totally agree with you. A child should be tried as an adult if he commits a heinous crime. He should pay for what he's done regardless of his young age cause he will not grow younger for the years to come. Just imagine if he get tried as a child and then grow older enough to re-think what he's done...one day he might come to realize and go "Wow...I got away with it". Well lucky him, isn't he?

I have to agree with you on this. These children have committed adult crimes and they should be treated as an adult, no questions asked. If the child is ready to committ adult crimes then they should be held to do the adult time.

I believe it should depend on the crime. I agree with you that if the crime is most definitely adult in nature they should be tried as an adult.

I too believe that a very heinous crime committed by a child should have the same legal weight as one committed by an adult. Sometimes children do terrible things and sending them to juvenile detention does not fit the crime. Sometimes they really do belong in jail.

That's a tough one for me. I would have to look at the circumstances surrounding the crime as well as the crime itself. Not all kids tha commit horrible crimes do it intentionally, sometimes, it is a bad situation that gets worse in a hurry. If the child though out the crime before carrying it out, yes, they should face the music the same as an adult would. If, let's say, the kid was in a fight that he or she did not start, but ended up really hurting the other individual, I would think that a child court would suffice.

My thoughts on this is if you are a chiold and can commit an adult crime them yes of course you can face charges as an adult would also. Its just as right you pull adult crime to kill some one you will face adult time. I belive that is fair and you were able to think it through and knew 2 months ago that thats what you was going to do. Yes try children as adults for there crimes. They need to learn now they can get away with things like that in life. If they do they think it will be ok just a slap on the wrist and they might do it again. No we got to stop them from wanting to go out and make it so they cant go out and do it again punish for crime committed.

All in all, I don't think it's a good idea to try children as adults. This person obviously was not raised (most likely) in the most normative of homes. He's 16 and his brain is still developing. We all know 16 year old boys have problems with impulse control. Granted, this is impulse control gone awry very much but it's still the same issue. I'm not saying he shouldn't get punished but we can't afford to give up on him or any other 16 year old for that matter. What kind of a society are we establishing when we do that?

angusthethird, I can understand where you are coming from, juveniles today are very different back 10 years ago and it is continuing to change at a very alarming rate. It is apparent that the crimes committed today are getting more severe as time progress which is quite shocking and much beyond our expectation and comprehension. Where we are left wondering if they are juveniles or children there in the crimes committed. However, as much as one would want them to be tried as adults due to the crime, I cannot and would not encourage that they be tried as adults across the board. The media and news are factual with the crime incident report only. It does not tell of other issues and circumstances that might lead to that fateful incident. Most of all it does not and could not report on what is actually happening to them privately in their lives. I felt that there should be an extensive fact finding as to where exactly and how they arrived to this devastating stage before deciding how they should be tried. Also, if the press would be allowed to report on the family's background and/or further findings of the juvenile in question as a follow up. However, I think you and I will know that they will not appear eventually due to red tapes, minor rights and/or some business margin decisions for the papers or media channels. To be fair, the problems of today are just getting more and more complex and these youths are not solely responsible in the first place. There are just many factors at play leading them to decide that drastic move. IMO, juvenile delinquents are human as well and they errant paths are sometimes or rather most of time not induced in their own freewill and to just put them on trial as adult without really looking into their family background and them extensively would be unthinkable. It will be deemed as taking the short cut and still not be able to solve things and prevent another similar incident from happening. Have a nice day.

I agree with you. If someone has a mental issue, there is no way to reform them. Take the 1993 story of Robert Thomson and Jon Venables who tortured and killed 3 year old Jamie Bulger in England. They lured the boy away from his mother and took him on a walk for over 2 and a half miles where they kicked him, threw stones at him, rubbed paint in his eyes, shoved batteries in his mouth and left his badly beaten body on a train track so it would look like an accident. Those boys are soon to be released, if they have not already been released, under Court Ordered new identities to protect them from the public. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/j/jamiebulger.htm Totally ridiculous. They took the life of a 3 year old boy. His life hadn't even started yet. They have maybe spent 15 years in prison and will now be released to begin their lives. What's to say they won't do it again? I'm not saying all, but a lot of kids just have no respect for anyone these days.