Introduction
Democracy is a process that ensures all citizens of a country get fair treatment from the judicial system. This means that there are no double standards when it comes to punishing individuals who have broken laws and thus committed crimes. The law is a double-edged sword that ensures justice prevails in society. Victims of human rights abuse get fair compensation while the offender pays the price for committing crimes. The key reason for the existence of various judicial systems and processes is to ensure all citizens get justice and at the same time live in harmony. This discussion is about the justifications for and against juvenile crimes and how they should be handled.
Main Discussion
A juvenile is a person who exhibits premature behavior in relation to adulthood. The person has not attained mental and physical maturity to be deemed able to make rational, independent decisions (Weisheit 2009). Therefore, the individual needs guidance from elders. Most countries consider people under the age of 18 years’ juveniles. Juveniles should be treated as adults when they commit crimes. Society is responsible for shaping juveniles to be responsible citizens. It has the mandate to ensure they behave in accordance with the expectations of the laws. Juveniles are part of society and must learn to behave like adult members through emulating proper conduct. They should be punished to realize the importance of laws in society.
Secondly, whenever children commit offenses at home, they are given appropriate punishments to ensure they behave well. This enables them to watch their steps and avoid falling victims of regular punishments (McCabe 2003). In the same way, learning institutions have rules and regulations that guide the conduct of juveniles while at the institutions. This means that children are surrounded by domestic and institutionalized regulations that enable them to grow up as responsible citizens. Therefore, there should be no exception when it comes to criminal offenses. The way they respect their school and homes rules must be applied in the laws of a country.
In addition, juveniles are in the development stage that requires a lot of guidance. Society must ensure they nurture children in a manner that will enable them to coexist with other people in society (Siegel 2008). As they grow up, there is the need to make them aware of the consequences of criminal activities. They should face punishments whenever they commit crimes in order to deter them from making the same mistakes in the future. It is known the world over that experience is the best educator. Whenever juveniles commit crimes and experience the same treatment as adult criminals they will never repeat the mistakes. They grow up knowing there are no exceptions to the law but to follow their expectations. Eventually, they become responsible citizens.
Moreover, a crime has no other definition even though the degree of seriousness may differ. However, the bottom line remains that criminal activities must meet equal justice. Sometimes, when juveniles are treated with exceptional care due to their premature mental and physical states they take advantage of their exclusion in many activities (McCabe 2003). This makes them neglect the importance of observing and respecting laws. Therefore, they continue making mistakes and committing crimes since they know they will not be punished as adults do. This makes them take their parents and law enforcers for rides since they take to committing crimes as hobbies. Eventually, they derive joy in breaking laws knowing their punishments will not be severe enough to warrant their withdrawal from criminal undertakings.
Finally, juveniles are in the transition stage where they can do some things independently but need guidance to do others. The value of education and learning is to develop children and equip them with independent skills to plan and organize their lives and futures. Equally, whenever they commit crimes they should be treated as adults since this becomes an integration stage into adulthood. However, if they are given preferential treatments by the law, they may fail to control themselves in the future. They will not develop self-governing skills that enable them to make rational judgments since society overprotected them. This action makes juveniles fail to realize they are growing up, and it may be too late to correct their mistakes in adulthood.
However, despite the need to make juveniles responsible citizens by punishing them as adults, society should know that juveniles are in their most delicate stages. Curiosity takes center stage in most of their undertakings. They engage in activities without necessarily knowing their consequences (Welsh 2011). Children start abusing drugs for the sake of finding out how it feels. However, they become addicts if they find drug use fascinating and not because they wanted to abuse them.
Therefore, subjecting them to the same treatment as adults is not a better option of training them to become responsible citizens. In addition, they are in the process of learning and developing their skills. Therefore, they need to be taught the laws of society and how they should behave on various occasions. Sometimes, learning takes longer than expected and in the process, children find themselves in the wrong side of the law. They should not be treated as adults since it was by mistake that they got involved in criminal activities.
Juveniles take parents and other members of society as role models. Therefore, they emulate their behavior since they consider the moral and legal. However, whenever children break laws this is not their own doing but as a result of influence from other members of the society (Welsh 2011). Therefore, societies ought to behave morally in order to promote the development of morals in juveniles. If children are brought up in a society that respects the rule of law, they will develop knowing the consequences of breaking laws. The society rather than juveniles plays key roles in shaping youths’ perceptions of crime and respect for laws.
Lastly, it is necessary not to group all juveniles and consider them as children unable to make rational decisions. Juveniles growing out of these brackets have higher abilities to make rational decisions compared to those who have several years before graduating into adulthood (McCabe 2003). Therefore, the older juveniles may be treated as adults since they are in the threshold of childhood. However, those far much below the 18-year age limit must be treated as juveniles and given different treatments compared to older juveniles and adults.
Conclusion
Every society expects its citizens to behave well despite their age, sex or traditions. However, children ought to be treated as adults depending on their ages and not crimes committed. Society ensures children behave in accordance with the laws of the land irrespective of what it will cost them. The way juveniles grow up determines their future. Therefore, it is inevitable to ensure they grow up knowing and respecting rules and laws that govern society.
References
McCabe, K. (2003). Child Abuse and the Criminal Justice System: Studies in Crime and Punishment. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Siegel, L. (2008). Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. New York: Wadsworth Publishing.
Weisheit, R. (2009). Juvenile Delinquency: A Justice Perspective. Illinois: Waveland Press.
Welsh, B. (2011). Introduction to Juvenile Delinquency: The Theory, Practice, and Law. New York: Wadsworth Publishing.