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Ashraf Owda

Ms. Moore

Expository Reading and Writing Course

28 February 2017

The Proper Punishment of Teens

Some murderers, rapists, and even child pedophiles are being let go free from prison

whilst only serving a shortened, lenient sentence. These some fall under juveniles, teens who

have committed a felony. For some reason, these teens deserve a second chance because they

didnt know the effect their adult crime would have. First of all, there is no such thing as an

adult crime, a crime is a crime and committing a crime means paying for it with time. Although

children are technically not adults, the enormity of their crimes is that of an adult's. Therefore,

they should be treated equally when it comes to them committing heinous crimes.

People ask, What if you were in their shoes? What if the rest of your life was taken away

from you? How would you feel? The same questions could also be said about the victims. What

if When people discuss this issue, they seem to forget that there are people who have been

personally affected, whod had their lives taken from them. Daniel Bartlam, 14, bludgeoned his

mother with a claw hammer, hitting her seven times. He then set her on fire, called the cops, and

lied by telling them a robber did it. He was charged with premeditated murder. How did the

mother feel during the act? It took Bartlam 7 hits to end her life while she was awake. How do

her other family members feel?

Some people believe that such harsh punishments shouldnt inflicted on minors, but how

old is thirteen to seventeen, and how much different is it from 18 and above? A seventeen year

old who shoots a school somehow deserves a chance to reform, but what if an eighteen year old
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did the same? The fact that a one year age difference determiners a person's punishment is

ridiculous. Gail Garinger states that Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the

adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not fully

developed. The changes that occur in a juvenile's brain is not drastic enough to dictate the fact

that they should not be treated equally in the eyes of the law, especially compared to an eighteen

year old who wouldve gotten the full fists of justice. Others argue that a teens upbringing affects

the way they deal with things, and is often used as an argument to defend child murderers. But

that isnt the case, many people have gone through worse things but have yet to commit rape or

murder.

The proper punishment of juveniles should be the same as that of an adult's. The enormity

of their crimes is not measured by their age, it should be measured by the crime itself. The brain

changes that teens go through is not a valid excuse for them to commit heinous crimes. Giving

them the opportunity to possibly undue their crimes could be a gateway for them to commit

crimes, knowing they could get out of it. Therefore, juvenile offenders should not be given

special treatment for committing crimes that an adult would otherwise pay for in full.

Work Cited
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Guy, Fiona. Daniel Bartlam: A Teenage Boy Convicted Of His Mother's Murder. Crime
Traveller, Crime Traveller , 9 Feb. 2017, www.crimetraveller.org/2015/08/children-who-kill-
daniel-bartlam/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.