Should teenagers 13-18, be tried as adults when a serious crime is commited?

What percentage of teenagers that are realeased from juvie, commit a crime after being released?
Answer:
In some jurisdictions minors can be charged as adults in murder and treason cases. This depends on their capacity to understand the crime and to form mens rea (this means a conscience and ability to understand the repercussions basically).

Personally I don't think all juveniles should be charged as adults. Generally, people aged between 10 and 12 are not considered to have developed mens reas and as such cannot be charged with a crime (civil action can be taken though). I know some children and teenagers can committ horrible crimes, but they generally have a higher capacity for rehabilitation than adults (as they are not as set in their ways and are still impressionable). Our society works on the basis that most people deserve a second chance. Many people who have committed crimes as young people have gone on to be valued members of society - if they were tried as adults this may not have been so.

However in the case of older teenagers, I believe some of them should be prosecuted as adults. Some crimes are unforgivable and a lot of teenagers have the capability of understanding the repercussions their actions can cause. I think it should be assessed on an indvidual basis - their capacity to understand their actions, their capacity to know it was wrong and their chances for rehabilitation. However this would create more work for the criminal justice system and would most likely not be adopted.

As for the reoffending rates of teenagers released from juvenile detention centres, I do not know the exact figures however in adults it is approximately 90%. I would imagine it would be a similar rate.

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Hell yah they should. I had a friend that was killed by a 13 year old with a baseball bat. He only got a year in juvi.

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The law should apply to every one equally. It is illegal to single out one group on the basis of age, gender, faith etc etc ....

So, it was wrong to begin with to consider Juvenal criminals are above, beyond the law.

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I don't think it should even be considered until age 15. Children's intelligence, maturity, and understanding of consequences vary from one child to another. I do think each child should be evaluated to determine if his mental capacity is that of an adult instead of relying on public outrage and demand for satisfying their perception of justice.

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A 13-year-old fully understands that if he or she kills someone, it is forever. They are not "unaware" like some people will try to claim. If they are old enough to do the crime, they are old enough to do the time.

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I think ring leaders or teens that acted alone should be tried as adults; kids that were following a crowd(like kids tend to do) should be tried as Juveniles.

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I do not know the percentage, but a teenager should be tried as an adult if the crime is serious enough. If a teenager takes a life not out of self defense, and knows that they did so, then they teen should be tried as an adult. They know what they did is wrong and therefore should be treated as an adult who made the same mistake.

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If it's Murder, Armed Robbery, Arson, etc... yes.

I remember when kids were afraid of their PARENTS... I'd rather have been beaten by cops that had my Dad catch me doing something stupid.

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When I lived in Texas my neighbors daughter was in a state womens prison in Florida because she got in trouble in that time where Florida was tring to crack down on the kids.. she had broke into her grandparents house while they were home with 3 other kids (boys) and the boys made them get down on the knees against a wall, she comforted her grandparents and let them boys rob there house.. She went to prison at the age of 14 and got out at the age of 21, she was the first child in history of Florida to get that kind of sentence, she has now lived the life into her adult life so long that as soon as she got out she didnt know what to do and went right back for prostitution.. I dont know what to think about anything like this.. if you are to hard you could make it worse and to soft it could make it worse too...

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If they have the capacity to commit an "adult" crime then they have the capacity to serve "adult" time.