With the rise in crimes, a growing number of them have been teenagers being responsible for the act. With these crimes heightening in nature, some individuals assert they should receive punishment equivalent to adults. I agree with this statement that regardless of age they should be prosecuted based only on their crimes. I will discuss why this should be implemented in this essay.
Firstly, teenagers are well aware they cannot be held fully responsible for their criminal activities. Due to this legality, they are more suspect to engaging in gang related crimes and can brazenly carry
out heinous felonies. The knowledge that teenagers can get lighter sentences does not deter them in engaging in criminal activity, gangs can use these minors to commit offences, they could otherwise be incarcerated for. This can be proven as research indicated more than 60% of crimes committed by teenagers are associated or related to criminal organisations. This evidence is of paramount importance as the law currently does not prevent them from becoming repeat offenders and with time their criminal acts can heighten. Teenagers need to be prosecuted with harsher punishments to inhibit them from becoming repeat felons.
Furthermore, teenagers are capable of differentiating right and wrong, further indicating the need for harsher sentencing. Schools have laid the foundation for understanding the ethical and moral standards in behaviour and conduct. However, despite these teachings, they disregard these rules for sense of thrill, boasting their criminal activities to peers and flaunt their evasion of the law. The implementation of such sentencing dissuades juveniles in engaging in felony.
To conclude, as expressed in above arguments minors need to receive harsher sentences equivalent to adult prosecution to prevent juveniles from become habitual offenders and engaging in criminal activity associated with criminal groups. In my view, proceeding with stricter rulings is beneficial for minors and society.