Nowadays, some people think that adolescents who commit grave offences should be penalised in the same way as adults. I agree with this statement and think that criminals who have committed truly serious crimes, such as murder or rape, should be justly punished regardless of their age.
First of all, a number of people consider this statement to be fair and argue that juvenile criminals should be isolated from society for the safety of other members of the community. It is common knowledge that teenagers are cruel at school and often form bullying groups. Even ordinary adolescents can be violent, not to mention the criminals. It is understandable that people want security and calmness for themselves and their children.
Despite the fact that I mostly think the same way, it seems to me that the approach to isolating juvenile offenders is significant. It is a proven scientific fact that adolescents have not yet fully formed the brain, specifically the frontal lobes responsible for socialization and mental behavior. This crucial part of the human brain finally develops only when a person reaches the age of twenty. Therefore, a crime done by a teenager could have been committed not as a result of a conscious purpose, but rather immature psyche and mental instability. This is not even about mental disorders, but about the underforming of a normal organism. In that case, it would be fair not only to keep young perpetrators in prison, but also to help them to be rehabilitated by doing community service, for instance, and integrated back into society.
To sum up all the reasons, I consider that it is critical to charge juvenile offenders for the community safety and as a punishment for breaking the law at the same level as the adult criminals. However, since the modern legal system moves towards humanity, I also recognize the fact that young offenders should be able to grow up as normal, law-abiding people and become part of society again.