Teen Crimes Getting Serious, but How to Punish Them?
Nowadays, crimes perpetrated by teens are becoming an urgent issue in our society because they are extremely detrimental to stability of our nations. It is notable, but at the same time deplorable that not only their frequency is sharply increasing but also their cruelty is highly severe. However, our current judicial system on the basis of constitution treats juvenile criminals with leniency, which means adult criminals are liable to more pungent punishment even though adult criminals and teen criminals commit the same crime. Judges sentence different terms between teens and adults mainly because they assume teens have not yet firmly established moral standards which play a role as guidelines for rightful decisions when confronted deadlocks.
However, I believe that the society should punish juvenile criminals on a same par with adult ones. The assumption reflected in teen crime laws is wrong. Teens explicitly are capable of making morally sound decisions because they do possess their own moral standards and point of views. For example teens display duplicitous behaviors by presenting two different stances concerning autonomy and liability. Juveniles solicit to be independent from their parent’s influence, asserting that they already know how to discriminate what is wrong and right. On the other hand, teens endeavor to avert calamities when they do something guilty, contending that they are yet callow enough to misbehave due to the absence of firm moral standards. Teen’s calculated behaviors clearly show us that they are able to make morally right determinations.
Furthermore, we must not be oblivious of the true purpose of laws. Laws exist to ensure that innocent citizens are protected from dangers which might threaten them and that ex-convicts are rehabilitated so they would not commit the same crime again. To achieve this, we should enforce stringent laws which can penalize both teen culprits and adult ones on the basis of same standards. Applying double standard to penal system definitely mars the quintessence of punishment. This will only cause young culprits to become criminals again when they become grown-ups. Do you want ex-convicts to strut along street after they were just gently admonished rather than disciplined by draconian laws? The latter is more likely to serve as true role of laws for juvenile crimes.
In conclusion, our society should pass the bill which states that equal punishments are applied to both adults and teens. As I reiterated through my argument, double standard toward adult criminals and juvenile ones should not be tolerated. It is obvious that teens can discern what is moral or not. In addition, by doing so, we can shield the innocent and ameliorate our current social situation where impulsive and indiscriminate homicides are done by teens. When we are able to chastise the behavior of teens with the same standard applied to adults, it might be possible for our society to prevent further chaos.
Questions for discussion
1. Are juvenile crimes are increasing? Or are they just images created by media?
2. Why don’t we share about true stories of violent youth crimes happened in our society? How do you feel about it?
3. Why do you think the number of teen crimes is increasing? And why are those crimes getting crueler?
4. Do you think they were accidentally done because their moral standards haven’t firmly established yet? Or do you think they are well-planned crimes because teens already know what is right and wrong?
5. Do you agree with our current juvenile crime laws? Or do you think we should intensify the laws and punish them on a same par with adult ones?