The idea that we decide whether or not to try a minor as an adult in our judicial system based at times on the severity of the alleged offender's crime, is absolutely unacceptable!
If someone is a minor, than they're a minor. If they're an adult, then they're an adult.
Can the issue of minor vs. adult be more convoluted than just a birth date/physical or mental age, of course! But the decision of whether or not to hold someone accountable for their actions as a minor or hold them accountable for their actions as an adult, should not be based on whether or not we're satisfied with the severity of the punishment associated to a minor being convicted.
The penalty for a minor committing a crime has parameters that we already determined were permissible for a minor (and likewise determined penalties outside those parameters were not permissible), and we shouldn't skirt those parameters because a young person did something really really horrible. If minors in certain circumstances deserve a judgment beyond the parameters, then we should simply revisit changing those parameters.
No comments:
Post a Comment