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When it comes to sentencing and confinement, more juveniles are being tried as adults for violent crimes like rape and murder. Along with those adult trials come adult sentences such as life in jail and even the death penalty. Most states have already passed laws making it easier to try minors as adults and, if successful, impose adult sentences on them. This trend continues even though studies show that jailing juvenile offenders increases the rate of recidivism and promotes more violent behavior “Jailing juveniles alongside adults will merely produce more street gladiators…In a study of fifteen and sixteen-year-old felons, researchers found that children tried in adult courts had higher rates of recidivism than those tired in juvenile courts for similar crimes” (Covering 2). The problem with the current trends in the juvenile justice system is that they actually increase the chances |
