Imagine being the mother of a two-year-old and while you were shopping you notice that he has gone missing. Imagine how much panic you would be in, but now imagine that you learn he was kidnapped by kids only a few years older than your child and those kids had mutilated your child and set him on train tracks to make it all look like a accident. How would you feel? How would you try those kids who did such things to your child?

Children and teens being tried as adults in court is a very serious but debatable topic. Some believe that children are innocent, but they do commit crimes and they do need to be punished. Some commit small crimes such as taking a hair clip from a friend, but there are “countless others who commit crimes such as rape, robbery, assault, murder, and attempted murder” (Wilde 1). For such crimes I believe that juvenile hall is just not enough. I think these children that commit violent crimes should be sent to an adult prison. These kids should learn the consequences of their actions and a few years in juvenile hall and a little bit of counseling will not give children and teens the adequate amount of help that they require.

Mike Hendricks and Jessica Wilde have written articles about this topic, and they are both on opposing sides of the argument. Jessica Wilde, who was is on the side of the argument that states that children and teens should be tried as adults in court says in her argument that “a lack of human morals cannot be treated or cured in rehabilitation centers” (1). This I believe is an important factor in her argument because she is saying that children and teens should be sent to adult prisons because their morals cannot be simply fixed overnight in a juvenile correctional facility. However, Hendricks argues the other side saying that “the fact is, kids are not adults. Their brains are wired differently. They don’t think things out the way we do” (1). This shows how Hendricks is set on showing that children and teens do not always know that what they are doing is wrong and that there are consequences for their actions no matter how awful they may be.

In conclusion, kids may not be adults just yet but some commit the same violent crimes as adults and they should be punished. Children don’t deserve to be treated specially because of their age especially if they know what they did was wrong. Children and teens that commit violent crimes should be tried as adults.