There are over fifty states in America, and all of them handle juveniles differently. Out of all of the states, Arizona caught my attention. I chose this state because it was far away from my home state, New Jersey. Also, I knew somewhat of the juvenile systems around the east coast, which is what propelled me to choose a state that is across the country. My opinion on juvenile execution is that it should not happen, even though it has happened in certain states around the nation. My reason for being against execution of juveniles is that they always should get a second chance to change their lives, especially since they haven’t even hit the age of twenty. There is always room for change in a juvenile’s life with the right influences and help.
Arizona is located on the western half of America, and is a beautiful place to visit and live. Even though it is a beautiful place to live, it obviously still has crime throughout the state. Juveniles in Arizona do commit crime, but there is not death penalty for these offenders if they are under the age of eighteen. There are twelve states unfortunately, that do execute juveniles between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. The main reason I am against the execution of juveniles is because they are still teenagers, and will have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives. There are people in our country that think killing juveniles is the answer because of what happened to their loved ones, but just think, those teens that kill are going to be in jail for a extremely long period of time, and if they do it again, then the state can take matters into their own hands.
Juveniles are treated different than adults for obvious reasons. One of the more popular ones include, that juvenile brains aren’t fully developed so teens don’t fully understand what they are doing. Another thing that is different about adults and juveniles is who usually decides the cases. In adult cases, their fate lies on the jury. As for juveniles, the judge decides their fate. This is because juveniles have a chance to rehabilitate and change who they are, while adults on the other hand, are who they are. In Arizona, juveniles are anyone who has yet to reach their eightieth birthday. However, if a juvenile is convicted of a felony in adult court, then future crimes will be charged in the same manner as an adult. Finally, according to Beforeyouplea.com, Arizona juveniles arrested for felony offenses and specified misdemeanors will be fingerprinted. Once a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for a felony offense, the Department of Public Safety will receive the juvenile’s fingerprint and personal identification data. If a juvenile is committed to the Department of Juvenile Corrections, the juvenile’s data will be included in Arizona’s automated fingerprint identification system.
To give an example of a juvenile crime in Arizona, I found an article online about a thirteen-year-old teen that shot his mother to death in Tucson, Arizona. The judge ruled that prosecutors had proven the boy acted intentionally and with premeditation when he shot his mother, 34-year-old Sara Madrid, eight times on Aug. 1. The juvenile will have at least four years in custody, his written order said the boy would be committed until age eighteen. This is a prime example of juveniles getting a second chance because of their age. According to the reliable website source Deathpenaltyinfo.org, The first execution of a juvenile offender was in 1642 with Thomas Graunger in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. In the 360 years since that time, a total of approximately 365 persons have been executed for juvenile crimes, constituting 1.8% of roughly 20,000 confirmed American executions since 1608. Twenty-two of these executions for juvenile crimes have been imposed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. These 22 recent executions of juvenile offenders make up about 2% of the total executions since 1976. Furthermore, there are a lot less juvenile crimes than that of adult crimes. Even though there are a few states that execute juveniles for crimes, Arizona has never been one of them. This proves that being prosecuted as a juvenile is slim to none, which is good because juveniles deserve a second chance to better themselves.
As a juvenile in Arizona, the teen will always get a redemption chance, and most importantly never get the death penalty as a juvenile. Life is meant to make mistakes, and then learn from what you did wrong. Hopefully one day, all of the states will also think this way. Being as strong for non-execution to juveniles as I am, it is nice to see that Arizona also believes in second chance opportunity.
Works Cited
"Execution of Juveniles in the U.S. and Other Countries." Death Penalty Information Center. Deathpenaltyinfo.org, 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.
Rotstein, Arthur H. "Boy, 13, Gets at Least 4 Years for Killing Mom." Azcentral.com, 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.
"Think Before You Plead: Juvenile Collateral Consequences in the United States." Arizona. Beforeyouplea.com, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.
Cited: "Execution of Juveniles in the U.S. and Other Countries." Death Penalty Information Center. Deathpenaltyinfo.org, 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. Rotstein, Arthur H. "Boy, 13, Gets at Least 4 Years for Killing Mom." Azcentral.com, 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. "Think Before You Plead: Juvenile Collateral Consequences in the United States." Arizona. Beforeyouplea.com, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.
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