Are Children the New Adults in the Justice System?

According to a CNN article written by Philip Holloway, which argues the idea of whether children in the United States should be tried as adults for committing adult crimes, “Should 11-year olds be charged with adult crimes?” Philip Holloway believes that children aren’t old enough to be held accountable for their crimes; therefore, they shouldn’t be tried as adults in a courtroom.

In the article, Holloway states that he has twenty-eight years of experience working in prisons and was led to believe that their sole purpose was to rehabilitate rather than punish. I agree with Holloway completely. Sending an eleven-year old child to prison will not teach them that what they did was wrong, for they wouldn’t be old enough to understand because they aren’t able to comprehend the severeness of said crime. In the article it states, “There is little if any evidence to suggest that treating juveniles as adults in the criminal justice system decreases crime or has any deterrent effect. In fact, what evidence does exist suggests the opposite. Studies show that incarcerating children more often than not results in higher rates of recidivism; essentially, it turns children into hardened criminals.” If there isn’t proof that sending these kids to jail won’t deter them from committing another crime, why send them? Children do not belong in an adult prison where they face the chance of being raped and hardened as human beings. We, human beings and United States Citizens, continually treat children as if they are helpless little people who need constant guidance. They will not find the necessary guidance in an adult prison. Instead, they will be traumatized and turn into the criminal that everyone believed them to be.

All in all, Hollaway believes that children are salvageable human beings and shouldn’t be tossed away. We allow adults to plead insanity, which states that the person who committed said crime wasn’t in their right mind; therefore, they can’t be held accountable, so why aren’t we considering this when it comes to children? These are the children whose brains haven’t fully developed yet and won’t for many years. The adults in this society need to make up their minds and decide whether or not they want children intermixed in their world. As long as a child is advised not to watch a movie on prison life that contains violence and sex, they shouldn't be put at risk of being put in one.