Young people who commit crimes should be punished in the same way as adults. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Every crime is punishable under the law irrespective of the age of the offender or the severity of the offence committed. However, should offence be punished equally without considering the age?. Some perceived that teenagers who engaged in juvenile delinquency should have similar punishment as adults. This essay disagrees with the statement because of the immaturity of teens and the negative influence of adults.
Firstly, young people should not have similar punishment as adults because they are not mature enough to comprehend the gravity and consequence of their actions. As a teenager, my critical thinking skill was underdeveloped. Therefore, Most of them just act the way they like if they are not tamed or controlled because they are ignorant of the repercussion of whatever they do. For instance, a group of children ganged up to beat up one of their classmates because they felt he was a threat to them. Under the law, this act is attempted murder, but these boys don’t know that ganging up to bully someone can lead to their death of him. Therefore, because of their ignorance, the punishment for the action should be minimal compared to that of an Adult who has enough knowledge to comprehend his action.
Secondly, Negative influence from adults makes children misbehave most times, so they should not be punished the same way because they are acting out what they learnt from the older ones. Young people develop their character by observing what their role models or older generation are doing. Hence, if adults in their environment or those they see as an example are stealing, definitely they too will be a thief. So why should they be punished as Adults since they don’t really have discerning power at their age?.
In summary, all crimes should be punishable, but the intensity of the punishment should be according to age; that is, teenagers should not receive the same punishment as adults because they are immature, and they act on what they learn from adults.
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