When should judging a juvenile as an adult be justified?

Question

In the recent past juveniles have been tried, convicted, and sentenced as adults. What in your opinion would justify this decision? Please use examples to support your response.

Answer 1

A juvenile (age 12-17) knows right from wrong. He/she learns that mental capacity at about 5 years old. Erik Erikson, a psychologist, studied the development of people. At around age 5, all children go through an initiative vs. guilt stage. During this stage is when people first begin to feel responsible for their own actions, they start feeling guilty if they do something wrong. http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/...

So a juvenile who commits murder and is charged as an adult is justified because they were aware of their actions. You dont have to be over 18 to realize that killing a person is bad. If they do the crime, they have to pay the consequences as an adult because they are acting like one. And they also have the mental capacity to know what not to do. Also the victims family needs closure. And if the juvenile was tried as an adult, he would deserve the punishment for his adult actions.

Answer 2

I think it's never justified to judge a juvenile as an adult.  By doing that we are skewing the definition of a child as a person who is still learning right from wrong and as a person that is still developing, deserves less harsh punishment.  

I think most adults can be rehabilitated so certainly most children can.  That would be harder if they serve an adult sentence in the criminal creation camps that we call American prisons.