Should Juveniles Be Sentenced To Life In Prison Essay

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On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. There has been debates on whether or not juveniles should receive life in prison without parole. Those teens should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole, because it’s obvious to say that a child is not a man. A child lacks the mental capacity of an adult in that there are is the absence of certain brain tissue, the child may have gone through trauma experiences throughout, and there is always better treatments to put them through.
During a teens life their brain will have this loss in activity, which is this vacancy called “gray matter”. There have been multiple studies on the development of the adolescent brain, and Criminal Psychologist Dr.K has come to some interesting conclusions. In the article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains, Thompson touched on …show more content…
In the book Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services the author explains the behavioral responses to traumatic experiences. The author explains the large impact that an adult has over a child where, “The impact of trauma can be subtle, insidious, or outright destructive”. This is a great example of how a child may respond if they had endured exposed to certain amounts of trauma. In the article “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” by Gail Garinger, she gives specifics on child psychology. She believes a child can be affected greatly when exposed to abusive behavior for example, “today,few believe that criminal genes are inheritable, except in the sense that parental abuse and neglective home lives can leave children with little hope and limited choices,”(Gail Garinger). Garinger makes great points as to how a parent’s actions can affect a child's life. The child’s mind is still vulnerable and should be treated with and extensive
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