Statesman presents an editorial over reasons why 17 year olds shouldn't be sent to prison. I am extremely against this editorial because 17 is just 12 months aways from 18 and you should therefore have the punishment you deserve. The Supreme Court has recently decided that it is not right to declare any one under 18 a life sentence in prison. This editorial explains multiple reason as to why this is so unfair, such as maturity and cost. Although this is a reasonable opinion, I do not think that 17 year olds should in any way not be able to go to state prison because of “maturity.” The state should do exactly what their doing and base their punishment on the extremities of what they did. 17 is not that much different then 18 and if they think its okay to let a murder go to juvenile because he's to young to know whats right is absolutely horrific. “Proponents say that while the initial costs are higher, the state will save money in the long run by treating 17-year-olds as juveniles because the recidivism rate will be much less” This is a good point made but you have to consider the fact that if you put a crazy young murderer in juvenile, they usually don't learn their lesson and there is not a lot that you can do to change someone with those intentions. Seeing at prison costs around 54 dollars a day and juvenile costs around 437 dollars we can conclude the obvious decision that we should pay the cheaper price and give the teenager with the fair consequence.
Tipping my hat, I shall say that I am very critical of our Nation's Justice system in general, with a particular vehemence for our system of incarceration. As a country, we imprison more of our own people than any other . Many of the crimes these prisoners are convicted of are victimless crimes. While I fully support holding people accountable for their actions, I do not think punishment is always the best approach. It seems to me, that rehabilitation through social/personal support are what changes peoples lives regardless of their age. Specifically with minors, their brains are not finished developing. If we throw these young people in with other, more veteran criminals, we run the risk of solidifying their future as inmates in our prisons. We have the option, if we're willing to do the one-on-one, interpersonal work, to support offenders in such a way as to reform them into contributing members of society. In fact the $383 difference in the price per day for Prison and Juvenile detention helps to fund such programs. Obviously there are certain criminal acts (murder, sexual assault come immediately to mind) that might require more than just some counseling and support, but these cases could be looked at by Judicial authorities on a case-to-case basis. In a country this big, and in a State that is so big on Rule of Law as Texas its unsurprising, and even commendable that we chase after delinquency (adult or juvenile) so whole-heartedly. But we need to then approach the delinquent them selves in the same way, with our whole hearts.
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