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Hannah Brady

Professor Connie Douglas

UWRT 1102

8 February 2017

Juvenile Justice: Its Not Childs Play

Juvenile court reform is a topic widely discussed throughout the United States, the issues

range from being charged as an adult to serving life without parole. The juvenile court system

began as a rehabilitation center for troubled youth in the 1704. During the late 1760s, a legal

scholar named William Blackstone wrote a commentary on the judicial system called

Commentaries on the Law of England, which established the age for children for being charged

as adults at fifteen (Lyons 7). In the United States, there had been significant reform since the

establishment of the first juvenile reform house in 1825. The House of Refuge, worked toward

rehabilitating children off the streets and teaching them important everyday life skills (Lyons 7).

These facilities became more prevalent in urban areas and were renamed reform schools, yet,

with growing populations and crime rates still increasing, they were looked upon as unsuccessful

(Lyons 7). The first legislative action in the United States dealing with juveniles was passed in

1941 in California. The California Youth Correction Authority Act, was established with intent

that, juvenile corrections were rehabilitative rather than punitive, (Lyons 7). In 1954, the US

Justice Department pass legislation in effect determining that the issue of the juvenile court

system is a federal issue. The legislation created six different institutions with the intent of

turning young law violators into useful citizens, (Lyons 7). Since the federal act in 1954, the

goal has stayed the same for the juvenile correctional system, helping rehabilitate young minds.
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The two articles discussed in this essay cover the issue of children being charged as adult.

The first article titled, Should Teens Who Murder Be Treated as Adults, written by Christina L.

Lyons, discusses minors and the discretion of trying them as adults. Lyons, earned her masters

degree at American University and is currently a freelance journalist, mainly dealing with

government reform and politics. Lyons intended purpose of the article is to argue against the

idea of teens being treated as adults in which the teen committed a severe crime, due to the lack

of psychological maturity in young adults. Found on the CQ Researcher, under the section of

Reforming Juvenile Justice, the intended audience of this article is to reach those who would like

to learn more about the juvenile system as well as see a case by case application on the various

issues. Lyons thesis comes in the intro paragraph where she writes, Prosecutors and victims

rights advocates say youths still must be held accountable for their crimes and judges should be

able to refer repeat and violent offenders to adult court, (Lyons 1).

The second article, Point: People Under the Age of 18 Should Not be Tried as Adults,

Regardless of the Crime They Committed, written by Deborah Lee and C. Ames Cushman,

discusses invalid logic between trying children as adults for different cases. Lee is a major

contributor to database Points of View, covering topics from juvenile reform to cell phones in

school. The other author, C. Ames Cushman, is a published writer who writes discussion pieces

based on juvenile reform. Points of View, where this article is located, focuses on the different

perspectives of controversial topics. The thesis of their argument, which is clearly stated in the

beginning of the paper, states that, The same standard for adulthood (age 18) should be applied

to criminal sentencing as for every aspect of social rule, (Cushman and Lee 1). This thesis lays

the ground for their argument.

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Christina L Lyons article, Should Teens Who Murder Be Treated as Adults, overall has

a very effective message, using different platforms to convey her message. One major method

that Lyons uses to further justify her argument is the use of psychological findings about the

cognitive development of minors in the specific case of being treated like an adult rather than a

child. She quotes Nate Balis, who is the director of a Baltimore based Juvenile Justice group,

saying that, Kids are not just small adults, (Lyons 1). This phrase sets the mood for the

following paragraph, indicating that minors do not have the same rational thinking as adults

when it comes to decision-making. She can address the opposition, citing Steven Erikson, a

forensic scientist, and his pro stance on having children tried as adults in the case of murder

stating that, Even a 5-year-old knows its wrong to kill people, (Lyons 2). Another method that

Lyons uses towards her argument is that of statistics, which she cites from the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The statistic, which is shown in bar graph form, reveals a

steady decline to that of minors in detention centers. The claim that is made with the statistic is

that the courts have been laying down harder sentences, which is keeping the repeat offenders off

the streets (Lyons 2). This is a very effective argument as it does not only deal with verified facts,

but it also appeals to the pathos, with less criminals on the streets, people will be safer. Lyons

also does an exquisite job with weaving the history of the juvenile court system throughout the

article.

Deborah Lee and C. Ames Cushman article, Point: People Under the Age of 18 Should

Not be Tried as Adults, Regardless of the Crime They Committed, has a great argument, but is

construed through repetitive language. Their argument is that children should not be tried as

adults because it, makes the law inconsistent and the agent of personal feelings of revenge,

(Cushman and Lee 1). Throughout the rest of the article, they use ethos to hone in on their
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argument. One example of ethos found in the paper is when they bring up the discrepancy of

adult age found throughout the country, with some being able to try sixteen-year-olds as adults,

regardless of the crime they commit (Cushman and Lee 3). They finish their article by stating

that the argument of trying children as adults, is driven considerably more by emotion than by

reason and logic, (Cushman and Lee 4). This argument of pathos over ethos and logos is a

major component in the issue due to it involving children.

Overall, the first article, written by Christina L. Lyons, is a much better argument than the

second article by C. Ames Cushman and Deborah Lee. By bringing statistical evidence as well as

scientific evidence into her argument, Lyons can have more factual evidence to her argument

than the pathos based argument found in Cushman and Lees argument. Despite them discussing

the same argument of minors being tried as adults, they approach the subject in different ways,

which leaves one argument more effective than the other.

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Works Cited

Lee, Deborah, and C. Ames Cushman. "Point: People Under the Age Of 18 Should Not Be Tried

as Adults, Regardless of The Crime They Committed." Points of View: Sentencing for

Juvenile Offenders (2016): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 9 Feb. 2017.

Lyons, Christina L. "Reforming Juvenile Justice." CQ Researcher 11 Sept. 2015: 745-68. Web. 9

Feb. 2017.