It’s a punitive system, not a rehabilitative system. Americans still believe that punishment is the only way to handle deviancy. Most believe the punishments are not hard enough, this is the “tough on crime” take conservatives have been running on for decades.
The point of interest is what happens when those extremists are accused of crimes. Suddenly, exceptions should be carved out for them.
Yeah, we need to be asking what the purpose of trying the child in question as an adult here is:
Rehabilitation - I think the juvenile system would probably be better suited for this purpose, so no.
Deterrence - I don’t think the knowledge that they might be tried as an adult has much bearing on their decision to commit the crime. I’d be willing to wager that people who do this sort of thing don’t much care what the consequences are. They’ve given up on themselves and their own lives.
Removal - This strikes me as the main motivator. If the system has no way to rehabilitate, and recidivism is likely, then what other option is there?
Retribution - As much as the US loves its retribution, usually it’s less keen to enact it on children. I’m sure some people would be happy about this aspect though.
Retaliation - I’ll let y’all judge off of the tone of the rest of the comments for this one.
Is not*
Edit:
It’s a punitive system, not a rehabilitative system. Americans still believe that punishment is the only way to handle deviancy. Most believe the punishments are not hard enough, this is the “tough on crime” take conservatives have been running on for decades.
The point of interest is what happens when those extremists are accused of crimes. Suddenly, exceptions should be carved out for them.
Yeah, we need to be asking what the purpose of trying the child in question as an adult here is:
Rehabilitation - I think the juvenile system would probably be better suited for this purpose, so no.
Deterrence - I don’t think the knowledge that they might be tried as an adult has much bearing on their decision to commit the crime. I’d be willing to wager that people who do this sort of thing don’t much care what the consequences are. They’ve given up on themselves and their own lives.
Removal - This strikes me as the main motivator. If the system has no way to rehabilitate, and recidivism is likely, then what other option is there?
Retribution - As much as the US loves its retribution, usually it’s less keen to enact it on children. I’m sure some people would be happy about this aspect though.
Retaliation - I’ll let y’all judge off of the tone of the rest of the comments for this one.