Adult Crime, Adult Time

The article "Adult Crime, Adult Time" by Lind Collier was about the increasing number of juvenile offenders that are being charged as adults. The author discusses what certain states do to take care of under age offenders and why there is no uniform age across the nation to deal with these young criminals. She does not think that just because someone is of the age of 16 or younger that they should be let off the hook easier than if they were older. Collier believes that if someone does an adult crime that they should serve adult time. She uses examples from real situations such as how crimes with 12-year-olds have doubled since 1965, and the number of 13- and 14-year-olds has tripled.

I think that letting these kids off with little punishment is wrong, but I also think that charging them as adults is somewhat extreme as well. I think there should be harsh punishments for these "kids'' but at the same time I think they deserve a chance to change themselves because they are so young. There should be something in-between that can help them out and teach them a lesson at the same time. Perhaps they should be incarcerated till they become an adult and then have to serve the society for the betterment of the community.