In July 2015, America’s youngest convicted murderer was released from prison.
Curtis Fairchild Jones and his sister were just 12 and 13 years old when they murdered
an abusive family member.
In 1999 they were each sentenced to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of parole.
So, what’s the youngest age a person can be tried for murder in the US?
And what are the maximum penalties for juveniles?
Well, it’s widely recognized that young people aren’t as responsible for their crimes
as adults are.
This is because they haven’t fully developed, both mentally and physically.
According to the American Medical Association in 2005, “[a]dolescents’ behavioral immaturity
mirrors the anatomical immaturity of their brains”.
Research even shows that a brain does not fully mature until a person’s mid 20s.
However, the age at which one is considered an adult, and thus fully responsible for one’s
actions, differs from state to state.
In most states, anyone over 18 years old is automatically tried as an adult.
But several states have lower age thresholds.
Depending on the severity of the crime and the judge’s discretion, children as young
as 10 are allowed to be prosecuted as adults.
And most states don’t have a lower age limit at all.
Children who commit very serious crimes, like murder, are more likely to be tried as adults.
In the US, over 70,000 children are held in detention facilities and in 2012, 640 children
were directly involved in murder cases.
Juvenile Court differs substantially from Adult Criminal Court in many ways.
Since juveniles are seen as undeveloped and more malleable than adults, their penalties
tend to involve more rehabilitation.
In an effort to avoid preemptively labelling children as criminals, there is legally distinct
language for the juvenile justice system.
Instead of being declared “guilty," a minor is declared “delinquent," and instead of
being a “defendant," minors are represented as the “respondent."
So can juveniles get the death penalty for their crimes?
Not anymore.
A Supreme Court ruling in 2005 banned the death penalty for those who committed their
crimes before the age of 18.
However, from 1976 to 2003, there WERE 22 executions of convicted murderers who were
under 18 at the time of their crime.
In a few states, serious juvenile offenders can still receive a life sentence in prison
without parole, usually left to the judge’s discretion.
However, life sentences are mostly given in murder cases, while other youth crimes may
be given long, but not lifelong, sentences.
In an ongoing 2014 case, two 12-year-old girls who stabbed a schoolmate 19 times could face
up to 65 years in prison.
Violent juvenile crime is very rare, yet the United States has more youths in jail than
any other developed nation in the world . One expert pointed out, “kids under 16 are not
allowed to smoke, legally they are not allowed to have consensual sex, they can’t join
the Army, they can’t vote...but when kids do bad things, we decide all of a sudden we
are going to treat kids as adults.”
Dealing with juvenile crime is a controversial topic, and ends up weighing the difference
between a minor’s inability to understand their actions, and a victim’s right to justice.
Another complicated aspect of the criminal justice system is what rights are allowed
to prisoners.
In fact we needed two videos to explain the whole subject.
Check them out here!
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