Getting Away With Murder

Essay by Rugbygy9University, Bachelor'sA+, April 2003

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Getting Away With Murder

In the game of monopoly each player starts at go. The parents and the children each pick a playing piece and take turns rolling the dice, advancing the piece and buying property. Every so often someone gets stuck in jail for a while, setting them back a turn. Luck would draw you a "get out of jail free" card, and allow you to keep playing. Each participant is given equal opportunity from the start, parents and kids alike. Now say we were to pick out all of the "get out of jail free" cards in the very beginning of the game and gave them to only the children. The kids would be at an obvious advantage for the sole reason that they are younger. How is this fair game? The judicial system in the United States gives youth what is appears to be "get out of jail free" cards.

Youth are currently given significantly less punishment than adults for similar crimes. Age should not be a factor in punishment for violent crimes; juveniles and adults alike should be held accountable under the law.

Under United States law, everyone is equally granted the right to a fair and speedy trial. Under current standards, a man who murders his next-door neighbor may get life in prison and a child who commits the same exact crime will be retried and possibly released at age 21. Either way someone was killed. Age is no excuse for murder. Granted every individual case is different, but it is for that reason that we shouldn't put an age limit on justice. If a child or teen commits a crime that he would only commit because he is too young to know what he is doing, then let the defense use that as an...