Resolved: In the United States, juveniles charged with violent felonies ought to be tried as adults

Alright, so for the sake of a roadmap, im going to adress my oponets arguements and then go on to adress why I have won today's debate. 1A -Just because someone may understand the 'serverity' of a crimem does not mean they do not understand that it is the wrong this to do. I gave you the example in my case where studies show that a 3 and 4 year old are able to tell the difference between right and wrong. When you committ the crime, when it come directly down to it, knowing what you did was wrong is what deciedes your guilt. Although you may know what you did was wrong, you may plead not guilty but that is a whole nother section of criminal justice that doesn't need to be addressed in this round. I would also like to state that im not denying thier is a difference in age, I would be completely and totally bonkers if I did. What im saying is that if at a very young age children are able to tell the differences in right and wrong actions and this still carries on through thier years of growing up, it just doesn't get up and leave. -Again, just because a Juvenile is more seseptible to risky behavior, doesn't mean they totally forget about right and wrong actions. Because they know that robbing a store, or assulting or killing someone even is wrong and they make the choice to commit the crime anyway, the individual agreed to accept whatever consequences society assigns. the concept of our criminal justice system is about freeing the inoscent and convicting the guilty of crime. Therfore rewarding those who do actions of good and punishing those who do actions of bad. This is about as complex as the system gets when you look at the shell of it. Sure, the inside processes are lenthy, but in a mut shell, that is what the criminal justice system is all about. 1B -If you do the Crime, you need to do the time. The whole point of the criminal justice system is to have punishments set for certain crimes committed, some even have set guildlines for certain crimes.(http://www.law.umaryland.edu...) If you committ a higher felony crime, your punishment is goin to be longer and more severe because the crime was. They state that the characteristics of the defendant matter in the crime but with justice, the goal is to get or to find a constant varible that can be asserted and in the criminal justice system this varible is the crime that is committed and the thing to be asserted is the sentence, not the person. -Actually I have given reasoning for why they should be tried. I state that it actually gives more justice to them when they are charged in the manner because they are given more rights. Another reason I give is the fact that these violent felonies are more serious crimes that need to be treated as high profile. We don't need to put them in the same system where a kid is being tried for stealing some gum from a gas station. that is almost like a slap int eh face to the people they have hurt because it shows how serious these crimes are being held Another area you can look to for reasoning is sentencing disparity for these crimes. For example, if you are 17 yrs. old 11 mo. and 30 days, and you are convicted of a violent felony, the longest they can hold you too until your 19. But if your over the age of 18 you could be sentenced from anywhere from 10 years to life. 1C -I know I dropped thie point but your misquoting it. Sure, it talks about punishment and what not but your missing the point about how thier are still rehabilitative centers within the criminal justice system. These juveniles are being tried as adults but they go through rehablititative centers within the crimianl justice system. 2 -When my oppent bring up something from one of her books about how Juveniles and children don't know the difference between right and wrong we will be able to argue this point. Until then, it still stand in this round. -Sorry to repeat myself, but you don't have to completely understand the future consequences of committing a murder to know that it is bad and something else bad is going to happen. -What you have to keep in mind is that " certain things like voting, buying alcohol, gambling, getting married, living on their own, etc" do not actually have a real immediate effect on another human being. but if you murder, rob, assult another human being, the effects to them are immediate. Thats why the immaturity of those things is held to a high and different level. Conclusion. In this round, we as a society must let go of the fact that they are a certain age and focus on the issues that are really important. 1. did they committ the action knowing it was wrong and 2. what was the committed and the factors that go into it. Justice is not revenge, justice is being able to take up for your actions or having society punish you for them. thier is no action with out reaction. To protecct socity as a whole, we must not underestimate juvenile simply because of thier age, if they are capable of committing a violent felony, they are a threat and they need to be handled as such. I stonly urge a vote in Affirmation Thanks For the deabte Con! This been really fun, enjoyable, and highly inteligible!