What should be done with very young offenders who are clearly dangerous?

Young Offenders

The public survey shows that 60-80 percent of people with the psychological disorder are likely to perpetrate violent crimes, homicide murder cases, and drug addiction.Since kids are vulnerable to psychological related problems, exposing them to poor environments renders them criminals out of their choice just like Ben, who has been raised in apost-apocalyptic world where lots of death occurred. This paper, therefore, tries to explore and address the question “should we imprison children under the age of 12 or underwho commit murder or other heinous crimes related to abuse, or we should rehabilitate them bearing in mind that these kids are highly vulnerable to psychological problems. The paper is not trying to challenge the law or advocate for the kids to commit in the name of “I will go rehabilitation center”, but it advocates that we should investigate the case before convicting them.

Children are considered as most flexible members of the society. The constitution protects children until they reach the age where they can interact with adults. Children under the age of 12 are viewed as unable to make an informed decision on their own. They must depend on their guardian or parents for decision making. These kinds of children are considered naïve, and they can be easily lured into doing something immoral. Even some shows in TV, theater, cinemas put age discrimination.  Due to this reason, children are treated from the adults by the criminal justice system.

The law of United States considers anybody under the age of 18 a minor or a child. The law, which protects against children, is found in the breach of the law, which is in the Children Act of 2001, which was changed to be the criminal act of 2006 and several other acts. The action Children Act 2001 became an act of law in July 2001 and since then the amendments were now considered and thus the law was applied with full force (Hall and Tim, 379). The 2001 law legislation argued that children who violate the law should only be imprisoned by the state as the last result. Before detention can be made, there are several community-based measures, which should be explored and exhausted.

In the case study of the movie Walking Dead Ben a minor –under 12- kills Bill in secret. The movie relates to real life at the United States.  How many times have we found kids’ at 12-years stock lifting in supermarkets? Let that alone, how many times we have found a child possessing illegal drugs and end up putting the blame on someone else.  They commit the crime hiding behind the cocoon of “The Children Act- I am a minor.” Therefore, this shows that that a child is immune and well protected by law even when they have committed the crime. Our kids are committing any offense, e.g., stealing, rape, Many have killed their parents, friends, siblings and even their neighbor, and the court is faced with a decision on whether to arrest them or to rehabilitate them.  Ben a minor kills Bill. The question is should he be imprisoned in or rehabilitated in that type of environment.

In a case involving killing, many people will advise that Bill should be arrested and tried in a court of law. But we forget that almost three-quarters of the children offenders who leave custody go against the law within a year, and this makes the system not work. Most of thechildren have bad parenting while growing up, or they have been risen upin a cruel environment just like Ben. Ben is raised in a harsh background, a town infested with man-eating zombies. While growing up, he experiences death all around him. Ben killing Bill does not see it as an in issue.  Therefore, before even convicting a child,there needs to be intense investigation on the cause of offense. Most children are raised in bad neighborhoods by alcoholic and drug addicted parents where killing and other crimes are the order of the day. Recent research shows that almost 90 percent of children are raised in such an environment start taking alcohol and other drugs, and committing petty crime at the age of 8. This unacceptable environment may make the kids have some psychological problems early on or even in the future.

The research shows that people with mental issues are disproportionately victimized by violent crimes. There are many different types of mental illness. Most mental illnesses increase the risk of a person to perpetrate a violent crime, drug abuse, drop school or be unemployed. The untreated case of severe mental illness may result in an extreme spectrum of homicide – mass killing. Therefore, the children are not to blame but the environment in which they have been raised. The conditions have turned them to murderers……………………………………………….