Brandon Ware

Mr. Cook
Honors ELA
14 October, 2014
If a minor commits a violent crime for whatever reason, it is the responsibility of
the criminal justice system to imprison and punish that person to the fullest extent of the
law.
Arguments suggesting psychiatric help should be provided to teens who commit
crimes for any psychological reason refuse to acknowledge that this help is already
available to teens and adults alike who feel they have been neglected . It is the
responsibility of the teens themselves to seek help before their actions get the best of
them. Facilities already exist as an outlet for neglected people, such as a teen
described in the article, Juvenile Justice. He was described to have been, abandoned
by his father as a baby, neglected by his mother, and spent time in a homeless shelter.
That same teen who killed 10 innocent people claimed, he thought the [$10 million]
ransom would be used to set up a community for other neglected and abandoned
children. This community and others like it already exist to keep crimes such as the
murder of ten innocent people from happening. Because these people were innocent,
the teen should be charged as an adult criminal as should his mentor, who had
essentially adopted [the teen] and taught him how to shoot high-powered assault rifles.
Criminals can knowingly be judged for incarceration based on mens rea.
According to the article, In legal terms, mens rea refers to the idea of a guilty mind.
For most crimes, a person can only be convicted if s/he does something illegal
intentionally. The teen obviously murdered intentionally. While, the boys lawyers
claimed [the boys mentor] had brainwashed him into becoming a killer, the boy was
not forced by this man to kill anybody. He chose to. The boy had a hard childhood, but
this gives him no excuse to kill. He, as the article said, [knew] something was wrong
and still [committed] the act on purpose.
According to the documentary, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, 97% of all inmates
have committed crimes not of passion, but because of money and/or a sick society that
surrounds them. After all, the reason the teen did the killing in the first place was for a
$10 million ransom. Criminals , no matter what age, should be incarcerated not only to
punish them for their cruel actions, but to punish the people around them. Arguments
exist stating that people are influenced by the people and actions around them and,
therefore, should not be punished for them. In fact, it is because they are influenced by
people around them that they should be incarcerated. According to Zeitgeist:
Addendum, it is no measure of health to be adjusted to an inherently sick society. A
neurobiologist interviewed for the film stated, not only is monetary-market
disagreement a result of domestic violence, but it is the primary cause of domestic
violence. Incarcerated teens should not only be incarcerated to teach the teen a
lesson, but to teach everybody who has negatively influenced that teen a lesson.