09/11/2013:

Young people who commit serious crimes should be punished in the same way as adults.

Do you agree or disagree?

People who commit heinous crimes should all be punished regardless of their age. However, I do not agree that adolescents and adults should receive the same verdict.

Due to the fact that young criminals are mentally incapable of making wise decisions, it would be unjustified to sentence them in the same way as mature ones. Some scientists have pointed out that for adolescents, the frontal cortex, the area of the brain that controls reasoning and helps people think before they act, develops when they reach adulthood. Adolescents, as a consequence, often tend to act on impulse, misread social cues and emotions and engage in risky behaviors. Many secondary school students whose brains are different from those of adults often find it hard to handle conflicts with their classmates and are likely to pick fights with them, which sometimes leads to serious injuries or even death. Holding them to adult standards when they do not have the same mental capacities, therefore, is not reasonable.

Imposing lenient punishments on younger law offenders would provide them with opportunities to return to normal lives and mend their ways. Many children commit serious crimes when they are at very young ages, the ages at which they should spend time learning at school or socializing with others instead of sitting in a dark room with both their arms and legs shackled or waiting for a death penalty to be carried out on them. Giving them a second chance, therefore, is a good way to help them become better citizens later in life and to show that the best way to teach a criminal is through education and tolerance not severe punishments. In Vietnam, juvenile delinquents are often sent to reformatories wherein they are re-educated, and they are less likely to re-offend after being released than their counterparts who are sentenced to imprisonment or solitary confinement.

In conclusion, although young criminals, to some extent, deserve to be punished, I still believe that their punishments should be different from those of adults.