Does this 14 year old belong in the adult legal system?

[AGDee]

Generally, there is a reason that young people can't drive until they're 16/17/18 (depending on the state), vote until they're 18, serve in the military, smoke, etc. It's because, developmentally, their brains are not developed enough to make good decisions. Now, of course a 13 year old (he was 13 when this happened) knows that killing is wrong/against the law, etc. Does he really realize what death is? At 13, many have had no experience with the finality of death. They definitely live in a "it can't happen to me" world and make poor decisions based on that. I worked with a 17 y/o girl who finally got out of a gang after THREE of her "best friends" were killed in gang warfare and it dawned on her that this wasn't so great. She had tear drops tatooed on her arm, one for each of the gang members who'd been killed. It took her a couple years to wake up.

At 13, many of these kids, in a different environment, would be able to be rehabilitated. The gang serves as a family for these kids, most of whom don't have a "real" family that they can rely on for protection and guidance. They are getting their guidance, protection, love and a sense of belonging from a very convoluted group. In order to get that, they learn to be violent toward others. It's a complex thing, psychologically.

An adult prison is not set up to deal with or rehabilitate these types of kids, but juvenile facilities are, if they are good. Sending him to an adult prison is only going to ensure that he is sexually abused, made to feel more isolated in society and learn more bad skills so that when he gets out, he is more equipped to perform more crimes.

I'm not opposed to the author's last coment though...

"What I will do is offer an alternative: Why not charge the 14-year-old as an adult and, if he's found guilty, let him remain in a juvenile facility until he's 18? Then he can be transferred to an adult facility to finish the balance of his sentence. If that sentence makes him eligible for parole in, say, 20 years, he could apply when he's about 34 years old, with the rest of his life ahead of him. "

I think that sending him to a juvenile facility until he's 18 and then EVALUATING whether he is ready to return to society or not, and sending him to an adult facility if it is deemed that he isn't ready would be the best option in a case like this.