Tried as Adults: Children Who Murder

With a recent rash of violent murders committed by children, increasing pressures are put on states to deal with the trend by trying and sentencing children as adults. One of the most recent examples is a Jacksonville, Fla., case where 12-year-old murder defendant Christian Fernandez is accused in the beating murder of his 2-year-old brother. The youngest person ever to be tried as an adult in Jacksonville, Florida State Attorneys contest that Christian violently beat his 2-year-old brother on March 12, 2011, and threw him against a book case. Does incarceration of a child in adult prison serve as appropriate punishment for the crime, or is it cruel and unusual punishment as defined by the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution?

Controversy Surrounding Children Who Murder

A look at headlines concerning children tried as murderers speaks for themselves. A recent headline read “Caged Kids: Life Sentence” and a recent research project is titled “From Time Out to Hard Time.” It is doubtful that anyone would argue that juveniles committing murder should not receive punishment for their crimes. Citizens and researchers alike debate if charging a child as an adult proves appropriate. Others argue that trying a child as an adult violates the 8th Amendment which protects American citizens from punishment defined as harsh and unusual. The criminal system including the Supreme Courts, are beginning to look at research from experts in the area of psychology and development theory when deciding on how to handle cases of children who murder. In 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that children under the age of 15 could not receive the death penalty. In 2005, the courts extended that age limit to all children under the age of 18. Nevertheless, children still receive adult sentences, excluding the death penalty.

Research on Children in Prison

Dr. Michel Deitch, Adjunct Professor of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs recently tackled the issue of children tried and serving time as adults in a study called “From Time Out to Hard Time.” She attests that research on child brain development shows that a child’s brain still develops until the age of 18. Areas still growing include parts of the brain responsible for impulsive behavior, making quick decisions and dealing with right and wrong choices. To further complicate the issue, not all children develop at the same rate. The question arises as to how the judicial system can treat all children tried in the adult criminal system the same. A late developing 14-year-old may have the same mental ability as an 8-year-old child. Dr. Deitch also argues that children convicted and serving in the adult criminal system have greater recidivism rates and become more violent than children in the juvenile system.

The issue of how to deal with children who are murderers may never be fully answered. There are no easy solutions but a society is judged by how they treat the youngest members of their communities — even those that are murderers.