opinion+interviews

What Real people Believe by Belle

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Chief Wilkens  By all means, age does make a difference in charging juveniles. In Iowa, 16 is the age when the court can fully charge you as an adult. If your 14, you may be charged as an adult depending on your record and your most recent crime committed. If you commit a severe crime, such as a murder-‘you’re gone”-you should be in confinement, perhaps even receive capital punishment. I believe in “an eye for an eye” with criminal punishment. Especially for the sake of society, if you are a threat, you should be taken away.  Another factor not just affecting criminal children, but everyone, is the changing society. You just can’t put a scale on how much juveniles have changed with the access to technology. With access to the internet, cell phones, and news broadcasting every night; criminal seeds are planted in their heads.  Today’s kids have many important decisions to face, especially if they have no guidance and several ways to access weapons. They will commit crimes. Precautions have to be taken for the sake of protecting all of society.

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Father Michael Mescher  Age plays a very important role along with the severity of the crime. If a young child commits a minor crime, they need to be corrected and set back on track. But, say a 16 year old commits murder; this child may be a danger to other people and should be kept away and corrected.  Another major factor playing a large role in juveniles lives are parents and guardians. A troubled teen can have a complete mental turn around by meeting a good teacher, coach, or even religion to give them something to live up to. Juveniles need support to set them right, and help teach them to make good decisions on their own. Kids today are just like the ones of the “past,” their main goal is to stay out of trouble. Positive parenting and good friends can make all the difference. There’s an old saying: “May your acquaintances be many, but your friends few.” Teaching kids, or anybody, just to be respectable can keep people out of trouble.  These choices and factors all lead to the fate of juveniles. I hope they will be able to find Christ in their life or something to believe in to keep them safe and out of trouble with the law.

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Dan Rathjen

 When it comes to charging juveniles, or anybody, age is “universally respected.” For younger juveniles they will be treated less forcefully compared to and eight year old. After a child turns 14, their record will usually decide what the punishment will be. If a child has been frequently committing crimes that are moderately severe, they are most likely to be charged with adult like consequences. They may be given parole after they turn 18 to make sure they stay out of trouble. If a crime is committed at an age that they understand the wrong they have done, the juvenile will most likely be tried as an adult.

 Another factor leading juveniles to commit crimes is their environment. Parents, peers, and a child’s home life make the biggest difference in juveniles’ choices. Today, I’ve noticed more “bad” families than there were in the past. One bad parent can lead to bad kids; bad kids can commit crimes and become bad parents themselves. This chain of events continues to create more deteriorated families. Preventing this bad parenting could keep more juveniles out of trouble and create a better well-rounded youth.

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** Mr. Jeremy Jones **

Dealing with juveniles every day, I understand the way they think and how bad choices are made, due to a plethora of reasons. One reason affecting all minors and some young adults is brain development. Especially during the teen years decisions are made without thinking of the consequences. Even though they may know what they are doing is wrong, they may use excuses to calm their conscious. Some crimes are committed for survival reasons. For example, kids may steal food or money to support their family, or to possibly survive socially. Kids are dared to commit a crime to become part of a group or gang. Another problem that could be facing a juvenile you know is technology. Today’s generation is growing up with the leisure of having their own cell phone, using computers, and watching television every day. Many children use these resources for educational purposes, for fun, and for negative reasons as well. One negative way kids may use technology is by bullying or planning devious acts. If kids do not have the right guidance, or have enough common sense, technology can go from being resourceful to a nuisance. Another factor playing a key role in juveniles’ life that may cause them to rebel, is their family. Many kids are left alone with unstable families. Without a strong family base kids are left feeling that they have little worth and have no one to look up to. For example, kids without a family around all the time to give them guidance, may join a gang that fulfills tha sense of “belonging.” These gangs may be why they feel they should commit crimes; to be a part of a “family.” Decisions made by juveniles can be influenced by their parent’s opinions as well. Say a girl gets pregnant and doesn’t want her parents to know. She tries to hide her pregnancy and then, after giving birth, murders her newborn child. This choice seems like a life or death situation for the girl’s reputation, when, in reality, she could have received help and given her baby to someone else. The main point I’m trying to get across is that kids need positive parents, guardians, and friends to help them through tough decisions they may face.

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Mrs. Kuhter When it comes to charging juveniles, or anyone, many factors must come into play. Both how old the convict is, and what they did definitely matters. If a seventeen year old commits murder, they should understand what they did was wrong and be prevented from doing it again. While if an eight-year-old commits murder, they may not quite understand what they did as being wrong and should be rehabilitated back into society. Parenting plays a key role in choices juveniles make. Just imagine if your parents were gone every night, leaving you and your siblings to fend for yourselves. Or even imagine the opposite, your parents sign you up for every club sport or team that exist-band, choir, jazz band, TAG, drama club, chess club, swim team, soccer, volleyball, track, tennis-everything. In these two scenarios, kids are either going to have too much time on their hands to find a crime to commit or, the opposite- they will be trying to make time and get out of the activities by getting in trouble. These polar opposites can lead to the same scenario-juveniles committing crimes. Another problem is the mind set of today’s juveniles. They think, “I’m a kid. I can’t get in that much trouble. No one’s going to send me away.” Then they get themselves in trouble. Balanced parenting and open relationships between, parents, peers, and kids will help keep today’s youth out of trouble.

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Megan Mann <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 21.3333px; text-align: center;">With violent video games and TV shows, texting and the internet, juveniles have access to many violent tools. With these tools available though, these kids need some common sense! When a child kills another child or adult, they need to understand the damage they have just created. The real world is not like //Call of Duty// when you come back to life after someone shoots. Juveniles need to figure out reality is not one giant video game. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 21.3333px; text-align: center;">I can’t stress enough how much being responsible and interacting makes a difference. Whether you’re a parent, foster parent, or step parent, even though it seems like your kid always “hates” you, it’s not always true. You may be trying to be an active participant in their lives, but they don’t understand this will make a difference later on. Another reason kids could be getting in trouble is they don’t think it will affect them later on. If a child practices or believes in something “greater” than who we are, it may benefit them. Practicing a religion usually gives people a conscious or some sort of self-worth to keep themselves out of trouble. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 21.3333px; text-align: center;">Another important aspect of charging juveniles is how to correct the problem. Putting a 10 year-old in jail with a bunch of grown men serving “life” is just going to scare the kid. Obviously, kids with psych issues need to be put in safe secure places, where they will be able to make a successful recovery. There are times though, when juveniles should be detained more strictly. For example, when an older child commits a more serious crime they should be “locked up.” <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 21.3333px; text-align: center;">Kids should take criminal situations seriously and use bad examples to make good decisions.