research paper

Matt Cleary

Mrs. Zurkowski

Greens

1 October 2010

Title

            Many kids waste their lives in jails with adult sentences. They don’t learn anything and are stuck with a bunch of adult criminals. When they come out of jail they don’t have anything to help them get a job so they are most likely on the streets fending for themselves in adulthood and most likely end up in jail again. Too many kids under 18 are being tried and sentenced as adults.

            A lot of kids get life sentences for something an adult would get a life sentence for. They miss their lives, childhood, and are living with adults. They don’t get to have regular friends their age and don’t get to play and have fun. There are alternative punishments like juvenile school. This is where the kids that have gotten in trouble go to a locked up school with other kids and then go home with their parents at night.

            Kids under 18 should never get a life sentence. They should always get a second chance. Why would you want to lock kids up in jail for their life? Their brains have not fully developed and they might not know what they are doing. Most children deeply regret the things they did that were wrong right after they did it. A lot of kids also become better people if they get a second chance and they see the kindness in other people’s hearts (juvenile justice bulletin).

            A solution for people who think kids should still be punished is a juvenile school. I know I have said it before but it’s a good idea. A kid named Bob Beaman ran away, robed people, and stole from them. His grand mom took the blame for him so he wouldn’t get in as much trouble.  He still had to suffer for what he did so they put him in a juvenile prison for a couple years. He became an Olympic long jumper and set a world record. If he was put in a real jail for a couple years he wouldn’t be able to be who he is (juvenile justice bulletin).

            Some people think that they should still be in jail no matter what age they are because they did something bad. All I have to say to that is what if it was your child wouldn’t you want to see your child in your house every night, be able to go upstairs and say good night to them every night without having to say it through a mike.

            Some people also say that they don’t want dangerous kids running around causing mischief and doing whatever they want. The thing is there are some kids who have good hearts and made a mistake. I agree that there are bad kids in the world with bad intentions but all we can do for them is try to help them and get them treatment like medicine and therapy. Most bad behaved kids have something going on in their lives with their parents or something like that.

In conclusion i think that all states should change their law so anyone under 18 years old is not allowed to go to an adult prison or have an adult sentence. Kids are getting too many life and adult sentences to often.

Works Cited

“second chances: giving kids a chance to make a better choice.” Juvenile Justice bulletin. May 2000: 1 – 28. Sirs Government reporter.web.01 Oct 2010

Questions

3 questions are

1. how does the court choose who to put in the jury.
2. Averagely how many crimes happen each year
3. how long does an average crime take to be prosecuted

Social Issue

Criminal Justice System

            One of the key issues in Black and White is The Criminal Justice System. In the book Marcus is treated differently than Eddie  because he is black. http://criminal.lawyers.com/blogs/archives/887-Racial-Discrimination-in-the-Criminal-Justice-System.html. Racism affects everything even though people say its gone. Especially in the criminal justice system. In how they select the juries, how the police handle their responsibilities, and how sentences are handed down.

Letter to Marcus

Dear Marcus,

            My name is Matt Cleary and I enjoyed reading about your story with Eddie. While you and Eddie were in New York, I was down here in Bel Air Maryland which is right down the coast from you. I know you had a busy summer and I had one to. I went to Cape May, which is on the southern tip of New Jersey and I also went to Ocean City Maryland which is where Hurricane Earl is hitting right now. I play drums and volleyball for John Carroll.

            I thought that the book was well written. I also thought that you did a good job fighting the Criminal Justice system. Even though you lost and clearly it wasn’t your fault, but you were still able to put up a good fight. I thought you did good in resisting the erge to actually take the gun and hold it on some one

            I thought that the book had a slow start in the beginning but it grew to become more interesting. As the book went on I grew to enjoy it more. So I think that the Arthur did a really good job on the book. You were very realistic in the book and this could happen in real life.

            I have a couple questions for you. How did it feel for you to go to jail and have Eddie to go free? Are you and Eddie still friends after all of this?

For the social issue you could write a book about it or become interested in the criminal justice system. You could get a job and tell everyone in the U.S what you think about it.

            Have a good rest of your life and I probably won’t ever see you. I hope you succeed in your fight against the criminal justice system and don’t do any .

Sincerely,

Matt Cleary

my unique profile

I currently go to the John Carroll School I play Volleyball and drums. I am also playing lacrosse


in the spring. I came from Saint James Academy in Monkton Maryland. I live in Bel Air

Maryland and have lived here all my life. I have a sister named Megan and she is ten. My

favorite movie is The Book of Eli I like to read the series the Last Apprentice by Joseph

Delaney. I play Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox and it is my favorite game. I've been to Cape May

and Ocean City recently. I have also been to Disney World 4 times.