Kids are not adults! And trying them as adults is both inhumane and ineffective
By Liz Ryan
Children. They’re not like us.
Once again the Supreme Court has ruled that the age of 18 is a defining line between childhood and adulthood, and that children should not receive the same punishment as adults. The decision laid the foundation for states to reexamine their laws on prosecuting kids as adults.
Jordan Brown, 11 years old at the time, was certainly not an adult last year when he is alleged to have fatally shot Kenzie Houk, 26, with a 20-gauge shotgun as she slept in the New Beaver farmhouse they shared. Now 12, he can’t vote, drink alcohol, get married, enlist in the armed services or make medical decisions for himself. He’s not an adult, but he is being treated as one by the Pennsylvania criminal justice system.