“el submit that an individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.†A seventeen-year-old male by the name of Christopher Simians and two of his friends viciously murdered a women by breaking and entering her home, tying her up and tossing her off a bridge into the Meramic River.
Luckily, Simmons confessed to the murder and was sentenced with life without the possibility of parole. This disturbing tragedy is known as the Roper vs. Simmons case. If children below the age of 18 commit a serious crime, should they be tried and convicted as adults? Or juveniles? “Non violence†as always Dr. king stated with enthusiasm.
If the great Martin Luther King were alive today, he would address the fact that when a crime is committed, juveniles have to be treated as adults to teach them the seriousness of all criminal activity. Also, he would encourage the youth to stay in school and to get involved in extra circular activities instead of watching television or playing video games in which could be a bad influence. Dr. king would be disappointed that the world has so much violence when he protested non-violence.
It probably would be an even bigger disappointment to Dr. king that 60% of an estimated 900 juveniles who have been tried and convicted as adults and are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole are African Americans. Dr. King might believe these issues are important because just as the saying goes†donâ€TMt do the crime, if you canâ€TMt pay the timeâ€. Juveniles are too immature to think about their actions before they act. So it leaves them in a situation that may change their lives forever. “eln justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere†for instance Eric and his bestfriend Justin came home early from a half day of school, Justin plays the video game while Eric decides to take a brief nap on the couch. After a while of playing the video game, Justin get up grabs a gun and points it to Ericâ€TMs head. He pulls the trigger then not thinking of the consequences in a blink of an eye, Ericâ€TMs head starting smoking. Eric died at the hospital. When Justin pulled the trigger he knew that what he did was not right.
Dr. King might think these issues are important because sometimes people know what they are doing is not right but they do it anyway. Some people may disagree and say that juveniles should not be tried and convicted as adults because they might not be able to defend themselves or that the punishment might be too harsh. By the child being so young, they donâ€TMt understand the seriousness of the crime that they have committed. The resources that would be available to Dr. King today to accomplish his goals would be the Internet, newspapers, and via satellite. So the question is should juveniles be tried and convicted as adults? And the answer is yes.
