Nonfiction Article Reading Response

Reading Response to Rethinking Juvenile Justice

            In the article from Upfront Magazine, many states are rethinking the old trend of treating juvenile offenders the same way as adult criminals. Many juvenile justice experts think that the old system of punishment is too harsh on juvenile offenders. After reading the article, I agree with them; punishing juvenile offenders the same as adults is too harsh.

            If a juvenile offender is sent to jail with other adults, they can be immediately freaked out when locked up with hardened criminals. Some of these young offenders are punished for acts that were unintentional. The article mentions scientific research that shows what a person does at our age 13 or 14, is not a good indication of what kind of adult that child will become. In the article, Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia states, “Ninety percent of teen offenders do not become adult criminals.” If this is true, stupid acts done by teen offenders are not likely to be repeated as an adult.

            As a teenager, I’ve witnessed my peers do questionable things, such as pranks or dare one another, yet I know they have another side to them that is the complete opposite. Many adults often tell children about their childhoods, and all the stupid things they’ve done and sometimes regret. However, many of the adults who are open to speaking about these events are the same adults we look up to and spend time with. The same adults are now taking care of children. There’s a big difference in maturity between the adult to who takes care of another person, and children who aren’t responsible for the care of others. We usually need to look upon others to take care of us.  Every adult was once a child, and most were less mature and responsible then they might be.

            As we all know, nobody wants to go to jail, because jail is supposed to be scary and harsh a place to stay away from. When we think of jail, we usually imagine crazy adults who might have killed someone on purpose, but not teenagers with the same bad intentions. Being a young human with fears, you wouldn’t want jail as a part of your childhood experience. All punishments given to adults are supposed to “teach them a harsh lesson” that they have to pay for the consequences. However seeing children being treated the same terrible way makes you wonder why they have to feel the same pain as an adult who is supposed to have planned a crime knowing it was wrong, whereas a child might not have intended to hurt someone else on purpose. Should children be punished for something they did possibly not want to happen? The article also said that adolescents have more potential to correct their behavior than adults.

            By changing these laws nationwide, I think this will make our system of punishment fairer towards juvenile offenders in terms of being given what they deserve. Punishing someone isn’t wrong if they purposely did something bad, but if the crime was unintentional, why should they be treated the same way? It was the right decision for the Supreme Court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional for juvenile offenders in 2005 and in 2012, to bar mandatory life sentences without parole for anyone committing a crime before turning 18.

Edited Cinder Reading Response

How different are people allowed to be in this text? Does it assume everyone is happy and good in the same ways?

           In the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer, all the characters are portrayed as being forced to be certain people fulfilling certain positions, even if they don’t desire it. The people and circumstances around them have labeled them in certain ways that may not even be accurate. The characters struggle to come to terms with what is expected and who their true personality really is, even if that is different from what other people want to see them as.

            Cinder is often overlooked by many people because of her background as a cyborg and Lunar. Many people are afraid of cyborgs, while Lunars are known to be evil because of their special abilities to mind control others. Because she is a cyborg, this makes her stand out as different from everyone else, and they treat her badly. For example, her neighbors stay away from her and warn their children about her too, despite Cinder sharing human-like feelings. Because she is labeled different, she is seen as bad. People think that all cyborgs are not human and all Lunars are evil in the same ways, even though Cinder is actually different from these stereotypes. Before she finds out she’s one of them, even Cinder thinks Lunars are evil: “Superstitions nonsense, but then everything about Lunars was eerie and superstitious.” (Meyer, 43) She is treated like a group, not an individual.

             Another example of a character in a forced position in the book is Prince Kai. Due to a major outbreak of a disease known as the plague, Kai’s father, Emperor Rikan, passes away, forcing Prince Kai to take his place as emperor. Before he died, Rikan proposed marriage to the queen of Luna, Queen Levana, in order to seal the treaty with the Lunars after being threatened many times with starting a war. Kai’s new role and responsibilities are summed up by what the royal advisor tells Kai: “’Your Majesty, with all due respect, you no longer have the luxury of being a lovesick teenager. You have a duty to fulfill to your people now.’ ” (Meyer, 348) Although Kai just wants to live a normal teenager’s life, he is thrust into following his father’s footsteps. He feels like he lost his childhood because of this, and doesn’t have the same abilities to do things he used to do when he was just a prince; he isn’t allowed to be himself anymore. Even though many people would probably think it is great being Emperor, it doesn’t make Kai happy.

            Many of these characters wish to be someone else, in a different position in their lives; however there’s always someone or something that forces them to be something other than they want to be. They all have their own personalities and wishes, but it is a constant struggle for them to find a way to project it. Everyone feels self- conscious about how others will think of them within their true personality. However, really as long as we’re all happy with who we are, it doesn’t matter what another person thinks.