Take a position on weather a 12-year old should be treated in the same way as an adult for committing a crime.
             If a 12 year old is put behind bars, how can he become a functional member of society upon his release? How will he create a positive lifestyle for himself? The real question is: How can he turn in any direction other than that of crime? He simple will not be able to. If a child is sent to a prison to stay in a cell for hours at a time, the only life he will know is the life he came from, not the life that could be his.
             The goal of juvenile detention should be to rehabilitate and develop the individual. Appropriate educational skills need to be taught. Children need to be put in touch with their feeling through counseling. Juvenile offenders need to be exposed to role models from within their community and without. A sense of hope should be instilled so that the young offender is not resigned to the fate of a "this is all I will ever be anyways." More important than efforts to rehabilitate the offender would be programs to prevent the juvenile from committing crimes to begin with.
             Keyshawn Johnson, a wide receiver for the NFL's New York Jets, recently said, "People hate to say it, but what you are around is what you're going to be. At 13 years old and you're around crime, you're going to be a criminal." For this reason, prevention efforts must involve the entire community, including schools, faith-based organizations, business, law enforcement and most importantly, the parents. If parents are unable to properly educate their kids, then programs need to be developed to train the parents.
             It is imperative that our federal government set a tone and send the message that juveniles who are exposed to the law are entitled to protections not available to adults. Rehabilitation, not long-term imprisonment, should be the goal, and prevention now is preferable to punishment later. Many juveniles are arrested every year and it...