By LILLYAN NAREZ
Staff Writer
Have you ever had a murderous thought, not premeditated murder, but a thought of “Oh my gosh I wanna kill you right now;” thought? Lots of people think of this as a common thought process. However, the juvenile crime rate has gone up tremendously. In 2020 about 60,000 minors were incarcerated in juvenile facilities. This doesn’t include the miners that were tried and charged as adults, leaving the rest of humanity with the main question… What happens to your mental state? Why did you choose to murder them or was it accidental? Maybe premeditated even?
Only those who were incarcerated really know the motives or unintentional events behind what happened. Of course, the caseworkers know the verdict, but when a minor is sent to an adult facility, does their mental trauma continue?
Researchers show that the brain isn’t fully developed till age 30-32. Keep in mind those of the 60,000 were all juveniles (age 10-17). Meaning their brains are near 33% – 55% developed. Leaving at least an extra 45% of development to go. Mentally everyone else in an adult institution is more likely to be aware of their doings.
It might surprise most; Rape is approximately 4% higher for boys and 3.6% higher for girls in juvenile prisons than in adult prisons. If you were a parent and your child was getting incarcerated what would you do?