They Grow Up Fast

I'm currently studying adolescent development for a study on the juvenile justice system in my state. The material I'm reading is a fascinating look at how brain development during adolescence molds kids from mental incompentents in terms of judgment and reason to full adults. It becomes all the more interesting in the context of the justice system, because in the more serious cases, the desire is to punish youth like adults.

Two years ago, a 15-year-old kid took his father's pistol to school and murdered two people. He killed one kid on accident, and then chased down a second and shot him in the head in cold blood. I don't deny the murder was heinous, but the question is whether or not this kid really deserves the life sentence he received last week.

One study in particular I've read shows that the last part of the brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for judgment, reasoning, and impulse control. New research shows that this area doesn't fully develop until humans reach their mid-20s. The fascinating connection to criminal justice is that judgment, reasoning, and impulse control are key tools to both avoid criminal activity and to being competent to stand trial. So if a 15-year-old kid commits a horrible crime, there are two serious questions:
1) Did he know better or was he developmentally capable of controlling himself?
2) Is he competent to stand trial and is he as culpable as a fully developed adult for the murder?

I feel like this kid's sentence was a political thing. He ran someone down and shot them in the forehead - the gruesome nature of the crime insured he'd stand trial as an adult whether or not his brain really makes him one. If he'd been sentenced in juvenile court, he'd have received treatment, done time for community service, gone through therapy, and had a second chance at life at age 21. Instead, he can't get parole until 57.

One commentator on juvenile court says that the reason we even have a juvenile court system is that kids deserve a chance to emerge from their juvenile delinquency with their "life chances intact." I know that the two dead kids won't get their chance, but will two wrongs make a right?