The week's reflection paper references the 2021 Oxford High School shooting.

As part of our review of family law, we considered (albeit briefly) children and the juvenile court system. This week's assignment tasks US with reflecting on your personal beliefs and opinions related to juvenile justice.

Just this week, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the Oxford High School shooter, were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison following their own respective convictions for involuntary manslaughter. Previously, in late 2023, Ethan Crumbley pled guilty to 24 seperate felony counts related to the shooting that resulted in the deaths of 4 high school students and the injury of 7 others.

The shooting occurred on November 30, 2021. At that time, Ethan Crumbley was 15 years old. More information regarding the judicial proceedings can be found hereLinks to an external site..

For this Reflection Paper, you are tasked with exploring and critically evaluating whether you think juvenile offenders should be treated like adults by the criminal justice system. In support of your position on this difficult topic, perform some research on juvenile offenders and the juvenile justice system. Your research and reflection does not need to be from a purely 'legal' standpoint, I encourage you to incorporate morality, ethics, sociology, psychology, and evidence from other fields if you are inclined to do so.

This isn't an easy question and I'm not looking for a correct answer. I'm looking for your opinion, supported by research you have peformed, on whether juvenile offenders should be treated like adults. If so, when and why? If not, why not?

the reflection paper should describe opinions and observations that are personal to you.