Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a novel about many things, including survival. By the time the boys are rescued from the island, many of them have done things for which they could be punished when they return to civilization. Though it is true the boys are all young, even the youngest of them understands the difference between right and wrong and knows that killing someone is not acceptable behavior. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why not to punish the boys when they return to their "normal" lives. First, none of the boys (with the possible exception of Roger) should be officially punished in a court of law. The oldest among them is thirteen, and most of the awful things they did were done collectively. Roger is the exception …show more content…
The guilt of participating in, watching, or failing to stop a murder is punishment enough for any of them. Next, the case can be made that the boys have learned their lessons about doing harm to others. If you choose, you can suggest that the boys not be punished but somehow monitored for the next ten years or so. If any of them again exhibit any savage behavior, they may then be dealt with as the court sees fit. One argument that supports the idea that the boys should be punished for the deaths of Simon and Piggy is that certain boys were fully aware that their actions and involvement in the deaths of the two characters. Every boy on the island participated in the murder of Simon, and Piggy was fully aware of his participation. Ralph and Samneric try to justify their actions and deny responsibility, but they are conscious of what they've done to Simon. Although the boys did not intentionally kill Simon, they are still guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter consists of intentionally killing someone, but the killing is accompanied by additional circumstances. The most common type of voluntary manslaughter involves extreme provocation that induces rage or terror and is sometimes described as a "heat of passion" killing. Simon's murder would fall under this category. The boys were engaged in a ceremonial
During juvenile court proceedings, three teenage boys admit to sexually assaulting Audrie and possessing photos of the assault--both felonies. As a result, two of the boys are sentenced to thirty days in juvenile detention to be served on weekends, and the other receives a sentence to serve forty-five consecutive days in juvenile detention. Because the assailants are considered minors at the time of the crime, they are not publicly identified, and their convictions remain concealed.
The cases of Lionel Tate, and brothers Derek and Alex King bring into focus the problems that society has in addressing how to handle criminal cases involving deadly violence by under-age juveniles. Lionel Tate, a 12 year old in Florida was convicted of killing a 6-year-old playmate while Alex and Derek King, 12 and 13 years old respectively, were convicted of killing their father. Interestingly, Lionel Tate, who happens to be black, was sentenced to life in prison while the King boys, who are white, both received minimal terms.
These four boys were too young to understand the depth of the consequences and the risk of their actions. According to Harper Collins of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “The brains of adolescents are more likely to act on impulse and engage in dangerous or risky behaviors”(Teen Behavior). Blake and Jose were 16, Levi was 17, Anthony was 18, and Danzele was 21. Danzele was killed during the crime and he was the oldest. Although Anthony was
The kids were running around trying kill the beast. Simone was running in the forest alone and in the dark. The kids were chanting and one boy pointed at Simon running saying that he was the beast and the kids ran and killed him. When the boys realized who it was it was too late, Simon was dead. Ralph believed that it was a murder but Piggy believed that it was an accident. In my opinion Simon’s death was not a murder. The boys did not intentionally kill Simon’e so to me that's not murder. The boys have justification, they stuck on an island trying to protect themselves
These problems can be reduced, if they are treated as minors. How can they be treated as minors, if they committed actions of an adult? Juveniles just can’t commit their actions, and expect to be reformed, and changed and given a new identity, that is not how the system should work. The system should depend on allowing juveniles to accept the punishment, and be tried as an adult. They may be minors, but they didn’t act like a minor while committing the crime, they acted like an adult. By acting like an adult, their excused shouldn’t be lowered, the consequences should rise, because their actions affected the victim, and the family, but it should be excusable for the parent to remorse and forgive, but it should also be acceptable that if a juvenile commits the crime, they deserve the remorse, they deserve the forgiveness, but lastly after being forgiven they deserve the
Much controversy exists on the question of whether a juvenile criminal should be punished to the same extent as an adult. Those who commit capitol crimes, including adolescents, should be penalized according to the law. Age should not be a factor in the case of serious crimes. Many people claim that the child did not know any better, or that he was brought up with the conception that this behavior is acceptable. Although there is some truth to these allegations, the reality of this social issue is far more complex. Therefore we ask the question, Should childhood offenders of capitols crimes be treated as adults?
Children are supposed to be innocent beings. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, they are the exact opposite. William Golding writes about how the children on the island are, at first, civil and everything is in order. As the story goes on, things start to slowly change. Many things start going wrong and the children start resorting to savagery. William Golding suggests that the longer a group is removed from civilization, the more savage their behaviour becomes.
We can all learn from our own mistakes. Juveniles should not be tried as adults as they are easily influenced by violence activity around them, their mind set is not fully developed, and they can become better consciousness members of society Juveniles should not be tried as adults as they are easily influenced by violence activity. Juveniles capture different bad habits from family members and other kids that surround them. Violence is endorsed and can be easily captured onto a child's mind and therefore can be put in play in a little scenario later down the road. For example, in the article Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes, the author reveals, “...
In the novel Lord of the flies by William Golding has many interesting meaning behind his book. The two main meanings of lord of the flies are that anyone can be corrupted, and that society doesn't help you. Both of these things are prevalent and there are many examples to this. Golding in this novel shows how anyone in certain circumstances can be corrupted. The boys in the beginning of the book are just playing and having a good time, but when they run out of food and they need to hunt which starts the blood lust “less a hunter than a furtive thing”(Golding 49). When the boys started the bloodlust, they Turned into savages, which ended up with murdering two kids. In the book these kids when they first got to the island didn't take anything
In Twin Falls, Idaho, three boys have pleaded guilty to felonies in a case that drew national attention. A 5-year old girl was sexually assaulted on June 2, 2016. This took place inside a laundry room in Fawnbook Apartments. One of the boys recorded the whole scene, and even showed it to his parents. Rumors say that the parent celebrated with the boys. The youngest boy was alleged to have touched the girl. The older boys were accused of using a cellphone to record a video of the incident. All three boys were detained; the youngest boy was 7 years old from Iraq. The other two are brothers from Africa, ages 10 and 14. The girl was held at knife point while being raped by the boys.
Furthermore, I believe these boys were a combination of both, born to become criminals and made criminals in a distinctive way. They were born into these criminal attributes by having abusive fathers in the house, or not having fathers present in their lives at all. Moreover, the society in
The boy did commit the crime so he should face some punishment for his action however he should not treated as an adult because of the circumstance of his age. It can be assuming
Serious crimes such as murder, burglary and rape have raised questions as to whether the young offenders should face severe punitive treatment or the normal punitive measures in juvenile courts. Many would prefer the juveniles given harsh punishment in order to discourage other young people from engaging in similar activities and to serve as a lesson to these particular offenders. However, results from previous studies indicate such punitive measures were neither successful nor morally acceptable. Instead, the solutions achieved have unfairly treated the youths and compromised the society status (Kristin, page 1).
This case obviously had a major sociological aspect to it. For the jurisdiction was based on whether these two boys knew the difference between good and bad and whether they were truly aware of the consequences of their actions. At the age of 10, a child cannot be held accountable by law for crime because their brain hasn't fully developed the capacity to determine that they're doing is wrong. This fact alone had a major impact on their punishment at the end of the trial. From one perspective they are too young technically, to know what they did was wrong but from another what they did was so wrong that it is impossible they were not aware of consequences that would result from their actions. “The innocence of childhood has finally come of age. [...] Britain in 1993, this was a prophecy which, at last, seemed to have come true through the violent murder of one child by 2 others.” The nation of England had much to say on this matter and within a few days everyone had an opinion on whether these boys were innocent or truly guilty for their actions. On the day of the trial there were many riots in the streets pleading that they were to be determined guilty and demanding for proper punishment. The original decision was a punishment of five years in a juvenile detention center but was later extended until the 18th birthdays. Thus meaning until their adult age before law. this comp the population slightly but they were still greatly upset and these boys had handcuffed of bullying within their schools. English citizens the man to Justice and just 8 years in the juvenile detention center was not enough for
The crime committed by the three boys; Lorenzo, Michael Sullivan, Tommy, and John were not an act of intentional crime. It was an impulsive adolescent joke that went wrong. Such behavior is expected from young teenage boys. The juvenile delinquency act is associated with a person who is under 19 and commits a crime and would be charged as if he/she were an adult. This act would have dealt with this situation according to different types of judgments. Depending on race, sex, and most of all if the crime is observed to be repetitive or if it’s a misconduct that was committed due to normative adolescent behavior. Since these boys did not deliberately plan and have a motive in this crime, it would be believed to be a norm in behavior due to