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Question: Are minors punished the same as adults if they commit murder?

Answer: It depends. Arizona Law (ARS §13-501) states that kids over 15 that commit 1st or 2nd degree murder are automatically tried in adult court. If the minor is 14, the county attorney has discretion to charge in adult court. If the minor is younger than 14, the state can still try to charge the minor as an adult, but they must first go through a transfer hearing and it is a judge who finally decides.

There are four basic types of homicide in Arizona:

Negligent homicide (ARS §13-1102);

Manslaughter (ARS §13-1103);

Second degree murder (ARS §13-1104); and

First degree murder (ARS §13-1105).

The circumstances surrounding the homicide and state of mind of the defendant create the distinctions.The most serious offenses are first and second degree murder.

If the minor is young enough and the circumstances warrant it, (there are enough mitigating factors) a minor who remains in juvenile court would have consequences until his/her 18th birthday. Arizona Law (ARS §8-341 - §8-342 - §8-343) lists the consequences which a juvenile court judge can impose.

If the minor is tried and found guilty in adult court, the sentencing statute states the punishment shall be the same as that for an adult (life imprisonment, life without parole, or the death penalty are the usual punishments for first degree murder (ARS §13-703)). However, if the defendant was under the age of 16 when the offense occurred, the death penalty is not available. See Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 US 815 (1988).

The punishment for second degree murder can be found at ARS §13-710. All other homicides' punishments are determined by the sentencing statutes ARS §13-604, ARS §13-701, ARS §13-702, ARS §13-702.1, ARS §13-702.2
Comments
26 thru 30 of 76 comments
On 07/23/03
Chardae from NY said:
I agree that kids 11-17 should be on probation but what about kids under the age of 11
On 05/08/03
Brian from CT said:
I am a kid myself, and I could just imagine what could happen when you go into jail with a full grown adult. In my perspective, I believe that kids should not go into jail with adults. There are rapists, murderers, anything that you could think of is in the jail. The murderes and all did most of the stuff to a full grown adult. Just imagine what could happen to a young kid, imagine how the kid will be scared for life, and probaly wont want to leave his house ever. If the supreme court and everyone else wants to put kids in jail with adults then why not put women with the men. I did some f
On 05/07/03
Brian from CT said:
I think that was dumb, just imagine what could happen with kids going to jail with adults, it is like feeding them to the lions. Or like putting women with men.
On 04/30/03
ariel from CA said:
I think that teens 11-17 should be put on pobation then at the age of 18 be tried as an adult for the crime they commited.Some teens only do what they know and thats the sort of stuff that they have grown up with, violence.
On 04/10/03
Lexi from PA said:
Though capital punishment (execution) is never justified, trying minors as adults, for crimes they committed with the intellectual acuity of an adult, is justified in every respect.
26 thru 30 of 76 comments


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