The United States sentences more juveniles to death than any other country in the world (Justice, 2009) and our juveniles are sentenced as young as ten years old. These are minors being tried as adults, and something needs to change, and change quickly. The younger generation is supposed to be our future leaders. How will our youth or the citizens of this country prevail if this continues, we will not be able to do that because most of our future leaders will be prisoners. (B, 2005) The United States made legal history in 1989 when the world's first juvenile court opened in Chicago (Rank, J.). Since 1990, many states have also adopted a “tougher” approach to juvenile justice in response to increasing violence. crimes committed by children. Juvenile delinquency reached an all-time high, then began to decline in 1995 when television images, such as one from Springfield, Oregon, showed the rampage of 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, who shot both his parents then on two of his classmates. American citizens feel that juvenile delinquency is out of control. (Levinson) Today, juveniles are prosecuted far more than adults in adult courts. Of our fifty states, "twelve currently set sixteen as the minimum age for prosecuting juveniles, four states set the age at 17, and fifteen states (including the federal government) require that the offender be eighteen to be sentenced to the death penalty.” (Monroe, 2009) States that do not specify a minimum age for prosecuting a minor can sentence anyone aged sixteen and over to death. The main idea is to see if it is really fair to prosecute a minor as an adult knowing that his mental capacities are not those of an adult. (Levinson) Since 2003, many states have...... middle of paper ......tics: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/ezaucr/asp/ucr_display.aspRank, J. ( nd). Juvenile rights. Retrieved 08/14/2010 from Juvenile Law-Trying Juveniles as Adults: http://law.jrank.org/pages/7957/Juvenile-Law-Trying-Juveniles-Adults.htmlSteinberg, AP (2005). Model of change. Retrieved 8 14, 2010, from Juvenile Justice Reform: http://www.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7Bb0386ce3-8b29-4162-8098-e466fb856794%7D/WILLINGNESSTOPAYFINAL.PDFStrieb, VL ( 2005). Crime on.com. Accessed 8 14 2010 on about.com: http://crime.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=crime&cdn=newsissues&tm=316&f=10&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http % 3A//www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php%3Fdid%3D204%26scid%3D27Taylor, A. (February 2003). The International Child and Youth Protection Network. Retrieved August 14, 2010 from CYC Online: http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0203-offenders.html