Little Adult Criminals free essay sample

In â€Å"Little Adult Criminals† the New York Times Editorial argues that even though some violent crimes are more serious, minors should be tried in a juvenile court system rather than in an adult court system. To help persuade the audience to see the point of view the author uses two of the three rhetorical appeals, which are logos and pathos. The New York Times Editorial uses logos to convince the audience by using some examples, statistics and supportive facts to the argument that is being made, and pathos is used to persuade the audience to see the point of view by appealing to their emotions against children being sentenced to adult prison. The rhetorical appeal that was mainly used in this article is logos, which convinces the audience by using examples, statistics and supportive facts about children being sent to adult prison. Logos is first used in the beginning of the article when introducing Lionel Tate, a 14 year old boy who was convicted of first degree murder for beating his 6 year old friend to death when he was 12 years old and he was sentenced to prison for life without parole and his mother did not accept the bargain of three years in a juvenile facility with 10 years of probation. We will write a custom essay sample on Little Adult Criminals or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Logos is once again used in the example of Nathaniel Brazill, who is a 13 year old boy that was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison because he shot his teacher for not letting him back into the class room after he was suspended for throwing water balloons and when he received his sentence from the judge his response back was, â€Å"Not too bad†. This case left people wondering whether discipline would have change the outcome if he had not lived in an environment where access to a gun or any weapon was easy. The examples that are used shows the audience that the New York Times Editorial does have valid and credible facts. The New York Times Editorial continues to use logos when they state that according to the medical research that has been done recently, the brain is not fully developed in teenage years so although a 17 year old repeat offender does have a conscience of what they are doing, a 12 year old however does not fully comprehend what they are doing or what the consequences would be for their action so a child should not be sentenced to serve time in an adult prison because they do not have the â€Å"emotional maturity† to control themselves. This article could have been more effective with logos if the medical research included the age in which the brain has fully developed. The logos that have been used gave examples of the two crimes done by minors and the punishment they received for their actions as well as a medical research that has been done proving that children under the age of 14 do not completely understand what they do and cannot control their impulses. The New York Times Editorial uses logos again when they note that, in the case of 13 year old Nathaniel Brazill, even the Governor Jeb Bush states that â€Å"There should be a sensitivity to the fact that a 14-year-old is not a little adult† therefore he should not have been tried as an adult and some of the jurors rethought the case and whether the boys should have been tried in a juvenile court instead of an adult court. Juvenile courts rarely ever have instances when it was necessary for a minor to be transferred to an adult court for instance if a 17 year old were to commit a violent premeditated crime Pathos is used to persuade the audience through their emotions and to demonstrate that juveniles should not be placed in adult prison or tried as adults because by placing a 12 year old child in an adult prison for half or most of their life would be to give up on them so instead of placing them in adult facilities they could be placed in a juvenile facility where they can go through counseling, rehabilitation and other services so that if they get out then they will not most likely become criminals again. The pathos used in this article was good because it is sad for young children such as Nathaniel Brazill and Lionel Tate to be sentenced to adult prison at the `age of 12 and 13 years old. The logos could have been more effective is the medical research would have given more information as far as when the brain fully develops and how developed it is at the age of 12 or 13 years old. There is no ethos used in this article but if there was it would be used to give credibility to the argument that is being made. There was no point in time where the author made a connection with the article and himself. The New York Times Editorial does an insufficient job at arguing the point of view in this article. It is not well balanced between the three rhetorical appeals because although it is strong in logos and good in pathos it lacks ethos completely. Although there are flaws in the article and it lacks ethos the argument that juveniles should not be placed in an adult facility or judged in an adult court but should be in a juvenile facility where they can be counseled and go through rehabilitation and other things to help them is convincing. The logos could be more effective if more information about the medical research was included or if there was another example of a juvenile criminal but the logos that was used gave good examples of the two boys who committed murder and were sentenced to adult prison for life. The New York Times Editorial brings the idea that juveniles should go to juvenile prison and once they become of age their case should be reviewed and if It calls for it then they be transferred to adult prison to the attention of the audience. The pathos could be more effective if it focused more on how young kids have easy access to guns and weapons of any kind and if it talked more about young kids being in an adult prison are more likely to become lifelong criminals than if they were in a juvenile prison because in a juvenile prison they have things that they offer to help counsel but in an adult prison it is very different. The article itself was well written but it was not very well balanced so although it was still a little convincing it was not very effective.