How many times have you been somewhere and heard a teenager arguing with his parents saying, "Why do you treat me like a kid?" We all know that teenagers want to be treated like adults when it comes to responsibility and freedom, but when it comes to facing the consequences of their actions when they commit something bad, including murder, they don't want to accept them. Teens want to be treated like adults. When a child is able to pull out a gun, point it at someone, and pull the trigger, they should be able to suffer the same consequences. Teens need to be held accountable for what they do; they know they can get a free ride until they turn 18 with just a little community service. Adolescents over the age of 14 should be held accountable for their actions with the death penalty. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In 2007, juvenile courts across the country handled 4,500 criminal homicides. We are told that children kill because they grew up in poverty; however, poverty does not cause crime, crime causes poverty. Juveniles commit crimes because they choose to. They must be held accountable for their actions. If a teenager is capable of pointing a gun at someone and knows what they are doing, they should be able to bear the consequences. Some people think that the death penalty for teenagers is wrong and that they should be given a second chance, but why give another chance to teenagers who are committing the same crimes as other people older than them? Some people say, "I don't think children should be executed because they are shaped by the environment they grew up in. If they grew up in an environment where all they saw was dad beating mommy, they will most likely grow up thinking that violence is a way of showing love. I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished, they should, but I think the death penalty is too harsh. In fact, I think the death penalty is not a punishment at all, but just one easy way out.” Teenagers should sit in prison and think about what they did. The death penalty is just a way to not have to think about what happened. We can't afford to invest the money of our taxes into killing people when we could pay a lot less and just let them sit in prison and think about what they did. Once a teenager kills someone with little to no punishment, they win. Don't be afraid to do it again. A teenager is fully developed physiologically only when he is over 10 years old. Even after a child turns 10, he or she is not yet mature enough to take responsibility for what he or she has done until the age of 13 or 14. 14 year olds must be punished for what they did. It's not fair that adults pay the price, but teenagers don't for committing the exact same crimes. I agree that the death penalty is very harsh, but at the same time, when someone's life is taken away in a split second, it is very hard on that person's family. Most of the time the killer has no understanding and all they think about is how not to get caught in the act they just committed. Murder is not something that kids should find interesting, but sometimes things repeat themselves because teenagers need attention. Remember the day of the Columbine shooting? It was a hasty murder..