When are teens, or even 10-year-olds, charged as adults in PA?

Joel D. Smith, CBS 21 •

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — It’s like a judicial magic trick. According to the law, teens automatically turn into adults as soon as they commit the worst crimes.

Internationally, the United Nations' Committee on the Rights of the Child says that the age of 14 should be the absolute minimum age to punish a teen, citing a decade of new research into child and adolescent development. Yet in Pennsylvania, that minimum is set at 10 years old.

There’s a push to change that and the punishment in Pennsylvania as well, but what’s fair when we are talking about teens who are killers?

Richard Brown, the CEO of Men United Standing Together, works at Breaking the Chainz, a place in Harrisburg that helps recently released inmates acclimate to society. He says the teens of Harrisburg know they can’t be punished at the same level as adults.

However, when we asked Brown if these kids know that for major crimes, that they can be “charged as adults," Brown said that they did. He says there is a bigger issue to consider with crimes like first-degree murder.

“At that point, and at that stage, when they get to that level of not caring about the crime? You best believe they don’t care about the consequences," Brown said.

Not caring about the consequences or not fully understanding them? That answer is at the root of this issue.

The Juvenile Law Center points to the latest data on brain development that shows teens are not the same as adults when it comes to decision making. Tiara Greene is an attorney with the Juvenile Law Center. She said, "Youth are youth and should be treated as youth.”

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About the Expert

Tiara Greene is a staff attorney at Juvenile Law Center who joined the organization in January 2021. She advocates for the rights of youth in the juvenile justice system through litigation, amicus and policy advocacy efforts. Prior to joining Juvenile Law Center, Tiara's legal practice involved labor and employment litigation practice, as well as global date privacy compliance.