Shamirah Jones

“When you commit murder, you should be tried as an adult because you committed an adult murder. And they don’t need to be with 50 or 60 year olds, but somewhere that is age-appropriate; where older adults will not make them more of a harder criminal. I feel that young people who commit murder make it bad for our community. If only they could join places like Walk By Faith. They help us to open up. We can talk about our situation and understand what is going on in our community.”

 

Sharika Nunnery:

“No, I don’t feel youth should be charged as adults because they are not adults. They may have trouble at home. Or they are angry because they don’t get attention, don’t have love or anyone to help them to do the right thing.”

 

LeMara Rutledge

“I think they should go to a different prison than adults because they are still a teenager. They can transfer them when they become 21 years or older. But some people don’t understand what children are going through. There is a lot of peer pressure. If more young people came to Walk By Faith they could teach them all about doing the right thing. If more young people came to Walk By Faith, they could teach them all about doing the right thing.”

 

Samara Lynch:

“I don’t think a child should be tried as an adult because you don’t know what promoted them to do what they did. Sometimes children can’t be accountable for their actions. They need love and support from an adult. And he or she might have problems at home and you don’t know what they are going through.”

 

Amanda Morris

“No, they should be someplace where they can get better training. I think they should be punished if they commit murder, but they also need help to find out why they did this. They also need training so that they can be productive people as they get older and won’t make the same mistakes again.”