May 25th, 2018, a 13-year-old student was a part of the Noblesville middle school shooting. He shot Jason Seamon and Ella Whistler who were both injured but luckily, nobody was killed. Because this student failed in his attempt to kill anybody, he was only sentenced to 5 years in juvenile detention. Despite the fact that he was unsuccessful, he still intended to kill as many people as possible that day and should have received a harsher punishment. It was also extremely unfair to the people who were injured that day because the time this student spends in jail will never compare to the lifelong trauma he left with everybody. Furthermore, the age for a minor to be tried as an adult is currently 15 years old and should be lowered because cases like this happen more often than people realize. courts should be allowed to sentence juveniles as adults. 

The first reason why juveniles should be able to be tried as adults is because they can cause people a lot of trauma and injuries that last a lifetime. In one example, it states “…She still talks about, is that when he gets out, he's going to come after her.”(Sikich 3). This alone shows how much trauma the boy left Ella Whistler with. She is constantly scared of what might happen to her when he gets out because if he was not successful in killing her the first time, what is stopping him from trying again? Since he was not tried as an adult, he might assume that his punishment will be the same and attempt to shoot Ella or anyone else again. This applies to any juvenile because if they are not punished the right way, then they could possibly make the same mistake. Following this, not only do juveniles give these people trauma, but they are also left with injuries. For instance, it mentions, “Seamon was shot 3 times disarming and detaining the shooter…” (Sikich 2). Seamons injuries will last much longer after the criminal is released and it is not fair to him that the shooter only has to be in jail for 5 years. It also says, “‘From a personal aspect, my pain and suffering will withstand long (after) the person who shot me will have his freedom and ability to be out in public again,’ Seamon said.” (Sikich 3).  This further shows that the victim will forever have to suffer with the scars and trauma while the criminal just gets to roam free after a few short years.

Additionally, most juveniles know exactly what they are doing. To be exact, the text claims, “Whistler’s daughter, then seventh grader Ella Whistler, was shot seven times.” (Sikich 2). This shows that he knew what he was doing because for a kid, shooting someone once could possibly be by mistake, however, for someone of any age to shoot somebody seven times is very obviously intentional. Juveniles also plan out their crimes most of the time which can be shown when it states, “‘In this specific case, it was very well thought out, very well planned and in fact he even documented it.’” (Sikich 3), and,  “...the shooter intended to kill as many people as he could that day and was only stopped due to Seamon’s actions.” (Sikich 2). The shooter would not have planned out his whole crime or documented it if he did not know what he was doing. It was clear that he wanted to make sure he would be able to kill as many people as he could find. Also, regardless of if they plan or document anything or not, they are most likely aware of what they are doing and should be aware of the possible consequences.

In conclusion, courts should be allowed to sentence juveniles as adults because they cause people lifelong trauma and injuries they have to live with and most juveniles know exactly what they are doing. Although kids make mistakes all the time, courts should be able to realize the extent of the crime and punish them accordingly. If this does not start happening soon, juveniles will continue to make the same mistakes after they are released from jail.