Juvenile Justice Scenarios

​Teenage Crime Scenarios

The scenarios you are about to discuss are all based on real crimes that have been committed by teens. Read the first scenario and discuss the questions that follow with your group, using the key words your teacher has posted. Follow the same process for Scenarios 2 and 3. When you are finished, your teacher will tell you how each juvenile was sentenced.

Scenario #1

A 16-year old girl stole a Chevy Tahoe from her parents’ home. She later told officers she had been on her way to meet a 17-year-old friend and was planning on “purchasing drugs, taking the drugs, and then crashing her mother’s car with her boyfriend inside” with the intent to kill herself and him. She was fleeing from an officer who tried to pull her over when she slammed into the back of another car. She was going almost 100 mph and killed the two occupants of the other vehicle.

Poll

Should this girl be charged as an adult?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

If you were the prosecutor what would you say?

Scenario #2

The two 13-year-old girls are accused of stabbing a classmate with the intent of murdering her. According to the prosecutor, the girls planned the deed as a tribute to the fictional Slender Man, a paranormal creature who has supposedly been in existence for centuries. The girls found Slender Man on a Web site and decided to kill their friend to show devotion to the figure. Despite multiple stab wounds, the victim managed to crawl out of the woods where she had been abandoned. She was taken to a hospital and survived.

Poll

Was this crime an intentional murder (a homicide)?

• Yes

• No

Poll

Should the two girls be charged as adults?

• Yes

• No

​Scenario #3

A 10-year-old boy got angry with a 90-year-old woman who shared the home where he lived with his grandfather. He beat her and choked her with a cane. She died later that day.

Poll

Should this boy be incarcerated with adults or with juveniles?

• Adults

• Juveniles

Open Ended

Could rehabilitation work?