For example, a 12-year-old child, Lionel Tate, beat and killed a 6-year-old girl because he imitated the professional wrestlers he saw on television. Life in prison without parole or even going to adult prison is extreme for a 12 year old. Many children who exit the adult system end up in worse conditions than when they entered it because they emerge as hardened criminals. In another case, Nathaniel Brazill, who shot his teacher when he was 13 years old. The crime was heinous, but the problem with sentencing teenagers as adults is that during adolescence, the gray matter in the brain that supports all of our thoughts and emotions is purged at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year. . This happens in the frontal lobe of our brain, which controls impulses, risk-taking and self-control. Adolescent brains work differently and are not yet fully functioning compared to adults, proving that juveniles should not be judged as adults. However, many prosecutors and victims' families say teens know that killing is wrong and that courts need to get tough on these cases to send a message to teens across the United States to do not commit murder, under penalty of being sentenced to life without parole. . This may be true, however, giving children the message that they are not curable or that they do not deserve a second chance sends the wrong message and makes other countries around the world look down on the United States. Additionally, they claim that many teenagers commit "thrill killings" and are mentally fine. They also argue that if brain development were the reason, children should kill at the same rate as adults. Their main argument is that these murders leave families in ruins and scar them forever when they lose a loved one. Again, many of these arguments are true, but children are less mature and more vulnerable to peer pressure because their character is still forming. Children