Cristian Fernandez has been tried as an adult at the early age of eleven in the state of Florida. How can we possibly try a juvenile as an adult, when they are physically incapable of thinking like one? As we all know, juveniles have some restrictions on what they can do and not do. For instance, a juvenile is not allowed to drive, drink (alcohol), get married, or even sign a legal paper/contract because their signature would not be accepted. Most importantly they cannot make a wise decision on their own and this is not just because a lack of inexperience in life. According to the Health Department, “children and young adolescent brains are not fully developed until at least the age of twenty-five.” It also mentions that adolescents lacks…show more content… This involves children and adolescents younger than 18. The establishment of special courts and incarceration facilities for juveniles was part of the Progressive Era reform, along with kindergarten, child labor laws, mandatory education, school lunches, and vocational education. This was aimed at enhancing optimal child development in the industrial city (Juvenile Crime, 2001). Some politicians believe that treating children and adolescents as adult criminals was and is unnecessarily tough and resulted in their corruption. In the words, of one the political stated that the main reason for the establishment of the juvenile court was “to prevent children from being treated as criminals” (Juvenile Justice, pg. 297). Based on the principles that children and young adolescents are developmentally different from adults and are therefore more agreeable to rehabilitation, and that they are not criminally responsible for their actions. Children and adolescents brought before the court were assumed to require the court's intervention and guidance, rather than solely punishment. They were not to be accused of specific