In all 50 states, youth under age 18 can be tried in adult criminal court through various types of juvenile transfer laws. In Kansas, youth as young as 14 can be tried as adults at the discretion of a juvenile court judge. When young people are transferred out of the juvenile system, they are more likely to be convicted and typically receive harsher sentences than youth who remain in juvenile court charged with similar crimes.
This practice undermines the purpose of the juvenile court system, pursues punishment rather than rehabilitation, and conflicts with what we know from developmental science. Furthermore, laws that allow youth to be tried as adults reflect and reinforce the racial inequities that characterize the justice system in United States.

Research has shown that children have a unique propensity for rehabilitation. The human brain does not fully develop until the mid-20s and the portion of the brain that governs rational decision-making is the last to develop. This means a child may engage in dangerous behavior without fully realizing the risks and consequences for themselves and others. Research has also shown that children in the adult criminal justice system are 34 percent more likely to be arrested again than those convicted of similar offenses in juvenile court. They also are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than youth in juvenile facilities. The research is clear that children in the adult criminal justice system are more likely to reoffend than if they are held in the juvenile justice system.
All research shows that charging children as adults has only negative impacts on their lives and society as a whole.