Outline for the Child Soldiers Essay

Introduction: Introducing child soldiers and the debate about if they should be accountable for their actions or not.

Main argument: Child soldiers under the age of 15 should not be prosecuted for their crimes.

Supporting argument 1: Children's mind’s are still being developed so they are very susceptible to bad influence.

Supporting argument 2: Children in times of war have nowhere to go so they join the military in hopes of seeking food and shelter.

Supporting argument 3: Children want to leave but are forced to stay by drugs alcohol.

Supporting argument 4: Child soldiers are not the same as child murderers. Child murderers do not have an incentive to kill.

Conclusion: Restating all my points.

Response to: The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo

Before reading this text, I thought child soldiers should always be pardoned for their actions, as they are very young and they were pressured into war. Now I realize it's a lot more complicated.

In this text, we meet a former child soldier named Omar Khadr. He has killed a US Army soldier and has gone to court over it. The sentence will send him to Guantanamo Bay, which is a very serious sentence.

The reason why Khadr became a child soldier is because his father was a senior ranking Al Qaeda leader. So he was influenced by his father to become one.

Is it OK for Khadr to go free? He was influenced to become a child soldier by his father, but he still has killed people.

This has influenced my view on child soldiers a lot. I think that child soldiers should get different punishments based on the different circumstances they're in. For example, a child soldier that joins the army when he's 9 years old should get a lesser punishment that a child soldier that joins when he's 16.

Thinking of Child Soldiers in Different Ways

Thinking of child soldiers in different ways...

Victim

• Very young age
• Very easily influenced by grown ups
• No where to go because of war
• No family to go to

Perpetrator

• Has killed many people
• Many of them weren't actually forced to join the military
• Some of them aren't really that young, maybe 17 or 18
• Some were actually enjoying killing people

Response to Somali Text

I didn't know that there were so many child soldiers being forced to join armies. I was even more shocked to find out that there was a child soldier as young as seven years old. How could someone expect a seven year old to fight in an army, much less hold a gun. These child soldiers are brainwashed into thinking what they're doing is good and they actually like it. When a child soldier was asked about what he likes, he replies, "I enjoy the gun." This is the reality of child soldiers. I'm glad there are people out there who are actually trying to help these poor children.

A Child Soldier

This young girl volunteered to fight in a war. Why should she be prosecuted for killing when in a war? No one blames American Army Soldiers for killing during a war, so why should she be? It is not her fault for trying to survive. Yes she volunteered, but without brave souls like her, her side would lose the fight. 

If we have to do something about this, we shouldn't try to lock them up in a prison cell. Instead we should shelter them in safe homes. No child should have their childhood ruined by a war.