NCJ Number
165787
Editor(s)
K Melville
Date Published
1994
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency argues that juvenile crime is more serious today than in the past because society has not punished juvenile offenders harshly enough.
Abstract
Punishment teaches a moral lesson, regardless of the offender's age. It is a reminder that rules are fundamentally important and that brutal actions will not be tolerated. However, current juvenile sentences are often ludicrously out of proportion to the crime. New York's maximum sentence for the common juvenile crime of group robbery in the second degree is 3 years, compared to 15 years for an adult. About 5 percent of young violent offenders are tried as adults, but they are most often sentenced as juveniles. Advocates of harsher approaches favor shock incarceration programs for nonviolent first-time offenders, trying more juvenile offenders as adults, and enacting tougher laws for repeat offenders. Critics of this approach argue that increased harshness is ineffective, that advocates mistakenly assume that juvenile offenders are calculators who can be deterred, that harsher approaches undermine the premise on which the juvenile justice was created, and that it diverts both energy and resources from prevention efforts. Photographs and illustrations