I remember we talked about this a while back, especially about whether punishment actually stops juveniles from committing crimes but I feel this topic is importantand shouldbetalked about alot because when an adult commits a serious crime, society usually doesn't spend too much time asking whether the person understood what they were doing... We look at the crime, the evidence, the damage caused and then the law takes its course but when the person standing in front of the judge is 15 or 16 years old, suddenly everything becomes complicated...
Honestly, I think it should...
A child committing a serious crime is still a serious problem.
But a child is also still a child and that is the part I struggle with...
Imagine a 16-year-old being involved in a murder.. Someone has lost their life... A family has been destroyed... There is anger, there is grief and there has to be accountability...
Now imagine that same 16-year-old sitting in court....
Do we look at him and say, "He's just a child, let him go because he doesn't know better?".. I don't think that's right either... But should we throw him into an adult prison and treat him exactly like a 35-year-old career criminal?.. I also don't think that's right either...
This is where I think juvenile justice needs to be very careful.
Being young should not mean being above the law but being young should also mean the justice system recognizes that there is still room for change....
Teenagers can make incredibly stupid decisions...
Sometimes because of peer pressure...
Sometimes because they want to prove something...
Sometimes because of poverty or an abusive environment...
Sometimes because they're angry...
Sometimes because they simply don't understand how permanent the consequences of their actions can be...
And sometimes, unfortunately a young person genuinely knows what they are doing and commits something horrible anyway... These situations cannot all be treated exactly the same.... That's why I don't completely support the idea of automatically trying every serious juvenile offender as an adult.
I think there should be exceptional cases where it can happen, especially for extremely serious crimes where the evidence shows planning, awareness and a level of responsibility that cannot simply be ignored because of someone's age but it shouldn't become the default answer because what exactly are we trying to achieve with justice?
Is it only revenge?
Is it only punishment?
Or are we also trying to protect society and prevent that person from becoming an even bigger danger in the future?
For me, justice should be about all three.
The victim deserves justice.
Society deserves protection.
And the young offender should have an opportunity to change where that is realistically possible because here's something that worries me about putting young offenders into adult prison...
What happens after they come out??
If you take a troubled teenager, put him in an environment filled with hardened criminals, expose him to more violence and criminal thinking, and then release him years later, have we actually solved anything?.. Or have we simply created a more experienced criminal?..
That's why rehabilitation matters...
I'm not saying juvenile offenders should be sent to some comfortable facility where they get treated like they're on holiday.
No.
There should be consequences.
Serious consequences.... but those consequences should also include education, counselling, skills training, discipline and programs that force them to understand the damage they've caused..
Let them face their victims' stories.
Let them understand what their actions did to another human being.
Let them learn that their life isn't finished because they made one terrible decision and at the same time, I don't think society should ignore the victims just because the offender is young.
Sometimes when we talk about juvenile justice, we become so focused on protecting the child who committed the crime that we forget there is another child somewhere who may have lost a parent...
There is a family that may never recover...
There is someone who may have to live with fear or trauma for the rest of their life...
Their pain matters too...
So I think the real challenge is finding that uncomfortable middle ground.... Accountability without destroying the possibility of rehabilitation...
A 16-year-old who steals a phone shouldn't be treated the same way as a 16-year-old who deliberately plans a murder and a first-time offender shouldn't automatically be viewed the same way as someone who has repeatedly committed serious crimes despite previous interventions...
Age should matter but the crime, circumstances, intent and history should matter too...
I don't believe every young offender is innocent simply because they're young and I don't believe every young offender is beyond saving simply because they've done something terrible...
People can change...
Especially young people...
For me, juvenile justice should be firm enough to protect society, compassionate enough to recognize childhood, and intelligent enough to leave room for rehabilitation...
Children should not be given a free pass for serious crimes but we should also be very careful before deciding that a child deserves to be treated as an adult forever because justice should not only be about making someone pay for what they did... Sometimes, justice should also be about making sure they never do it again..
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