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Juvenile Justice

A number of reports have come out in 2010 concerning young people, not the least being:
Review of Effective Practice in Juvenile JusticeReport for the Minister for Juvenile Justice
Noetic Solutions Pty Limited
January 2010

In the executive summary they had this to say:

Juvenile Justice Programs – Overview

Empirical studies conducted in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Europe clearly show that traditionalpenal or ‘get tough’ methods of reducing juvenile crime, such as juvenile incarceration, overly strict baillegislation, trying juveniles in adult courts, ‘scared straight’ programs and so on, are not effective. Traditional penal or ‘get tough’ approaches are ineffective due to the stigmatising effect of labelling young offenders, reinforcement of offenders’ criminal behaviour resulting from the collective detention, lack of pro-social influences and failure to address the underlying behaviour behind the offending behaviour. Not only do these methods tend to be ineffective in reducing recidivism among young people, but they are also amongst the most costly means of dealing with juvenile crime due to high immediate costs and ongoing long-term costs to the juvenile justice system due to continued contact with the criminal justice system.’

Now wouldn’t it be nice if we really could do something clever AND useful with our young people. And if I may, look back at some of the posts here about BACKTRACK and/or BEYOND EMPATHY, to name but a few…

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