Erstellt am: 27. 1. 2012 - 15:03 Uhr
Crime and punishment
"If you're old enough to commit these crimes, you're old enough to face the punishments."
So said British Prime Minister, David Cameron, following last summer's riots.
But was he right? In the UK and USA, the age of criminal responsibility is 10, while in most European countries it is between 14 and 16. That means that anyone over that age can be prosecuted, tried and potentially imprisoned, for any crime they commit.
Decisions and the developing brain
However, Nicholas Mackintosh, an eminent professor of neuropsychology at Cambridge University in England, has established that the part of the brain responsible for decision making and control of impulses is one of the slowest to develop, and is not fully mature until the age of around 20. This means that a teenager might commit an act impulsively that he or she might recognize intellectually to be wrong, but would not be able to control that impulse until a few years later. This then clearly begs the question of whether a teenage offender can be treated in the same way as an adult. If the young offender is in any sense less responsible for their actions, equal treatment means the young offender is punished disproportionately heavily.
Too much punishment, not enough prevention
Many countries have juvenile justice systems, but according to Marta Santos Pias, the United Nations Special Representative on Violence against Children in Detention, even these do not sufficiently understand the needs of young people who find themselves in trouble with the law. She says the emphasis is far too much on punishment, and too little attention is paid to prevention. She also says that detention facilities are similarly focused on punishment, and often ignore the human rights of the young offender, as well as failing to provide the support and education that would help re-integrate these young people into society. An interesting study in the USA showed that for every dollar spend on prevention of juvenile delinquency, there was a net return to society of 8 dollars, while for every dollar spend on punishment, there is a corresponding wider loss. It’s common sense, really. Rehabilitate a young offender, and you have a productive individual who contributes to the economy and society. Lock them up, and you have someone who is an ongoing drain on the economy and society.
This Saturday's Reality Check looks at young people and the law, the successes and failures, the story of a young offender, and the ways judicial sysems can be improved to cater better for young people to help them establish a positive role in society.