Young Offenders Research Paper

WHY TOUGH DOESN’T WORK 2
Introduction
This paper will determine the importance of realizing how young offenders should be treated differently in the criminal justice system in comparison to adult offenders. In order to gather a better understanding of youth delinquents, the history of youth delinquents will be explored, as well as important examples of why youth delinquents must be taken care of in a different manner compared to adult offenders. The following two main examples will be discussed in order to prove that young offenders must be handled differently compared to adult offenders: 1) The criminal pathways that youth face, 2) Youth as victims of violence. There have been numerous interventions that have been successful

Minaker and Hogeveen (2009) discuss some of the social influences that create a pathway to criminal activity for young offenders, “most significant pathway to the street is parent-adolescent conflict” (p. 195) the criminal justice must understand that in circumstances such as parent-adolescent conflict, the child is helpless. “Research suggests most youth typically run to escape a destructive home situation or family conflict.”(Minaker & Hogeveen, 2009, p.195). Unlike adults, young offenders are very limited in their decision making, either they stay at while enduring a very chaotic and potentially abusive lifestyle, or they run in search of

“In light of the number of school shootings and high-profile stabbings, the public forgets that youth are the most likely victims of violence.”(Minaker & Hogeveen, (2009, p. 232). Clearly the media is misleading today’s society on who the real victims of violence are. Minaker and Hogeveen (2009 also note that among all populations, Aboriginal youth are the ones who are victimized by violence the most.