Annotated Bibliography
Clark, A. B. (2017). Juvenile solitary confinement as a form of child abuse. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 45(3), 350-357.
The article explains that juvenile solitary confinement as a punitive measure in juvenile justice is equal to child abuse because of the negative impact it can have on the child’s mind. The article explains that it should be reported as child abuse and the system should not permit it. This article is relevant to the thesis because it shows that juvenile justice needs to be geared towards the fact that these are children not adults. The article’s main strength is its ability to show that juvenile solitary confinement is in fact damaging to the child’s psyche, but its weakness is that it does not provide much discussion of an alternative correctional method. Clark seems to imply that a treatment perspective is needed, but the overall focus of the study is on the punishment perspective and how this particular punishment is unhealthy and abusive.
Johnson, T., Quintana, E., Kelly, D. A., Graves, C., Schub, O., Newman, P., & Casas, C.
(2015). Restorative Justice Hubs Concept Paper. Revista de Mediación, 8(2), 2340-9754.
This article reveals how restorative justice can help to lower recidivism rates. It shows specifically that for those convicted who were put through a restorative justice program, the recidivism rate fell by 26% when compared with a 10% drop in recidivism rates for people put through the traditional justice system that focuses on punishment. Thus, this article...
The article’s main strength is when it reveals that “victims report greater satisfaction when sentencing is diverted from the traditional justice system to restorative sentencing” (p. 2349). In other words, victims prefer to see juvenile offenders reform rather than simply be punished: “victims reported higher perceptions of fairness and greater feelings of justice through the restorative justice programs as opposed to victim reports of traditional justice programs” (p. 2349). The article has no legitimate weaknesses other than that it does not address the potential negative side of restorative justice the way other researchers have. Instead it highlights the positives of restorative justice and how people in the community can feel a sense of empowerment when helping to produce a change for good in their community on their own terms without relying on the courts. Thus, this article will be helpful for the thesis by showing that restorative justice may be a good way to prevent juvenile from becoming recidivists.
Mears, D. P., Kuch, J. J., Lindsey, A. M., Siennick, S. E., Pesta, G. B., Greenwald, M. A., & Blomberg, T. G. (2016). Juvenile court and contemporary diversion: Helpful, harmful, or both?. Criminology & Public Policy, 15(3), 953-981.
The article shows that diversion programs can be helpful but that they can also put undue strain on juveniles and that the strain could be avoided if probation were used instead. The authors…
