Treatment Versus Punishment: That Is the Question!
Introduction

When it comes to the question of whether treatment or punishment should be used for juvenile offenders, it is important to remember that juveniles are still developing into adults: their minds, bodies, impulses and cognitive processes are still in formation phases and they do not have the kind of control that one might expect or assume of an adult. Juveniles are children, in other words, and if a child is ever thrown into a cage society is more than likely to label it child abuse. Yet every year children are tried and punished for crimes as though they were adults. While sometimes punitive approaches to juvenile justice may be necessary in order to teach a lesson, they should not be on the scale of what they are for adults. The focus of juvenile justice should be on rehabilitation—not punishment. This paper will explain why treatment is the better option when it comes to juvenile justice.

Differences between Treatment and Punishment

The concept of treatment focuses on the idea that juveniles who commit a crime, whether it is selling drugs, robbing a house, rape, or murder, are still children and they should be viewed as children who are in serious need of help. The justice system should adopt a more humane approach to juveniles because they are still in a developmental process. As one ages, the phases of development stretch out and last for many more years (Santrock, 2019). According to Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development human beings develop in psychosocial stages and are motivated by a social desire or need to be with other people (Santrock, 2019). For juveniles, the phases of development are intense and confusing and if they are not properly guided by peers, family, groups and media they may make very bad decisions and give themselves over to bad impulses and evil influences. Children need a helping and guiding hand to navigate the conflicts that they face in the early stages of development. Treatment is what provides that helping hand. It can come in the form of therapy, mentoring, a Big Brother, a new family, rehabilitation, restorative justice, and so on.

Punishment is much different. It is what happens when a child misbehaves. The authority punishes the child to show the child that such behavior is unacceptable. This is fine and necessary, but the problem with the justice system is that punishments are blown way out of proportion (Meli, 2014). Lives are ruined because the justice system wants to send a stern message to offenders and potential offenders that their behavior will not be tolerated. That message, however, has to be tempered with empathy, sympathy and humanity—otherwise the culture of decay will never reverse course and the collapse of society will only continue.

Types of Treatment

Types of treatment include: counseling, prevention programs, and cognitive behavioral therapy, education, and psychological therapy (National Institute of Justice, 2019). These types of treatment tend to promote rehabilitation and to assist the juvenile offender in growing into a responsible, accountable adult. The aim of them is to promote prosocial attitudes. As Fritz (2015) points out, diverting children away from incarceration is a service to them and to the community because it promotes a more humane vision of what society should be about and it demonstrates to the juvenile that the world is not out to get them as they are likely to be thinking based on their experiences and environment up to that point, as Agnew (2008) posits when applying Strain Theory to why juveniles engage in crime.

Types of Punishment

Types of punishment include: incarceration, home confinement, electronic monitoring, community service, probation, diversion programs (though this can also fall under the treatment category in some cases), or placement in a foster home. Punishment does not aid in the reduction of recidivism rates, as restorative and rehabilitative forms of justice have been found to do (Wong, Bouchard, Gravel, Bouchard & Morselli, 2016). Therefore, it should be avoided or at the very least used in moderation and not applied as though it were a fix-all or the only option worth pursuing.

For the Crime of Murder by Juveniles

When a juvenile commits a murder it is something that needs to be taken most seriously and there should be an element of punishment involved, lest the child fail to develop a sense of justice. Justice dictates that punishment must be received. However, the punishment should by no means mean that the child must spend 10, 20 or 30 years in prison well into adulthood. That is what happened with Anthony Rolon: he spent half his adult life in prison for a murder he committed as a juvenile—a murder that was...…support services would help to rehabilitate the individual and make it possible for that person to leave the justice system with a greater sense of humanity, decency and accountability. It should be a case by case approach—not a general, one-size-fits-all strategy. For juveniles who are hardened criminals and indicate a clear sociopathic tendency, there should be other options available.

Essentially, however, the justice system has to adopt a treatment-oriented perspective because punitive justice merely leads to further breakdowns in society. The U.S. has the highest prison population in the world and that is a shameful reflection of the type of justice that the criminal justice system has implemented. Too many people are being incarcerated, and the reason for this is simple: the prison industrial complex is a business and these incarcerated prisoners are used as cheap labor for companies that pay them pennies on the dollar for their labor. The idea of justice is used to mask over what is going on here. That is where all of this needs to change.

Conclusion

In summation, the concept of treatment best supports the overarching concept of social justice. Social justice is about doing what is right for all stakeholders; it is about helping communities to grow and develop. But communities cannot grow and develop if fathers and sons, mothers and daughters are all being incarcerated, one generation after another. It only creates an endless cycle of recidivism. That cycle needs to end so that communities can begin to heal, so that communities and individuals alike can begin to take responsibility and hold themselves accountable for what goes on in their own neighborhoods. The concept of restorative justice is one that should be pursued, even for serious crimes like murder, whenever possible. People should begin to think about how they view others, even those who have offended them. Justice does not have to exclude forgiveness. It does not have to be completely punitive. It can combine punitive measures with treatment. In the case of serious crimes, that may be what juveniles require. However, they should never be tried as adults; the justice system has to remember that these are children: they are still developing and they need to be treated for the issues that are impacting them negatively.

References

Agnew, R. (2008). Strain Theory. In V. Parrillo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social problems. (pp. 904-906). Thousand Oaks:…