Much of mainstream thinking concerning juvenile delinquency in Canada and the United States is based on the assumption that if uncorrected it automatically leads to adult crime and should thus be severely punished, usually by some form of incarceration, before it becomes an ingrained behavior pattern.
Topic
How to handle juvenile delinquency — incarceration as the conventional response, vs. an approach that rehabilitates without incarcerating.
Framework
Present Debate / Problem-Solution. The author summarizes the conventional view (incarcerate), then engages criminologists' research, then proposes a third path: rehabilitate without incarcerating and without letting offenders off entirely.
Main Point
Juvenile delinquency should be addressed by rehabilitating young offenders without incarcerating them — a middle path that imposes a real penalty but lets them mature within the community.
P1: The conventional view and the criminologists' challenge
Conventional thinking: untreated juvenile delinquency leads to adult crime, so incarcerate offenders early. But criminologists' research suggests that incarceration may itself cause continued delinquency — a finding that's hard to translate into policy because, taken to its extreme, it implies the best intervention might be none at all.
P2: Rethinking who counts as a "criminal"
Criminologists also fail to distinguish between behavior young adults regard as criminal vs. as "fun." Most subjects called their delinquent behavior "fun"; they don't see themselves as criminals. Once law enforcement labels them so, they may change how they see themselves. Most undetected youthful offenders stop on their own by 18 — and only 8% credit fear of getting caught. So a policy that encourages maturation may be the most effective rehabilitation.
P3: A third path — rehabilitate without incarcerating
The problem of juvenile delinquency does need addressing — but through approach rather than removal. The author proposes rehabilitating offenders within the community (e.g., having a young shoplifter return the merchandise and apologize rather than be incarcerated as a thief). The goal is for offenders to learn society's values by maturity, achievable without incarceration or letting them off scot-free.