Age Crime and Consequences
Assignment 1: Age, Crime and Consequences
Submitted: June 14, 2013
“Punishment is the last and the least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime”
- John Ruskin
There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.
Simone Weil
Age is one of the strongest correlates of criminal behavior therefore an important variable in defining, explaining and responding to official acts of rule breaking in our society. The question of culpability is what separates children from adults. While children can commit acts as violent and deadly as those adults commit, their blameworthiness is different by virtue of their immaturity. Children may know right from wrong; even a six-year-old, can parrot the phrase that it is “wrong” to kill, although often without any real understanding of what killing means or why it is wrong. However, children have less developed capacities than adults to control their impulses, to use reason to guide their behavior, and to think about the consequences of their conduct. They are, in short, still in the process of growing up, both physically and mentally. Punishment should be in keeping with a young person’s age because of their vulnerability to harm, their more limited understanding of the world and their greater susceptibility. It is this principle that makes it imperative that punishment should fit the young person’s needs not their deeds.
Criminals are influenced and not born. Social factors such as parental neglect, inappropriate living conditions or relations inside the family are often the underlying cause of the criminal actions of juveniles. Many who break the law come from broken homes or abusive families and may never have received the support they deserve. Frequently, young offenders are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Their criminal behavior is a response to an earlier labeling experience, what Tannenbaum called a “dramatization of evil”.
Submitted: June 14, 2013
“Punishment is the last and the least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime”
- John Ruskin
There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.
Simone Weil
Age is one of the strongest correlates of criminal behavior therefore an important variable in defining, explaining and responding to official acts of rule breaking in our society. The question of culpability is what separates children from adults. While children can commit acts as violent and deadly as those adults commit, their blameworthiness is different by virtue of their immaturity. Children may know right from wrong; even a six-year-old, can parrot the phrase that it is “wrong” to kill, although often without any real understanding of what killing means or why it is wrong. However, children have less developed capacities than adults to control their impulses, to use reason to guide their behavior, and to think about the consequences of their conduct. They are, in short, still in the process of growing up, both physically and mentally. Punishment should be in keeping with a young person’s age because of their vulnerability to harm, their more limited understanding of the world and their greater susceptibility. It is this principle that makes it imperative that punishment should fit the young person’s needs not their deeds.
Criminals are influenced and not born. Social factors such as parental neglect, inappropriate living conditions or relations inside the family are often the underlying cause of the criminal actions of juveniles. Many who break the law come from broken homes or abusive families and may never have received the support they deserve. Frequently, young offenders are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Their criminal behavior is a response to an earlier labeling experience, what Tannenbaum called a “dramatization of evil”.