I think this a creative approach to involve the idea of not punishing juveniles until the age of 15 as often times individuals below the age of 14 will have concepts to what is right and what is wrong but as I was as a juvenile you make impulsive decisions out of peer pressure or the idea of fitting in with crowd and this is not worth having something permanent on your file that will have an impact on a individuals upcoming future. I also agree if the offense is not of a serious violent nature sentencing juveniles who were below the age of 19 for adult laws as these individuals are still learning and can reform positive behavior instead of spending most of their 20’s through 30’s behind bars. I also agree with having two years of formal training for correctional officers before working as with these juveniles as juveniles are still able to be functioning members of society and will have the best chance about getting job work stills along with getting the proper education to ensure that they are better promodit members of society. This will also vent out many workers who would be harmful for individuals who are still developing as much like our society they will come from poor income backgrounds that that may lack a proper positive environment for a person to have an upbringing from. Due to the fact that if a correctional officer can act as mentor to someone is younger than then they are this in turn can shape the behavior of the individual., along with creating positive moral values and buffer these juveniles from making choices that in the future would turn out ot be criminal in nature. This can also be an effective tool as these correctional officers here in Germany can teach juveniles how to react in certain situations that could negatively impact their future if the choice is made in correctly. eagle789
I agree with what you’re saying here, many times we as adults think that juveniles should be just like us in the fact that they should understand that there are things that you simply cannot do within our society. The fact of the matter is, is that juveniles just simply have not developed enough to understand some aspects of adult life and cannot decipher right from wrong in most cases. Germany has been going in the right direction and if we can just follow their example just a little bit, then maybe our youth will be in a better position to succeed in the future. Pack789
I agree with you thoughts, that many children are still learning right from wrong and most things happen based on peer pressure. Ruining their lives by one little mistake is harming them more then helping. Incarceration is a big problem with adults already so let's not make juveniles the same way. I also agree with that correctional officers should have training because reacting to children is a whole different thing than reacting to adults. They could help and become a role model for the children instead of trying to scare them away. They are only kids they can only take so much. Hollywood789
I agreed with just about everything in the article pertaining to people under the age of 16, however, I did notice some problems with the system as a whole. Like you said, the justice system should be more lenient with those who do not have fully matured brains when they have committed less serious crimes that are not of a violent nature. However, I need more time to think about how this system treats those who have committed very serious offenses like rape and murder. I do agree that rehabilitation is more important than punishment, but I definitely think that people need to fear the consequences for such actions.
While I still need to look further into the system, and I am willing to concede if the evidence is sufficient, I have serious apprehensions of the system being implemented to the degree that it is in Germany. -Rudedog789
I do agree with this German system not to institutionalize youth in greater number but rather to rehabilitate and shield them from some of the harsher punishment. Juveniles most of this kids they don’t even realize what they have done wrong till they are thought and explained wat are the consequences they are facing in their lives. Being a 14 year old this is kind of stage where teens feels like they can do anything they want to do without their parents. Being in juvenile in this age you need more education and any other programs the government can be able to provide at least to make this kids a ware about the life and any offence they committed that put them in this situation. Harsher punishment or putting them in jail for long period of time won’t make this young star productive in the society. To provide them with good standards of education on how to live and stay away from troubles will help instead putting them behind the bars. Instead of charging these youths as adult, its better to provide system like German doing it’s better to set fines upon release these youths. Children and young adults have the right to support and education and to be protected in their personal development by the child and youth welfare agencies. And this is the great thing German is doing and thus result low youth population in jail. Its my great idea for other nation to cope this form system to secure the youths from becoming worthless in the society GUSII 789
I agree with this as well as many juveniles who make mistakes seen as criminal at an early age have the chance to get back to being benefical to society if there are thought what proper behaviors consitis of. This also allows for the legal system to have more creative alterntives for adults who are punishing juvelines for their said crimes, and this also gives oppurinity to allow for the police to have a postive interaction. eagle789
The German system of sentencing juveniles seems to be the way to go about doing things in a criminal justice setting. Punishing juveniles as adults has been proven to be a slippery slope, as many times we can see that juveniles are more susceptible to be influenced by others to commit crimes for older people because they cannot fully comprehend what is happening, yet we treat them as if they are fully functioning adults and sentence them to insane prison sentences of 10 or more years at times. Germany however has taken steps in the right direction in my opinion, as they have allowed anyone under the age of 18 to not tried as adults in court, which allows these kids and teenagers to have access to more rehabilitative programs instead of rotting away in a prison being incapacitated. The German system also prioritizes rehabilitation over incapacitation, which is something that I believe that the United States should do however it will be hard to transition because there simply is not enough money to mainly focus on rehabilitation. Their focus is also on allowing youth in their country being able to still be educated and live their life. These youths are still very young and being locked up for years can be very detrimental to their development. We can look at the united states for this and see that many times when youths are imprisoned for long periods of time, it messes with their minds and alters their way of thinking more easily since their minds are more easily swayed. This can be a real problem for many nations, however Germany has a huge step in the right direction and I hope that more countries tale the steps that Germany has in order to offer juveniles a better chance at life. Pack789
I agree with that punishing juveniles as adults are causes bigger problems. Children are more susceptible to crimes because they are being influenced by the people around them. By that being their peers or their family. Their families have a big influence and if they don't have a good family home it can hurt the child in the future. The german system is great and evolving to bigger and better things for their people. Other countries are starting to take on these systems and I believe that the U.S should start implementing them also. This would help are country with overcrowding and other things related. Hollywood789
I agree with the way Germany is choosing to deal with their at risk youth. I think more times than not when dealing with juveniles people should do whatever it takes to help, educate, and rehabilitate them while their brains are still developing. However I did not like how the article explained that 90% of juveniles that committed rape and homicide were treated less harshly than they should have been. That means that there is not as much of an incentive to not do those things because you know you wont be punished harshly. - Rudedog8357
I agree with you when you say that punishing juveniles as adults has been proven to be a slippery slope. By punishing juveniles as adults, we are just setting these kids up for failure. These kids who spend have of their lives in jail are more than likely not going to grow up and have outstanding lives. I think that some form of punishment should be used. However, I think that juveniles should be put into a rehab program during the time that they are serving their punishment. I believe that the punishment that they would serve should not be a severe one, but it should definitely not be a “easy” punishment. -Fozz789
This article was very interesting to read about the differences that are around the world. I liked the idea of not punished children under the age of 14 because they are not considered responsibly. The idea of not punishing kids 18 and under for serious crimes was very interesting as well. Most children are still growing and doing things based on peer pressure and other things that impact there lives. I personally think this is better because it does not put a big problem on their record and helps the kids not sit behind bars for the 20’s and 30’s. We as today's society think children are just like us and need to be treated the same but the fact of the matter is that they are still learning right from wrong and ruining their life based on one minor offense is pretty silly. Of course there will be that 1 percent that deserves it but it's pretty rare. Germany also goes by the idea of rehabilitation instead of incarceration. Which is pretty great considering that we need to start practicing this especially for drug offenses. There is a lot of needless incarceration and children are a big part. Children need structure and education not blank cell walls and an hour a day of “recess”. Putting them through this can cause more damage than anything. This can destroy their development mentally and physically. Especially when they finally get out they would not know what to do. Germany is taking great steps forward for juveniles and possibly for future adults. You can see more and more countries trying this method over anything else because it is showing results. The United States need to start thinking about these type of methods than always relying on incarceration because it is only hurting our country. Hollywood789
I agree with you when you say that Germany is taking great steps forward for juveniles and possibly for future adults. By focusing on rehab for juvenile offenders rather than punishment, these kids are able to get the help they need so they do not ruin their lives and they learn how to live good, trouble free lives. Also, by focusing on rehab, these kids are given a second chance at a good life for themselves. After going through theses rehab programs, these juvenile offenders are being shaped into good, young adults who will have better lives as they grow older. -Fozz789
I am conflicted about this approach after reading the article. I believe that many elements of it would be universally effective, and they are definitely approaching the issue from a much more altruistic mindset than America does. However, the crime rates in Germany are much lower, and I would guess that this approach consumes fewer resources for Germany than it would for America proportionate to the resources available for either country.
To address of what I'm saying, I think that the sentencing laws, disregarding any other changes, make sense as the brains of people under 25 are not fully developed and they should have the chance to engage with society after their brain is developed even if they were not able to safely do so before that point. However, this article was not too specific about German youth were "sheltered from the harsher aspects of life". This seems like a great thing, but it does not at all seem plausible, especially in today's climate.
I was very surprised that even 90% of those who had commited murder and rape were treated by individuals using this more generous approach. This article said that this approach has been successful overall, but I would like to see statistics that broke down the success rate by crime committed.
I am generally very wary about using law enforcement as a deterrent, however, I wonder if the implementation of this system has caused certain types of crime to be committed more often because individuals know that the likelihood of serious punishment is lower.
I also wonder if Germany's low incarceration rate has more to do with their justice system or their cultural values.
People often show rates of income and poverty in Nordic countries that have more socialistic polices to argue that socialism promotes healthier and less poor societies. This argument is very strongly challenged by the fact that people from those countries and their children who have emigrated to America do even better than their native compatriots.
Income and Poverty rates of a given group relatively easy to measure. However, measuring the rate of immigrants in this given age group who are arrested for a given crime does not seem to be appropriate as the majority of people who immigrate at that age group do so because of their parents which already skews the statistic due to the higher crime rate amongst those who do not live with their parents.
Overall, there is much to learn from this article, however, I do not think that it lends itself well to a direct comparison.
I think you bring up a good point with the question if people commit certain types of crime more often because they know the punishment will be lighter. People under the age of 21 must know that they can do any crime and most likely get 10 years maximum. I think also that with the 90% of young adults getting sentenced as juveniles when they commit murder or rape, that the other young adults see that, and they might try the crime because they know the consequences are not too severe. This also makes me wonder what the victims think when they see the people getting sentenced as juveniles for committing these crimes. -Dp789
I think what you said about the murder and rape suspects being treated more generous is so true. It surprised me a lot too to see this. I feel as though it could be setting these teens up for thinking it is okay to do these crimes because nothing serious will come out of it. With people this age still developing and learning a lot, this is not something we want to be teaching teens. I think the question brought up about whether their low incarcerations rates have to do with cultural values is a very good point. There could be many other reasons why they have low incarcerations rates than just this program. - ST789
This article explained how Germany deals with its juvenile offenders. I agree with how in Germany, the focus for juvenile offenders is mainly rehab, not incarceration. Juvenile offenders in Germany do not receive harsh forms of punishment, as these are avoided when dealing with juvenile offenders. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that in Germany, no child under the age of fourteen years old can be punished. This is a very interesting item concerning juveniles. Most juveniles probably do not know what they are truly doing when breaking the law at their age, due to the fact that their brains are still growing, and they are going through a lot of different things during this time of their lives. I think it is good to focus more on rehab as opposed to punishment for these juveniles. By focusing more on rehab, these kids are getting a second chance at starting a new, good life as opposed to being punished for their mistakes. By punishing younger kids, their lives would become ruined and they would not have a very good chance at having a good life after serving their punishments. Also, in Germany, nearly ninety percent of the juveniles who committed serious offenses such as rape and murder were put into special rehab programs, rather than being punished for their actions. I find this to be very interesting. These kids are still not being severely punished and are put through special rehab programs, despite the fact that they committed some of the worst possible crimes someone could do. Overall, I think Germany has a very good system when it comes to dealing with juvenile offenders. In the U.S., rehab is put into place for juvenile offenders, but is not seen nearly as important as punishment while in Germany, it seems that it is the complete opposite of the U.S., where rehab is the most important thing and punishment is not used as much. -Fozz789
I also like the fact that Germany does a lot of rehabilitation measures when trying to deal with offenders. I think that it is a much better option than incarceration. It is good to help people change their ways and fix them and teach them what to do and how to act, rather than throwing them in a prison for a couple years and hoping they come out different. If rehab does not work then you can try incarceration with the person, but incarceration can cause someone to lose a couple years of living their life. I agree with your statement that rehabilitation can give a person a second chance. Prison can change a person’s life forever because it stays with them on their record, and with them mentally. -Dp789
I enjoyed the philosophy behind Germany's juvenile system as well. As you said the mind is still developing and to punish someone for the rest of there lives for youth ignorance in some cases seem a bit harsh. There does seem to be a similar importance here in America but as the numbers show our beliefs in incarceration seem to outweigh that.~pj789
I think i would agree with you on this being a good think to rehabilitate these teens instead of punishing them. Teens this age are still learning and developing and it is not fair to punish these non serious crimes when they might not know it was wrong or whatever reason they committed the crime. I like that you pointed out that punishing them could ruin their lives. I feel like this is so true. Putting them in jail could set their future up for failure in the long run. - ST789
This article was very interesting, and it reminded me of the Croatia article we were given earlier this semester. The first thing that stood out to me was that among the young adults ages 18, 19, 20 that were tried and convicted of crimes, 66 percent were sentenced as juveniles, and among the young adults, 90 percent of the ones convicted of murder and rape were still sentenced as juveniles. This is very different than in America where people can face lifetime sentences at that age for murder, and in Germany they face a maximum of 10 years. I wonder what the families of the victims think. I wonder if they are okay with letting these people get sentenced as juveniles. The numbers of adults incarcerated also surprised me especially when it was compared to the number incarcerated in the U.S. They incarcerate 76 out of 100,000 people and in the U.S., we incarcerate 693 out of 100,000 people. The age of criminal responsibility is also 14 which is higher than most places, and people under the age of 18 can never be tried as an adult no matter what crime they committed. Juvenile facilities there also have many young adults 18 or older, and they rarely have 14 or 15-year-old juveniles at the facility. The staff there also looks to be very well trained because they are required to have 2 years of training before working in corrections. In the article the person also mentioned that the juveniles there had sharp forks and knives and plenty of sharp things available to them, but it was not a problem or a concern there. In the U.S. sharp objects are abused all the time and people often try to make their own sharp objects. The differences in Germany correction facilities and the U.S. facilities is surprising, and it brings up the question if we should change the system, and how to change it. -Dp789
That was interesting that they were trying individuals who were convicted of murder or rape as juveniles. I'm not sure that would fly here in America but given the number of adults incarcerated here something has to be changed in my opinion. It was also interesting as you pointed out how there staff was trained. Two years of training is a requirement which makes sense. I to believe we need to question our system and see if we can implement some of there ideas but im sure there would be a lot of backlash considering how much change would be needed. ~pj789
This was an interesting article which showed a different take on the treatment of German youth. The human mind is developing at these younger ages, even past 21. This is a good approach in my opinion one that could aid us here in America. It goes without saying that when you are young you are subject to do something that is not that intelligent. Giving someone a chance to be tried a juvenile is a smart decision. Germany is obviously seeing some sort of potential from this given that 66 percent of the young adults who commit crimes are being tried in juvenile court. It was interesting to read how they treat them. Instead of locking them up in subpar living conditions they are treated with more liberty and have nice living conditions. I believe this can aid in a young person’s behavior better than stricter conditions because many of them probably do not come from the best of homes. Germany’s ideas about education and rehabilitation were very interesting and something else I enjoyed about this article. With the large amount of adults in American prisons who do not have even a high school education, giving someone a chance at an education will help them succeed if it’s at a young age like the youth in Germany. It was also interesting that 85 percent of the youth at one facility in Germany were over the age of 18 and there average age was 20. By looking at what Germany and other countries have set up for their youth I believe America can provide a better turnout for our youth if we give people a chance at a later age.~pj789
Germany has a very interesting way in dealing with offenders who are on the line of adulthood. There way of not punishing these youth as much is a great thing. Juveniles are very impulsive and often have rash or very quick decision making without thinking of the repercussions. Due to this they can often make some pretty bad decisions. It is cool that they sentence very young adults to juvenile jails. Often times if they are sentenced to prisons it will most likely ruin their lives in the future and set it up for failure in the end. It is also great that instead they are spending more money on rehabilitation these teens. Prisons and jails do not rehabilitate as much as they do incapacitate prisons, so to hear that they are spending time and money on rehabilitating these teens is so cool. Without the rehabilitations these teens are at a much higher risk to make bad decisions again in their lives and end up actually being sent to prison later on down the road. There will always be the small minority of these juveniles that will come back to criminal activity no matter what, but for the majority of these teens it is a great chance to make a better life for themselves and not have this follow them the rest of their lives. One problem I have is that 90% of the teens who committed rape or murder were put into special rehab programs instead of being punished. I think this could cause some future problems with teens thinking they can get away with more serious crimes and not think about the consequences. - ST789
I think this a creative approach to involve the idea of not punishing juveniles until the age of 15 as often times individuals below the age of 14 will have concepts to what is right and what is wrong but as I was as a juvenile you make impulsive decisions out of peer pressure or the idea of fitting in with crowd and this is not worth having something permanent on your file that will have an impact on a individuals upcoming future. I also agree if the offense is not of a serious violent nature sentencing juveniles who were below the age of 19 for adult laws as these individuals are still learning and can reform positive behavior instead of spending most of their 20’s through 30’s behind bars. I also agree with having two years of formal training for correctional officers before working as with these juveniles as juveniles are still able to be functioning members of society and will have the best chance about getting job work stills along with getting the proper education to ensure that they are better promodit members of society. This will also vent out many workers who would be harmful for individuals who are still developing as much like our society they will come from poor income backgrounds that that may lack a proper positive environment for a person to have an upbringing from. Due to the fact that if a correctional officer can act as mentor to someone is younger than then they are this in turn can shape the behavior of the individual., along with creating positive moral values and buffer these juveniles from making choices that in the future would turn out ot be criminal in nature. This can also be an effective tool as these correctional officers here in Germany can teach juveniles how to react in certain situations that could negatively impact their future if the choice is made in correctly. eagle789
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you’re saying here, many times we as adults think that juveniles should be just like us in the fact that they should understand that there are things that you simply cannot do within our society. The fact of the matter is, is that juveniles just simply have not developed enough to understand some aspects of adult life and cannot decipher right from wrong in most cases. Germany has been going in the right direction and if we can just follow their example just a little bit, then maybe our youth will be in a better position to succeed in the future. Pack789
DeleteI agree with you thoughts, that many children are still learning right from wrong and most things happen based on peer pressure. Ruining their lives by one little mistake is harming them more then helping. Incarceration is a big problem with adults already so let's not make juveniles the same way. I also agree with that correctional officers should have training because reacting to children is a whole different thing than reacting to adults. They could help and become a role model for the children instead of trying to scare them away. They are only kids they can only take so much.
DeleteHollywood789
I agreed with just about everything in the article pertaining to people under the age of 16, however, I did notice some problems with the system as a whole. Like you said, the justice system should be more lenient with those who do not have fully matured brains when they have committed less serious crimes that are not of a violent nature. However, I need more time to think about how this system treats those who have committed very serious offenses like rape and murder. I do agree that rehabilitation is more important than punishment, but I definitely think that people need to fear the consequences for such actions.
DeleteWhile I still need to look further into the system, and I am willing to concede if the evidence is sufficient, I have serious apprehensions of the system being implemented to the degree that it is in Germany.
-Rudedog789
I do agree with this German system not to institutionalize youth in greater number but rather to rehabilitate and shield them from some of the harsher punishment. Juveniles most of this kids they don’t even realize what they have done wrong till they are thought and explained wat are the consequences they are facing in their lives. Being a 14 year old this is kind of stage where teens feels like they can do anything they want to do without their parents. Being in juvenile in this age you need more education and any other programs the government can be able to provide at least to make this kids a ware about the life and any offence they committed that put them in this situation. Harsher punishment or putting them in jail for long period of time won’t make this young star productive in the society. To provide them with good standards of education on how to live and stay away from troubles will help instead putting them behind the bars. Instead of charging these youths as adult, its better to provide system like German doing it’s better to set fines upon release these youths. Children and young adults have the right to support and education and to be protected in their personal development by the child and youth welfare agencies. And this is the great thing German is doing and thus result low youth population in jail. Its my great idea for other nation to cope this form system to secure the youths from becoming worthless in the society GUSII 789
ReplyDeleteI agree with this as well as many juveniles who make mistakes seen as criminal at an early age have the chance to get back to being benefical to society if there are thought what proper behaviors consitis of. This also allows for the legal system to have more creative alterntives for adults who are punishing juvelines for their said crimes, and this also gives oppurinity to allow for the police to have a postive interaction. eagle789
ReplyDeleteThe German system of sentencing juveniles seems to be the way to go about doing things in a criminal justice setting. Punishing juveniles as adults has been proven to be a slippery slope, as many times we can see that juveniles are more susceptible to be influenced by others to commit crimes for older people because they cannot fully comprehend what is happening, yet we treat them as if they are fully functioning adults and sentence them to insane prison sentences of 10 or more years at times. Germany however has taken steps in the right direction in my opinion, as they have allowed anyone under the age of 18 to not tried as adults in court, which allows these kids and teenagers to have access to more rehabilitative programs instead of rotting away in a prison being incapacitated. The German system also prioritizes rehabilitation over incapacitation, which is something that I believe that the United States should do however it will be hard to transition because there simply is not enough money to mainly focus on rehabilitation. Their focus is also on allowing youth in their country being able to still be educated and live their life. These youths are still very young and being locked up for years can be very detrimental to their development. We can look at the united states for this and see that many times when youths are imprisoned for long periods of time, it messes with their minds and alters their way of thinking more easily since their minds are more easily swayed. This can be a real problem for many nations, however Germany has a huge step in the right direction and I hope that more countries tale the steps that Germany has in order to offer juveniles a better chance at life. Pack789
ReplyDeleteI agree with that punishing juveniles as adults are causes bigger problems. Children are more susceptible to crimes because they are being influenced by the people around them. By that being their peers or their family. Their families have a big influence and if they don't have a good family home it can hurt the child in the future. The german system is great and evolving to bigger and better things for their people. Other countries are starting to take on these systems and I believe that the U.S should start implementing them also. This would help are country with overcrowding and other things related.
DeleteHollywood789
I agree with the way Germany is choosing to deal with their at risk youth. I think more times than not when dealing with juveniles people should do whatever it takes to help, educate, and rehabilitate them while their brains are still developing. However I did not like how the article explained that 90% of juveniles that committed rape and homicide were treated less harshly than they should have been. That means that there is not as much of an incentive to not do those things because you know you wont be punished harshly. - Rudedog8357
DeleteI agree with you when you say that punishing juveniles as adults has been proven to be a slippery slope. By punishing juveniles as adults, we are just setting these kids up for failure. These kids who spend have of their lives in jail are more than likely not going to grow up and have outstanding lives. I think that some form of punishment should be used. However, I think that juveniles should be put into a rehab program during the time that they are serving their punishment. I believe that the punishment that they would serve should not be a severe one, but it should definitely not be a “easy” punishment.
Delete-Fozz789
This article was very interesting to read about the differences that are around the world. I liked the idea of not punished children under the age of 14 because they are not considered responsibly. The idea of not punishing kids 18 and under for serious crimes was very interesting as well. Most children are still growing and doing things based on peer pressure and other things that impact there lives. I personally think this is better because it does not put a big problem on their record and helps the kids not sit behind bars for the 20’s and 30’s. We as today's society think children are just like us and need to be treated the same but the fact of the matter is that they are still learning right from wrong and ruining their life based on one minor offense is pretty silly. Of course there will be that 1 percent that deserves it but it's pretty rare. Germany also goes by the idea of rehabilitation instead of incarceration. Which is pretty great considering that we need to start practicing this especially for drug offenses. There is a lot of needless incarceration and children are a big part. Children need structure and education not blank cell walls and an hour a day of “recess”. Putting them through this can cause more damage than anything. This can destroy their development mentally and physically. Especially when they finally get out they would not know what to do. Germany is taking great steps forward for juveniles and possibly for future adults. You can see more and more countries trying this method over anything else because it is showing results. The United States need to start thinking about these type of methods than always relying on incarceration because it is only hurting our country.
ReplyDeleteHollywood789
I agree with you when you say that Germany is taking great steps forward for juveniles and possibly for future adults. By focusing on rehab for juvenile offenders rather than punishment, these kids are able to get the help they need so they do not ruin their lives and they learn how to live good, trouble free lives. Also, by focusing on rehab, these kids are given a second chance at a good life for themselves. After going through theses rehab programs, these juvenile offenders are being shaped into good, young adults who will have better lives as they grow older.
Delete-Fozz789
I am conflicted about this approach after reading the article. I believe that many elements of it would be universally effective, and they are definitely approaching the issue from a much more altruistic mindset than America does. However, the crime rates in Germany are much lower, and I would guess that this approach consumes fewer resources for Germany than it would for America proportionate to the resources available for either country.
ReplyDeleteTo address of what I'm saying, I think that the sentencing laws, disregarding any other changes, make sense as the brains of people under 25 are not fully developed and they should have the chance to engage with society after their brain is developed even if they were not able to safely do so before that point.
However, this article was not too specific about German youth were "sheltered from the harsher aspects of life". This seems like a great thing, but it does not at all seem plausible, especially in today's climate.
I was very surprised that even 90% of those who had commited murder and rape were treated by individuals using this more generous approach. This article said that this approach has been successful overall, but I would like to see statistics that broke down the success rate by crime committed.
I am generally very wary about using law enforcement as a deterrent, however, I wonder if the implementation of this system has caused certain types of crime to be committed more often because individuals know that the likelihood of serious punishment is lower.
I also wonder if Germany's low incarceration rate has more to do with their justice system or their cultural values.
People often show rates of income and poverty in Nordic countries that have more socialistic polices to argue that socialism promotes healthier and less poor societies. This argument is very strongly challenged by the fact that people from those countries and their children who have emigrated to America do even better than their native compatriots.
Income and Poverty rates of a given group relatively easy to measure. However, measuring the rate of immigrants in this given age group who are arrested for a given crime does not seem to be appropriate as the majority of people who immigrate at that age group do so because of their parents which already skews the statistic due to the higher crime rate amongst those who do not live with their parents.
Overall, there is much to learn from this article, however, I do not think that it lends itself well to a direct comparison.
-Rudedog789
I think you bring up a good point with the question if people commit certain types of crime more often because they know the punishment will be lighter. People under the age of 21 must know that they can do any crime and most likely get 10 years maximum. I think also that with the 90% of young adults getting sentenced as juveniles when they commit murder or rape, that the other young adults see that, and they might try the crime because they know the consequences are not too severe. This also makes me wonder what the victims think when they see the people getting sentenced as juveniles for committing these crimes. -Dp789
DeleteI think what you said about the murder and rape suspects being treated more generous is so true. It surprised me a lot too to see this. I feel as though it could be setting these teens up for thinking it is okay to do these crimes because nothing serious will come out of it. With people this age still developing and learning a lot, this is not something we want to be teaching teens. I think the question brought up about whether their low incarcerations rates have to do with cultural values is a very good point. There could be many other reasons why they have low incarcerations rates than just this program.
Delete- ST789
This article explained how Germany deals with its juvenile offenders. I agree with how in Germany, the focus for juvenile offenders is mainly rehab, not incarceration. Juvenile offenders in Germany do not receive harsh forms of punishment, as these are avoided when dealing with juvenile offenders. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that in Germany, no child under the age of fourteen years old can be punished. This is a very interesting item concerning juveniles. Most juveniles probably do not know what they are truly doing when breaking the law at their age, due to the fact that their brains are still growing, and they are going through a lot of different things during this time of their lives. I think it is good to focus more on rehab as opposed to punishment for these juveniles. By focusing more on rehab, these kids are getting a second chance at starting a new, good life as opposed to being punished for their mistakes. By punishing younger kids, their lives would become ruined and they would not have a very good chance at having a good life after serving their punishments. Also, in Germany, nearly ninety percent of the juveniles who committed serious offenses such as rape and murder were put into special rehab programs, rather than being punished for their actions. I find this to be very interesting. These kids are still not being severely punished and are put through special rehab programs, despite the fact that they committed some of the worst possible crimes someone could do. Overall, I think Germany has a very good system when it comes to dealing with juvenile offenders. In the U.S., rehab is put into place for juvenile offenders, but is not seen nearly as important as punishment while in Germany, it seems that it is the complete opposite of the U.S., where rehab is the most important thing and punishment is not used as much.
ReplyDelete-Fozz789
I also like the fact that Germany does a lot of rehabilitation measures when trying to deal with offenders. I think that it is a much better option than incarceration. It is good to help people change their ways and fix them and teach them what to do and how to act, rather than throwing them in a prison for a couple years and hoping they come out different. If rehab does not work then you can try incarceration with the person, but incarceration can cause someone to lose a couple years of living their life. I agree with your statement that rehabilitation can give a person a second chance. Prison can change a person’s life forever because it stays with them on their record, and with them mentally. -Dp789
DeleteI enjoyed the philosophy behind Germany's juvenile system as well. As you said the mind is still developing and to punish someone for the rest of there lives for youth ignorance in some cases seem a bit harsh. There does seem to be a similar importance here in America but as the numbers show our beliefs in incarceration seem to outweigh that.~pj789
DeleteI think i would agree with you on this being a good think to rehabilitate these teens instead of punishing them. Teens this age are still learning and developing and it is not fair to punish these non serious crimes when they might not know it was wrong or whatever reason they committed the crime. I like that you pointed out that punishing them could ruin their lives. I feel like this is so true. Putting them in jail could set their future up for failure in the long run.
Delete- ST789
This article was very interesting, and it reminded me of the Croatia article we were given earlier this semester. The first thing that stood out to me was that among the young adults ages 18, 19, 20 that were tried and convicted of crimes, 66 percent were sentenced as juveniles, and among the young adults, 90 percent of the ones convicted of murder and rape were still sentenced as juveniles. This is very different than in America where people can face lifetime sentences at that age for murder, and in Germany they face a maximum of 10 years. I wonder what the families of the victims think. I wonder if they are okay with letting these people get sentenced as juveniles. The numbers of adults incarcerated also surprised me especially when it was compared to the number incarcerated in the U.S. They incarcerate 76 out of 100,000 people and in the U.S., we incarcerate 693 out of 100,000 people. The age of criminal responsibility is also 14 which is higher than most places, and people under the age of 18 can never be tried as an adult no matter what crime they committed. Juvenile facilities there also have many young adults 18 or older, and they rarely have 14 or 15-year-old juveniles at the facility. The staff there also looks to be very well trained because they are required to have 2 years of training before working in corrections. In the article the person also mentioned that the juveniles there had sharp forks and knives and plenty of sharp things available to them, but it was not a problem or a concern there. In the U.S. sharp objects are abused all the time and people often try to make their own sharp objects. The differences in Germany correction facilities and the U.S. facilities is surprising, and it brings up the question if we should change the system, and how to change it. -Dp789
ReplyDeleteThat was interesting that they were trying individuals who were convicted of murder or rape as juveniles. I'm not sure that would fly here in America but given the number of adults incarcerated here something has to be changed in my opinion. It was also interesting as you pointed out how there staff was trained. Two years of training is a requirement which makes sense. I to believe we need to question our system and see if we can implement some of there ideas but im sure there would be a lot of backlash considering how much change would be needed. ~pj789
DeleteThis was an interesting article which showed a different take on the treatment of German youth. The human mind is developing at these younger ages, even past 21. This is a good approach in my opinion one that could aid us here in America. It goes without saying that when you are young you are subject to do something that is not that intelligent. Giving someone a chance to be tried a juvenile is a smart decision. Germany is obviously seeing some sort of potential from this given that 66 percent of the young adults who commit crimes are being tried in juvenile court. It was interesting to read how they treat them. Instead of locking them up in subpar living conditions they are treated with more liberty and have nice living conditions. I believe this can aid in a young person’s behavior better than stricter conditions because many of them probably do not come from the best of homes. Germany’s ideas about education and rehabilitation were very interesting and something else I enjoyed about this article. With the large amount of adults in American prisons who do not have even a high school education, giving someone a chance at an education will help them succeed if it’s at a young age like the youth in Germany. It was also interesting that 85 percent of the youth at one facility in Germany were over the age of 18 and there average age was 20. By looking at what Germany and other countries have set up for their youth I believe America can provide a better turnout for our youth if we give people a chance at a later age.~pj789
ReplyDeleteGermany has a very interesting way in dealing with offenders who are on the line of adulthood. There way of not punishing these youth as much is a great thing. Juveniles are very impulsive and often have rash or very quick decision making without thinking of the repercussions. Due to this they can often make some pretty bad decisions. It is cool that they sentence very young adults to juvenile jails. Often times if they are sentenced to prisons it will most likely ruin their lives in the future and set it up for failure in the end. It is also great that instead they are spending more money on rehabilitation these teens. Prisons and jails do not rehabilitate as much as they do incapacitate prisons, so to hear that they are spending time and money on rehabilitating these teens is so cool. Without the rehabilitations these teens are at a much higher risk to make bad decisions again in their lives and end up actually being sent to prison later on down the road. There will always be the small minority of these juveniles that will come back to criminal activity no matter what, but for the majority of these teens it is a great chance to make a better life for themselves and not have this follow them the rest of their lives. One problem I have is that 90% of the teens who committed rape or murder were put into special rehab programs instead of being punished. I think this could cause some future problems with teens thinking they can get away with more serious crimes and not think about the consequences.
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