Assignment 2: Focus of Juvenile Justice

Early treatment of juveniles focused on punishing offenders who were capable of understanding their offenses. Today, the juvenile justice system has developed as a more benevolent, less formal alternative to the adult system, in which rehabilitation, not punishment, is the desired outcome.

Submission Details:

By Saturday, May 7, 2016, in a minimum of 250 words, post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following:

• Do you think rehabilitation should be the most important goal of the juvenile justice system? Why?
• During the course of processing a youthful offender, under what circumstances, if any, should the juvenile justice system abandon rehabilitation and focus on punishment?
• What criteria should be used when deciding whether to focus primarily on punishment? Explain.

By Wednesday, May 11, 2016, read your classmates' postings and respond to at least two of them. Comment with reasons on their rationales for why they believe the juvenile justice system should or should not concern itself primarily with rehabilitation.

Discussion Grading Criteria and Rubric

All discussion assignments in this course will be graded using a rubric. This assignment is worth 40 points. Download the discussion rubric and carefully read it to understand the expectations.