How Can Society Properly Punish Juvenile Delinquents While Still Trying to Care for and Rehabilitate Them?

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Society has a problem with judgment and stigmatizing people which can really hurt a person’s reputation. I think if we can change that, then maybe we can find a successful way of punishing juvenile delinquents while helping them rehabilitate. A huge issue is the criminalization of youth. Platt states “we make criminals out of children by treating them as if they were criminals”. This needs to stop and people need to start changing their attitudes towards the youth. Such stigmas being given out at these young ages can destroy a future. Juveniles, especially of color, are a lot of the time arrested for non-violent crimes, and when they come out of the system they are most likely given a probation officer and all of a sudden they are known as “criminals”. But, I see this as a second chance… avoid the jail time, learn from the mistake, and get straightened out because the crime was not severe and this shouldn’t define you. They were deviants, not criminals. According to the three boys Ronny, Jr. and Jose, who committed non-violent crimes, it didn’t matter what they did; they were now thought of as criminals by family, friends, community etc. The way people look, talk, and act around them is different. They then embrace this title, and are more likely to have another arrest. According to Rios “in this era of mass incarceration, society has formed around the idea that young adults who commit small acts of deviance will eventually commit more severe acts and this leads to community members treating all deviants as criminals”. This attitude from the community only contributes to the embracing of the stereotype “criminal” and makes it very easy for the youth to “give up” and then mess up. If only the communities and families realized the youths are being given a second chance because of a non-violent crime and have the opportunity to get back on track, and if they have

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