The example you provided of the ransacked house would not in my mind warrant a jail sentence. And not all youth crimes are dealt with community service. Myself, and this is just my opinion, putting children in jail is something from Dickens, not 2006. Fourteen is pretty young. You mentioned 15, getting closer. 16 yes if the situation warranted it. Youth crime does need to be dealt with seriously however but jail is probably not the answer.
When I think of youth crime I am most familiar with the Cook murders. Robert Cook was in trouble with the law at the age of 12. The more I learn about the case, including listening to Judge MacNaughton who was Cooks’s defence lawyer at the time speak on the case, I am convinced that Cook and youth like him have very, very severe behavioral problems that are not solved by time in jail. I would hope, in fact I know, that children with behavioral problems can be diagnosed and helped. I have occasion to pass the gravesite of the family Cook murdered and am reminded each time that jail did not work for that family even though jail sentencing was harsh in the late 50s and early 60s. Just my opinion. If Cook could have gotten the psychiatric help he needed it would have done everyone involved a world of good. Psychiatric care is not a joke.
When I think of youth crime I am most familiar with the Cook murders. Robert Cook was in trouble with the law at the age of 12. The more I learn about the case, including listening to Judge MacNaughton who was Cooks’s defence lawyer at the time speak on the case, I am convinced that Cook and youth like him have very, very severe behavioral problems that are not solved by time in jail. I would hope, in fact I know, that children with behavioral problems can be diagnosed and helped. I have occasion to pass the gravesite of the family Cook murdered and am reminded each time that jail did not work for that family even though jail sentencing was harsh in the late 50s and early 60s. Just my opinion. If Cook could have gotten the psychiatric help he needed it would have done everyone involved a world of good. Psychiatric care is not a joke.
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