- 3. July 2009: Webb For Change
- 11. June 2009: Criminal Justice Accountability II
- 11. June 2009: Criminal Justice Accountability
- 11. June 2009: Criminal Injustice - A Nation In Decay
- 10. June 2009: Criminal Injustice-Adult Incarceration
- 10. June 2009: Criminal Injustice - Juvenile Detention
- 10. June 2009: Criminal Injustice - The Need For Reform
- 21. May 2009: The Need For Education and Reform
- 21. May 2009: Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009
- 13. May 2009: TOO YOUNG TO DISCARD
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Juvenile Justice in the Rest of The World
I am going to attempt to get you to read and digest statistics from various parts of the world concerning crime, sentencing, juvenile offences and more. I know that it is not very entertaining to look at numbers but with each set of information I am going to try and point out some very interesting details.
I know that “we are not other nations”. I know that “we don’t want anyone else telling us how to run our country”. I know that we have it all figured out and we do the best job! HA!
Before we begin, I want you to look at your local newspaper, turn on the news, look outside your door and be reminded of our current state of affairs. Is it possible that someone else might have a better idea?
Take a look at the statistics for Australia. What have they done to see a significant decline in the number of juveniles in corrections facilities? I can tell you what they did for a time and what they have changed. They did try youth as adults and incarcerate them in adult facilities. However, since they have adopted the Convention on The Rights of a Child and re-adjusted their prosecution and incarceration policies, that has stopped. Look below.
Australia:
Persons in juvenile corrective institutions, 1981-2006 (rate per 100,000 relevant population)
Source: Taylor N 2007. Juveniles in detention in Australia, 1981-2006. Technical and background paper no. 26. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tbp/tbp026/
***The following information is taken from the very thorough report from Germany. I have included comments on the issue of adult offenders as well as comments concerning juvenile offenders.
Press release No. 299 / 2008-08-20
Number of prisoners further on the decrease
WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), nearly 75,200 prisoners served a sentence in German penal institutions or were only temporarily absent (for example due to leave from retention) on 30 November 2007. Hence, the rate of detention per 100,000 registered inhabitants was 91 in Germany. In 2000, the rate of detention for Germany was still 98. Since then, that rate has been on the decrease, as is also the case with absolute figures. The decrease is primarily due to the trend observed for detainees awaiting trial. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of detainees awaiting trial decreased by 31% (from 18,300 to 12,600), mainly because of different measures taken to avoid detention.
CONCERNING ADULT OFFENDERS: “If the accused is sentenced to a prison sentence of up to two years, execution of the sentence can be suspended and the convicted person put on probation. In a period of probation to be determined by the court, the person sentenced should demonstrate that being sentenced was itself sufficient warning and that he will not commit any further crimes. At the same time, as the punishment is suspended, the negative effects of confinement are avoided, e.g. that the individual is torn away from his previous life, work and social contacts. In combination with suspending the sentence and imposing a period of probation, the court can impose conditions on the person sentenced (e.g. a fine) or issue instructions affecting his conduct, e.g. he can be placed under the supervision of a probation officer for the period of probation.”
“Similarly, the remainder of a sentence to life imprisonment can be suspended and probation imposed once 15 years have been served, if the particular gravity of the convicted offender’s guilt does not necessitate his remaining in prison, and if the prognosis is favourable and the prisoner agrees.”
JUVENILE OFFENDERS
“In the case of juvenile offenders (14 - 17 years inclusive) and young adults (18 - 20 years inclusive) convicted under juvenile criminal law the criminal justice system aims to educate the offender and provides for special sanctions: firstly, educative and disciplinary measures and, secondly, youth imprisonment with the possibility of suspension and probation. The imposition of additional legal consequences and measures to reform the offender and protect the public is only possible to a limited extent. A young adult offender is required to be processed under juvenile criminal law if he is like a juvenile in terms of his development or if the offence was a transgression of a juvenile nature.”
“Youth imprisonment is the only real criminal punishment available under the Act on Juvenile Courts. There are differences compared with adult imprisonment rules. The length of 36 Sentencing, penal sanctions the period is limited to between six months and ten years. The judge imposes youth imprisonment when the criminal tendencies of the juvenile, which have become apparent as a result of his crime, indicate that educative or disciplinary measures will not suffice to reform the offender or when punishment is needed because of the seriousness of the offence. If it is not possible to ascertain with certainty during the main proceedings whether the criminal tendencies of the offender are such that youth imprisonment is actually needed, the judge will only pronounce the guilt of the juvenile. The decision as to whether a sentence to youth imprisonment should be imposed is suspended for a certain probationary period.”
I find it very interesting that the country accused of some of the worst human rights violations and the instigator in two world wars, has found that rehabilitation, treatment and restoration are the keys to a productive society.
***The last country I will profile is Bulgaria. I selected this country because it is an eastern block country which faces many different social issues than we face, as you will see in some of their definitions and consequences. I also chose this country because it provides clear information and statistics. See Below:
The Local commissions for prevention of juvenile delinquency is competent authority which organize and coordinate the preventive social activities on the territory of the municipality, trace and ascertain, together with the inspectors at the child pedagogic rooms and directorates “Social support”, the minors who need aid, and take measures for their social protection and development; consider the acts, impose the educational measures, extend proposals to the court for imposing educational measures; enact the measures and exercise control over their fulfillment; assist parents encountering difficulties in bringing up their children; exercise control over the child pedagogic rooms, social-pedagogic boarding schools, asylums, correctional boarding-schools, correctional facilities, and facilities for temporal placement of minors on the territory of the municipality, and over the activities of the guardians of the minors; study the condition of the minors and the reasons for their anti-social acts and advance suggestions before the respective state bodies and social organizations and other.
Child pedagogic rooms are special institutions which are responsible for tracing and finding out minor offenders and the reasons and conditions for their anti-social acts or crimes; tracing and finding out minors who are subject of criminal encroachment, maltreatment, or have been left uncontrolled; taking the appropriate measures or notifying the competent bodies; notifying the bodies of prosecution in case they receive information about criminal conduct in relation to minors by the parents, the persons substituting for them, or third parties; to observe the fulfillment by the minor or the inflicted measures.
Social-pedagogic boarding schools are special institutions where placed minors aged over 8 years and juvenile when they have committed anti-social acts or there are prerequisites for committing such acts.
Correctional boarding schools are special institutions where placed minors aged over 8 years and juvenile if they have committed anti-social acts in relation to which the correctional measures referred to in art. 13, para 1, item 1-10 and 12 have proved insufficient and there is no appropriate social environment for the normal upbringing of these minors.
An anti-social act is an act which is publicly dangerous and against the law or contradicts the morality and good manners.
The educational measure is an alternative of the punishment of measure for educational effect as regards a minor or underage, having committed an anti-social act, and an underage released from penal liability under Article 61 of the Penal Code, and which is inflicted for the purpose of overcoming the deviations in the conduct, prevention of future offence and integration in the society.
9 635 educative measures were inflicted on 7 492 minors and juveniles for committed different crimes and anti-social acts (against 10 511 educative measures and 8 107 persons in 2006). The educative measure of ‘warning’ was imposed to the highest number of persons - 3 856, followed by the measure ‘put under educative surveillance on behalf of public supervisor’ - on 1 859 persons, and ‘put under educational care of parents or the persons replacing them with the obligation of intensive care’ - on 1 301 minors and juveniles. The educative measure ‘proposal for settlement in correctional boarding schools with term of probation up to 6 months’ was inflicted on 560 minors and juveniles, ’settlement in social-pedagogic boarding school’ on 127 and ’settlement in correctional boarding school’ on 97 minors and juveniles
***Okay one more country. The Republic of Croatia a small country in western Europe which declared its independance from communist Yugoslavia in 1991.
Of the 2830 Juvenile perpetrators of criminal offenses, 12 went to juvenile prison, 58 were suspended from juvenile prison and 904 were sentenced to educative measures. You will find that most are fined and receive suspended sentences or educative measures. In a small country that was devastated by war in the Balkans in the 1990’s!
I have not viewed all the statistics for every country, however there is a strong pattern in all of the statistics that I have viewed. Most countries do not incarcerate ANY persons for long periods of time. Life sentences can almost always be overturned after a minimal amount of time when the offender shows rehabilitation. All countries viewed have educational reform as the number one “punishment” for juvenile offenders. Rehabilitation, reform, restorative justice, education and success are their models for taking offenders and transforming them into productive citizens. Why are we so different? Why are we so focused on incarceration? Why are we satisfied with paying the ticket for offenders instead of requiring they become contributors to our coutry? If we are truly the wealthiest nation in the world, is it because we can afford to pay for it so we do not look for other options? Is it because we have something to gain by filling prisons and we care nothing about the loss of human dignity? That is the next blog. In the mean time, go to the link below and click on statistics by country. Do a little research for yourself.
http://www.juvenilejusticepanel.org/en/sbc.html
Thank you, Michelle, for providing the link and the information.