Sentencing Juvenile Offenders to Life in Prison: The Political Sociology of Juvenile Punishment

Sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison is the most severe criminal penalty available, yet we know little about the factors that produce jurisdictional differences in the use of such sanctions. Political explanations emphasize conservative values and the strength of more conservative political parties. Threat accounts suggest that this sentence will be more likely in jurisdictions with larger minority populations. After controlling for many explanations using count models, the results show that larger numbers of juvenile life sentences are handed out in more politically conservative states with a stronger Republican Party. Findings also show that racial politics is a factor in juvenile life sentences. Those jurisdictions that have the most blacks and have judicial elections sentence the most juveniles to life terms. By highlighting the explanatory power of public ideologies, these findings support political explanations for the harshest criminal punishment directed towards juveniles.     

Dealing with Juvenile Offenders in the Criminal Justice System

The treatment of juveniles within the criminal justice systems is a matter of great variety in the 11 European countries studied comparatively. The study focuses on the age of criminal responsibility, ways to divert juvenile offenders from the criminal justice system or avoid criminal justice responses to them, juvenile proceedings and special reactions and sanctions. In spite of different approaches there is a common trend towards preventing juvenile offenders from being treated by criminal courts and being sentenced to criminal sanctions.     

Exploring Sex Differences among Sentenced Juvenile Offenders in Australia

Recent research applying latent class analysis (LCA) reveals considerable diversity in the self‐reported offending patterns of incarcerated females and suggests that a failure to recognize these patterns will hinder the ability to understand mechanisms that lead females to serious offending. Using data from a cohort of serious juvenile offenders in Queensland, Australia, this paper extends the earlier research by using LCA to assess sex differences in juvenile criminal offending. Results indicate that female offenders are not a homogenous group with respect to their offending patterns, that there is a degree of symmetry between male and female offenders, and that childhood experiences of maltreatment increase the likelihood of membership in the most serious offending group for both males and females. Implications for theory and policy as well as directions for future research are highlighted.     

广州市未成年人社区矫正工作的创新与试点——需求评估、介入措施与实际效果

一、背景对未成年人的矫正与介入是社区矫正工作的重点内容之一。由于未成年人在各项法庭程序、特别是刑事案件的审理、羁押过程中,心理上往往受到强烈冲击,同时其家庭、求学等社会环境也往往发生极大的改变,在审判之后也容易遇到许多生活和心理上的困难,从而使其在外部环境和内部心理方面都陷入困境,触发种种社会问题。     

Family Conferencing for Juvenile Offenders: A Singaporean Case Study in Restorative Justice

Restorative justice has been or is being adopted in many parts of the world, including countries in Asia. In the case of Singapore, restorative justice was adopted by the court system in 1997 as its guiding philosophy in its approach towards juvenile offenders. This article traces the adoption of restorative justice by the Juvenile Court in Singapore and the use of family conferencing in the light of the principles of restorative justice. It concludes by suggesting areas where the family conferencing system in Singapore can be improved, and possible lessons for other jurisdictions considering adopting family conferencing.     

Country Profile: A Review of the New Juvenile Offenders Status in Cambodia

This publication seeks to explore whether the position of juvenile offenders vis‐à‐vis the Cambodian criminal law has changed with the passage of the new criminal legislation and whether this change has been positive or otherwise. The quality of this change will demonstrate to the reader whether the overall process of the reform of the juvenile justice component of the Cambodian system of criminal justice, which spans the last fifteen years and has been funded by the international community, has been a success. The author limited the scope of this inquiry to a comparison between the various domestic laws applicable to juvenile offenders and did not include comparisons with international law, model laws or juvenile laws of other states. Being the first publication of its kind, this analysis limits its claim to the analysis of the relevant statutory provisions rather than ‘practice notes’ which have yet to develop.     

在侦查阶段为未成年犯罪嫌疑人提供法律援助的实践与思考

深圳市宝安区在贯彻落实《最高人民法院、最高人民检察院、公安部、司法部关于刑事诉讼法律援助工作的规定》（以下简称《两院、两部的规定》），深入开展法律援助工作中，创新法律援助服务工作机制，在公安侦查阶段为未成年人犯罪嫌疑人提供法律援助，及时有效地保护了未成年犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的合法权益，取得了良好的成效。     

Differences in Psychosexual Development Among Child,Peer, and Mixed Juvenile Sex Offenders

Researchers have examined a number of typologies of juvenile sex offenders, including victim age. Using data from psychological evaluations and the Multiphasic Sex Inventory-II (MSI-II; [Psychological assessment of sex offenders, 2010 ]), this study compared child offenders (i.e., victims were more than 4 years younger), peer offenders (i.e., victims were 4 years younger or less), and mixed offenders (i.e., both child and peer victims) on variables including victim, offender, and offense characteristics, and psychosexual development. Peer offenders had more severe sexual offenses, prior status/nonviolent charges, and issues with sexual functioning. Mixed offenders began offending at a younger age and were indiscriminate in gender and relationship of the victim. Mixed offenders were also more likely than child and peer offenders to have prior sex offender treatment, meaning they had previously failed treatment. As juvenile sex offenders are a heterogeneous group, these research findings suggest that child offenders, peer offenders, and mixed offenders’ treatment needs differ from each other.     

Non-Sexual Delinquency in Juvenile Sexual Offenders: The Mediating and Moderating Influences of Emotional Empathy

The theoretical linkage of empathy to sexually aggressive and antisocial behavior is reviewed, and assessment conducted on the role of emotional empathy in the non-sexual delinquent behavior of juvenile sexual offenders. In examination of developmental antecedents of empathy, self-reported parental attachment and positive fathering experiences were found to be positively associated with emotional empathy, while reported exposure to violence against females was inversely related. As hypothesized, emotional empathy was found to have both mediating and moderating influences on risk of engagement in non-sexual delinquency. Emotional empathy was found to be negatively associated with non-sexual delinquency and to partially mediate the positive influences of exposure to violence against females and hostile masculinity. Emotional empathy was also found to function as a moderator of hostile masculinity, with high empathy levels associated with an attenuated positive effect of hostile masculinity on non-sexual delinquency, and low levels with an accentuated effect. Possible mechanisms for this moderating influence are discussed, along with clinical implications of the findings and directions for future research.     

Impact of the Young Offenders Act on Dispositions in the Juvenile Justice System of Canada

Following implementation of the Young Offenders Act (YOA) in April 1984, it was believed that a shift had occurred from an emphasis on rehabilitation and indeterminate sentences under the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) to an emphasis on punishment and determinate sentences under the new legislation, and a subsequent increase in frequency and length of custodial dispositions. Research studies suggest that, while the number of youths charged and the number sentenced to probation has remained the same, committals to custody and average length of detention have increased. Furthermore, victim reconciliation and community service orders are being used more often as dispositions under the YOA, consistent with the principle of accountability of young offenders.

The present study attempts to determine the impact of the YOA on judicial dispositions for 13 to 15 year old young offenders at the Provincial Court (Family Division), Frontenac County, by attempting to control for the nature of the cases and the type of individual brought before the courts. The hypothesis examined is that the YOA has not caused a change in youth court dispositions.

Differences were, in fact, found between dispositions used and it was shown by matching youths under each Act on age, sex, offence, and previous history, that similar youths do not necessarily receive the same dispositions; the probability of receiving a more severe form of disposition is greater for youths under the YOA than for youths with similar background characteristics and current offence under the JDA. Individuals who are given a particular disposition under the JDA and the YOA were also found to differ in terms of background characteristics. A number of reasons for the discovery of a change in dispositions are discussed.