ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the punishment of juvenile offenders. It explains why justice requires different consideration given to youths and what this might look like. The idea of having a stake in society takes on central importance. Juveniles are in a transition to becoming full members of political society. Juvenile offenders are persons who are not fully responsible for their crimes because of their immaturity. The primary distinction between children and juveniles is that the former is incapable of rendering minimally satisfactory judgements about permissible actions. Children are persons who are ‘genuinely at sea on the question of right and wrong’. Juveniles face several developmental challenges in terms of their cognitive abilities, control mechanisms, and self-identity where each may be fragile and relatively malleable. Some legal systems permit juvenile offenders to be prosecuted and punished as adults. The deterrence theory of punishment might justify the punishment of juveniles as adults on different grounds.
