Contemporary trends in juvenile justice

Master's Thesis from the year 2004 in the subject Law - Criminal process, Criminology, Law Enforcement, grade: A, Kyushu Daigaku (Kyushu University, School of Law), course: LL.M. International Economic and Business Law, language: English, abstract: Reforms in various juvenile justice systems have traditionally beenidentified as shifts towards either the welfare/individual treatmentmodel ("Welfare Model") or retributive justice model ("RetributiveModel"). In Welfare Model systems, criticisms that the juvenileoffender was treated with too much leniency and was not madeaccountable for his actions resulted into reforms which focused onretribution and greater punishment. In Retributive Model systems,criticisms that retribution and punishment did not actually reducerecidivism of offenders resulted into reforms which focused on theirrehabilitation and treatment.The tension between these two models arise in the different treatmentaccorded the primary actor in this system, the juvenile offender. In theWelfare Model, the juvenile offender is considered victim of hiscircumstances and is given individualized treatment in accordancewith his needs. On the other hand, the Retributive Model treats theoffender as a menace to society and punishes and incarcerates him.Both models, however, fail to take into account two other importantfigures in the system - the victim whom the offender has wronged andthe community which is indirectly harmed by the wrongful acts of theoffender. The failure of existing models in addressing the needs of thevictim and society led to reforms in their key components. A notable reform in the Retributive Model reflects the growing concernfor the victim and the efforts made to enhance victim participation inthe system. Rather than simply focusing on punishment of theoffender through state processes, the victim is given greaterparticipation and role in the sanctioning process. This can be seen inthe reforms made in Japan's juvenile just