In adult court, the outcome of being found guilty of a serious crime will end in some form of punishment, in many cases prison. If we start trying youths in this way and send them to adult prisons there will be many harmful consequences. One concern is “adult contamination” which is one reason why the two groups were divided and separate justice systems were developed.[5] Research has shown putting young people in with older prisoners leads to them learning more about crime than what they ever would outside of a prison or in a youth detention centre.[6] This in turn increases the rate of recidivism among young people as rehabilitation is less likely to work. A reason for this would be age appropriate intervention programs not being offered in the adult correction system, so education is lacking therefore not providing any opportunities or support to the youth once …show more content…
Patmore P, Prisons and Politics, opening address of “keeping people out of prison”, http://www.aic.gov/publications/proceedings/11/henson.pdf , Quoted by http://www.smartjustice.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=288&itemid=42 site viewed 15th September 2008.
Premier and ministers of South Australia, Young repeat offenders to be tried as adults, http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/news.php?id=1181, site revised 23rd January 2007.
Steinberg, L (development psychologist), Should juveniles be tried as adults?, http://tigernan.com/shouldjuvenilesbetriedasadults.pdf, site viewed 13th September 2008.
Weatherburn, D and Lind, B, Reducing juvenile crime: conferencing versus court, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Crime and Justice Bulletin no. 86, 2002. http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/11_bocsar.nsf/pages/bocsar_pub_cjb, site visited 11th September 2008.
Youth Court, http://courts.sa.gov.au/courts/youth/index, site visited 13th September