Levels of youth crime are increasing rapidly in most cities around the world. What are the reasons for this, and what solutions can be suggested? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge. Youth crime growing your opinion ?

When the Supreme Court banned capital punishment for crimes that were committed when a defendant was under the

age

of 18, it ruled that “standards of decency” had evolved to recognize that a juvenile’s “lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility” distinguished his crimes from those of an

adult

. The 2005 ruling, in Roper v. Simmons, was based partly on common sense and partly on research showing that the brain is still developing during adolescence, making young people especially vulnerable to impulsive behaviour. Over the

last

decade, seven states — Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire and South Carolina — have passed laws that channel most young offenders into juvenile courts, where they can receive counselling and support,

instead

of into

adult

courts and

adult

prisons, which are not equipped to deal with adolescents.

This

wise approach has bypassed New York, which is one of only two states — the other being North Carolina — that automatically try 16-year-olds as adults. While New York lawmakers fear that raising the

age

for

adult

courts would make them seem “soft on crime,” some state legislatures are now considering proposals to raise the

age

to 21. Connecticut’s experience is instructive. In 2007, it raised the

age

of

adult

prosecution from 16 to 18 as part of a package of criminal justice reforms. It moved most nonviolent infractions — things like shoplifting, drug possession and disorderly conduct — out of the formal court system and invested in counselling and intervention programs that allowed teenagers to avoid criminal records. A 2016 report by the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School found that raising the

age

for

adult

prosecution produced sharp reductions in arrests, court caseloads and incarceration costs. Sixteen-year-olds who are tried as juveniles are less likely to be rearrested than those tried as adults. And arrests for people under 18 dropped by an astonishing 68 percent, while the crime rate has continued to decline. Among other things,

this

research shows that most of the adolescent arrests that have traditionally been made by the police do not prevent future criminal behaviour.