Juvenile Justice: the Need to Ask the Right Questions

THIS PAPER IDENTIFIES CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS WHICH MUST be addressed by those concerned about the design of procedures for responding to offences by the young. The aim is to draw attention to a number of key issues to be considered when examining the objectives of the juvenile justice system and our methods of pursuing them. What Objectives can the System realistically pursue? This, the most fundamental question of all, is the one which is usually ignored, either because the answer is thought to be obvious or because the provision of an answer proves embarrassingly difficult. From one perspective, the answer is obvious: the system's purpose is to control and prevent juvenile crime. Yet uncertainties emerge as soon as this response is closely analysed. It is naive to view the level of youthful crime in Australia as a function of the operation of the various state and territory juvenile justice procedures. The system lacks the capacity to make the young law-abiding or to ensure that our streets will be safe. We do ourselves a disservice if we fail to recognise that police, courts and welfare services are no more than elements in the complex pattern which is Australian society. It is the nature of this society which we must study, in order to understand the sources of juvenile criminality and to fashion effective methods of dealing with it. Some years ago, Allen warned of the danger of turning the criminal justice system into a "weary Atlas" which is expected to bear a disproportionate share of a society's problems (Allen 1964, p. 4). This warning has particular relevance today: family poverty, youth homelessness and high levels of unemployment will invariably have a much greater impact on youthful behaviour than will any of the components of the juvenile justice system. It is unrealistic to expect that the introduction of such changes as the addition or removal of panels or the manipulation of penalty levels will be directly reflected in changes in crime rates. Reforms to the juvenile justice system cannot counteract the powerful social and economic forces which produce much juvenile crime. Yet this obvious point is too often ignored.