Citation

Merlo AV, Benekos PJ. Youth Justice 2010; 10(1): 3-24.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, National Association for Youth Justice, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1473225409356740

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The authors examine emergent policies in juvenile justice that suggest a softening of the get-tough legislation of the 1990s that targeted youthful offenders. In the context of Bernard’s thesis on the cycle of juvenile justice (Bernard, 1992) this article critiques the extreme policy reactions to juvenile violence and considers the impact they had on demonization of youth and expressive justice. The discussion contrasts punitive rhetoric such as zero tolerance with programmes that incorporate restorative principles. The authors propose that a decrease in juvenile crime, dissemination of evidence-based intervention strategies, and fiscal constraints have provided opportunities to de-escalate the punitive response to youthful offenders.