NCJ Number
182008
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 42 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2000 Pages: 123-133
Date Published
April 2000
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article discusses responses to violent acts by young children.
Abstract
Although on a broad level there appears to be widespread public support for dealing with very young violent children in the youth justice system, that support diminishes substantially when people are given a choice of how to deal with violent children. Most people in fact prefer dealing with very young violent children in the mental health or child welfare system as opposed to the youth justice system. Given the continuing concern over the minimum age of criminal responsibility, it would be useful to know something about the lives of the children that cause society so much concern. Using a representative sample of 3,434 10- and 11-year-old Canadian children, a study found that aggressive children were more likely than other children to feel unhappy and rejected. There are, therefore, two reasons to reject proposals for criminalizing the behavior of 10- and 11-year-olds: the public does not want it and an additional punitive response from the state would only add to the misery of the children’s lives. Tables, notes, references