“Rethinking the Sanctioning Function in Juvenile Court: Retributive or Restorative Responses to Youth Crime.”

Source: (1995) Crime & Delinquency 41(3):296-316.

Although juvenile courts have always administered punishment to youthful offenders, the parens patriae philosophy and the individual treatment mission have historically assigned an ambivalent role to the sanctioning function. In the absence of a coherent sanctioning framework for juvenile offenders, a punitive model has recently gained dominance over dispositional decisionmaking in juvenile court. This paper examines the limitations of sanctioning choices presented by both. The authors then consider the implications of restorative justice as a framework for forging a new approach to sanctioning consistent with a revitalized juvenile justice mandate.