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Three dogmas of juvenile justice.

Weatherburn, Don
June 4, 2015

Source: (2012) UNSW Law Journal 35(3):779-181.

Juvenile justice policy in Australia is dominated by three assumptions so
widely accepted and so rarely challenged they might fairly be described as
dogmas. The first assumption is that contact with the court system increases the
risk of further offending (ie, is criminogenic). The second assumption is that
restorative justice (‘RJ’) is more effective than traditional justice in reducing the
risk of further offending. And the third assumption is that, left to their own
devices, most juveniles grow out of crime. In other words, juvenile involvement
in crime is for the most part transient and self-limiting. (excerpt)

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