Public Attitudes about Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Polls

Sometimes, it seems as though public attitudes about youth in the juvenile justice system haven't moved on since 1950, when the book pictured at right was published. But the next time you talk to policy makers about the need for more treatment options and positive activities for youth in the juvenile justice system, wouldn't it be great to be able to tell them that the majority of Americans:

• believe that rehabilitation and treatment can reduce crime AND are willing to pay extra taxes to provide those services;
• support rehabilitation even for young people who commit violent crimes;
• oppose young offenders being sent to adult criminal court without an individual determination made in each case;
• agree that non-white youth are more likely than white youth to be prosecuted as adults; and
• believe strongly in a separate juvenile justice system?

"Dream on," I can hear you saying. But it's no dream.

The items listed above are a direct quote from "Polling on Public Attitudes About the Treatment of Young Offenders," a short, recently updated document from the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN). It neatly synthesizes the results of five public opinion polls conducted between 2005 and 2007. It also reviews some key polls from the 1990s, done during the high tide of (baseless) hysteria about juvenile "super predators." 
And yep: in these polls, the public supported rehabilitation for teens in the justice system and was willing to pay for it -- even during the 1990s.
The document also provides some valuable guidance on how to frame your messages most effectively:

• Accountability: Across polls and across time, the public wants young offenders to be held accountable. In the [Center for Children's Law and Policy] poll, 80 percent of respondents wanted a stronger focus on accountability and thought that the system is not focused enough on “teaching youth who commit crimes to be accountable for their actions.”
• No Excuses: Building Blocks [for Youth’s] analysis of their polling responses found that the public was not convinced by messages that appeared to offer excuses, e.g., “It’s only natural for people to make mistakes when they are young.”
• Limit Statistics: In general, people were less convinced by messages that cite statistics.

Related post:

• Juvenile Justice Reform: Can We Break Free of the Punishment vs. Rehabilitation Argument?
• Moving from Them to Us - Challenges in Reframing Violence Among Youth