The article “The costs of delinquency” was written by Mark A. Greenwald, Sherry L. Jackson and Michael T. Baglivio. The article was done in the form of a literature review; from studies that were conducted between the years 1982-2005. The main purpose of the article was to evaluate restitution as a sanction in the Criminal Justice system for juvenile delinquents and its effectiveness towards recidivism.
As a way to reduce recidivism among juvenile delinquents a form of restorative justice known as restitution was introduced to the criminal justice system (Greenwald, Jackson & Baglivio, 2014). Therefore, instead of institutionalizing juvenile delinquents they were sanctioned to pay a fine to the victim. The way restorative justice works is …show more content…
al., 2014). The judges used his discretion when determining which cases can be resolved through restitution. However, majority of eligible cases did not receive this sanction (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). The findings suggest that restitution was more of a compliance aspect of the criminal justice system as it did not affect the behaviour of the juvenile delinquents. Therefore, recidivism was inevitable for these delinquents; however, the judge would be more lenient on repeat offenders who paid restitution for their first offence. The studies found no correlation between restitution and recidivism rates in juvenile delinquency (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). However, youths who resided in a nuclear family were more likely to have restitution imposed on them based on their family economic stability. Restitution is used to hold the offender responsible; however, the studies found that the fines were paid by the parents. That being said the use of restitution paid by the parents has no significant impact on the juvenile delinquent behaviour. Finding a correlation between recidivism in juvenile offenders and restitution is purely speculative if intermediate measures are not implemented (Greenwald, et. al., …show more content…
The article did not mention the consequences of failure to pay the restitution assigned by the courts, and the impact this has on the victims. Retribution is only offered to delinquents from nuclear family; therefore, the justice system can be viewed as being biased and prejudicial. This attitude perpetuates inequality and unfair treatment between the classes as everyone is not given the same options. This type of prejudicial treatment creates untrustworthiness and credibility issues with the criminal justice system. Restorative justice is effective towards some criminal activities but the article fails to mention which crimes restitution will be imposed against (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). The article did not state the number of times that an offender would be allowed to make restitution for their crimes, as this judgement is left in the hands of the judges. As a result, judge’s biases, prejudices and opinions are inevitable. As stated in the article no information was provided to the public as to why majority of the cases that were eligible to receive restitution did not (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). This type of justice begs the question that if the family economic situation did not deter the crime in the first place, what type of influence will it have after the
As a way to reduce recidivism among juvenile delinquents a form of restorative justice known as restitution was introduced to the criminal justice system (Greenwald, Jackson & Baglivio, 2014). Therefore, instead of institutionalizing juvenile delinquents they were sanctioned to pay a fine to the victim. The way restorative justice works is …show more content…
al., 2014). The judges used his discretion when determining which cases can be resolved through restitution. However, majority of eligible cases did not receive this sanction (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). The findings suggest that restitution was more of a compliance aspect of the criminal justice system as it did not affect the behaviour of the juvenile delinquents. Therefore, recidivism was inevitable for these delinquents; however, the judge would be more lenient on repeat offenders who paid restitution for their first offence. The studies found no correlation between restitution and recidivism rates in juvenile delinquency (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). However, youths who resided in a nuclear family were more likely to have restitution imposed on them based on their family economic stability. Restitution is used to hold the offender responsible; however, the studies found that the fines were paid by the parents. That being said the use of restitution paid by the parents has no significant impact on the juvenile delinquent behaviour. Finding a correlation between recidivism in juvenile offenders and restitution is purely speculative if intermediate measures are not implemented (Greenwald, et. al., …show more content…
The article did not mention the consequences of failure to pay the restitution assigned by the courts, and the impact this has on the victims. Retribution is only offered to delinquents from nuclear family; therefore, the justice system can be viewed as being biased and prejudicial. This attitude perpetuates inequality and unfair treatment between the classes as everyone is not given the same options. This type of prejudicial treatment creates untrustworthiness and credibility issues with the criminal justice system. Restorative justice is effective towards some criminal activities but the article fails to mention which crimes restitution will be imposed against (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). The article did not state the number of times that an offender would be allowed to make restitution for their crimes, as this judgement is left in the hands of the judges. As a result, judge’s biases, prejudices and opinions are inevitable. As stated in the article no information was provided to the public as to why majority of the cases that were eligible to receive restitution did not (Greenwald, et. al., 2014). This type of justice begs the question that if the family economic situation did not deter the crime in the first place, what type of influence will it have after the