Understanding Public Opposition to a Separate Youth Justice System

Abstract

This study examined the frequently reported finding that the public believes that youth court sentences are too lenient and that young offenders should be processed in the adult justice system. These beliefs, along with the view that sentences for specific cases should be harsher, were all related to one another in an Ontario, Canada, survey. However, the nature of the relationship was complex, and more detailed analyses suggested that the wish to imprison young offenders was not solely a desire for more punitive responses but instead was due, in part, to perceptions that alternatives to prison were ineffective.