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Incarceration: Effective Measure For Response To Youth Crime

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No, incarceration is not an effective measure for response to youth crime. Due to youths’ mental immaturity, they are vulnerable to high levels of stress and anxiety, with addition of mental disorders arising from the distress. The youth had already been exposed to “abuse, family instability, involvement with child welfare, and school difficulties” (Corrado & MacAlister, 2016, p. 358) and therefore, intervention is more important than a punitive sentence. It is recommended to use alternative measures such as placing youth into family-focused and multi-focused correctional programs, which are found to more efficient than programs which are focused on the youth alone. However, youth offenders who have repeated a severe offence, such as murder

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