Reforming American Youth Violence

Franklin E. Zimring's American Youth Violence analytically discusses the current status of American youth violence as both a social crisis and a public policy predicament. With the ultimate resolution for a suitable youth crime policy still undetermined, Zimring's suggestions for a youth crime policy focus on mitigating juvenile punishment and instilling adolescent development through experience.

He presents these central ideas of "diminished responsibility" and "room to reform" as potential methods to reform American youth violence for future generations. While Zimring's propositions indicate a sense of empathy and understanding for adolescents, separating juvenile and criminal treatment raises universal issues concerning parenting and justice.

In his discussion of "diminished responsibility," Zimring conveys the strong belief to eliminate juvenile punishment due to the fact that adolescents lack the skills and responsibilities of a typical adult. Although children and adolescents make inappropriate and immoral decisions, he believes they lack the maturity, moral responsibilities, and adult skills that therefore exempt them from being held fully accountable for their illicit actions.

Zimring explains that these adolescents still do not possess the "cognitive understanding" to be rightfully punished as an adult: "Yet the logic of diminished culpability argues that even after a youth passes the minimum threshold of competence, this barely competent youth is not as culpable and therefore not as deserving of a full measure of punishment as a fully qualified adult offender" (75).

This incompetence that Zimring refers to is due to the fact that several critical social skills-moral understanding, controlled impulses, and peer pressure-heavily impact such adolescent misbehavior. Much of these inabilities have not fully developed during the adolescent years and are later slowly overcome by age, social experience, practice, and maturity.

Zimring explains that these adult skills are learned as adolescents undergo the transition to adulthood: "Becoming an adult is a gradual process in modern industrial societies" (81).

Zimring indicates through his idea of "diminished responsibility" that adolescents can not be severely punished for their misconduct because they can not fully control their own actions until they are adults.

However, by mitigating adolescent punishment, children and adolescents will learn that they can continue to perform unlawful actions with little retribution in return. Youth violence in America would certainly decline if harsher penalties were enacted.

Zimring's idea of "diminished responsibility" also seems to overlook the important impact and responsibility that parents have upon their children's behavior. Much of youth violence today in America has people questioning the ability of parents to teach their children maturity, morality, and self-control.

Thus, these violent, felonious children as well as their parents should be punished strictly for their detrimental impact upon American society.

Zimring's further suggestion of "room to reform" emphasizes that development into adulthood is achieved through individual experience during the years of adolescence.

He simply describes adolescence as a period of learning through mistakes: "At the heart of this process is a notion of adolescence as a period of learning by doing, when competence in decision making can be achieved only by making decisions and making mistakes. For this reason, adolescence is a period that is "mistake-prone by design" (81-82).

In order for this legal policy to prove successful, adolescents must be able to learn through their own actions with minimal consequence. By protecting adolescents from harsh punishment, they will later resolve their inadequacies when they reach adulthood.

Zimring explains that although the current consequences of youth crime on the community lead to larger issues, punishing these juveniles harshly would oppose youth development policy: "In fact, punishing young offenders in ways that significantly diminish their life chances compromises the essential core of youth protection policy" (83).

Zimring expresses a concern to preserve adolescent lives for future development into their adult years. But if children are punished harshly the first time, they will be less likely to return to such violent and criminal acts.

Once again, Zimring looses sight of the importance of parents and the responsibility they have in preparing their children for adulthood. In order to prevent a future plethora of adolescent crime, adolescents and parents should be fully culpable for their lack of responsibility in obeying the law.

After assessing my disagreement with his concepts of "diminished responsibility" and "room to reform," Zimring would uncover some deficiencies with my alternative policies.

Zimring would respond that harsher punishment upon juveniles would not create a positive, safe learning environment. Children and adolescents would not improve their behavior through unsympathetic punishment, but instead, would be more hostilite and combative. This added aggression could lead to further violent acts across America.

On the other hand, Zimring would reply that drastic punishment upon the parents would be an invalid solution because adolescents and children will commit criminal acts despite the influence of their parents. Parents can teach their children maturity, morality, and the necessary adult skills, but at the same time, children and adolescents must have an innate benevolence and goodwill to refrain from such criminal acts.

Thus, parents can only do so much for their children according to his philosophy.

Biliography

Zimring, Franklin E. American Youth Violence. London: Oxford University Press, 2000.