Nowadays, teenagers have been increasingly committing crimes around the world. Some people believe that punishing young offenders should be the same as adults while others claim that harsh punishment is not the best solution. Although there are several benefits, punishment decides on the seriousness of the crime. I believe that rehabilitation might be more effective rather than strict punishment.
To begin with, it cannot be denied that punishment could prevent young offenders from committing serious crimes. This is because if teenagers know that they will face the same punishment as adults, they will think twice before breaking the law. Furthermore, punishment should be decided on the seriousness of the crime rather than the age. In other words, treating youth more leniently may seem unfair to other victims who commit the same crimes.
Rehabilitation is more effective than strict punishment. The reason why they commit crimes is that youths are influenced by environment, peers or family issues. Therefore, punishing them as adults would ignore underlying causes of criminal behavior. Moreover, teenagers have emotional immaturity because their brains are not fully developed which can affect judgement. For instance, in an article of American newspaper (2024), researchers found that rehabilitated prisoners are less likely to re-offend which could make them better citizens.
In conclusion, although heavy punishment could prevent teenagers from committing crimes, I firmly believe that other punishments, such as rehabilitation, could be reduced from reoffending.