Juvenile crime has become unexpectedly common nowadays. This worrying trend is happening because children are more often left unsupervised, and they are not fully aware of the outcomes of their actions. However, they should be punished differently from the adult criminals.
One of the main reasons why this is happening is parents themselves, who are more often overwhelmed with their work. In other words, parents do not spend adequate time with their children. For example, some parents have little interest in their children’s friendships. As a consequence, children may seek a sense of belonging elsewhere and become vulnerable to the influence of bad peers. In addition, social media and current films frequently show villains as role models. Therefore, there are young people whose role model is someone who is not a good person at all. As a result, they may imitate their behavior in real life thereby becoming involved in crime.
Nonetheless, it might be thought that they should be punished the same way as adults. I, however, believe that children often commit crimes due to unconscious childish behavior, and being harsh on them might destroy their psyche entirely. Instead, the government should make some rehabilitation processes for teenagers to deal with problems they have in life. Moreover, they can be forced to do community work to understand that everyone should contribute to society in a positive way only.
In conclusion, although there are solid reasons why this is actual nowadays, I believe that the punishment should be more like a psychological support.