A MacArthur Report on Juvenile Reform
Author: Fred Cohen.
Source: Volume 17, Number 02, July/August 2015 , pp.24-25(2)
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Abstract:
The body of research demonstrating the differences in the way youth and adults make decisions and respond to situations is now well-established, and should play an important role in steering us toward developmentally appropriate juvenile justice policy. “Models for Change: System Reform in Juvenile Justice” is a brief but very important policy paper from the MacArthur Foundation advocating a series of measures—including abolition of solitary confinement, restoration of confidentiality rules, reform of sex offender registries, and an end to criminal prosecution of juveniles under the age of 18—that are only “radical” in the sense that they will be difficult to implement widely as long as our emphasis on punishment remains uninformed by science and by what actually works.Keywords: Models for Change; Miranda; new brain science; consequences; three pivotal differences; five opportunities for policy change
Affiliations:
1: Executive Editor .