Conclusions

After sitting in on a few different court sessions, I was able to get a greater understanding of what is being done with youth crime today. Going into this assignment I was unsure of what to expect. It was interesting to see the different reasons for the youth being there, whether it had been something as minor as stealing a stick of deodorant, or as serious as fraud under $5,000. It was also good to see that the court seemed to care about the youth and really wanted them to get out of the system. Hopefully with time, youth who differ from the norm can be treated as such when they are receiving their sentence. Otherwise they will just be set up to fail. I also think that an important aspect they should do more often is to let the victim speak. As part of the probation, ask the youth why they did what they did? and who it has affected. That way they can actually truly understand who and how their behavior affects others as well as themselves.