👉The table of contents so far is here.
Chapter 6: The System of Offences Law
6.6. Juvenile treatment systems
Communist offences law, which does not have a penal system, relativizes the distinction between treatment for adults and treatment for juveniles, so there is no need to prepare a separate juvenile law.
However, the extreme policy of treating adults and juveniles completely equally is not adopted, and appropriate exceptions are made for the treatment of juveniles, taking into account the characteristics of juveniles who are still developing.
The basic principle in juvenile treatment is to respect the plasticity (flexibility) that preserves the possibility of personal growth because they are minors. This is not denied as an idea even in the juvenile law, which is based on the penal system, but in the juvenile law, which is established as an exception to the penal system, the more serious the crime, the greater the desire to punish the juvenile offender, and the idea of plasticity tends to be pushed aside.
In contrast, in communist juvenile treatment, respect for plasticity is a guiding principle that is implemented without exception. For this reason, the concept of a "juvenile" is not defined formally by the legal age of adulthood, but is determined according to the biological and medical stage of development.
Therefore, for example, a person who has reached the legal age of adulthood but is considered to be a minor in terms of their developmental stage due to a developmental disorder or intellectual disability will be recognized and treated as a "juvenile."
Conversely, a person who is a minor in terms of the law but is judged to be at a developmental stage equivalent to that of an adult - the closer a minor is to the legal age of adulthood, the more likely they are to be recognized as such - will be recognized and treated as an "adult."
With the concept of juveniles thus made flexible, the treatment given to offenders who are recognized as juveniles is of two types: "educational observation" and "transfer to a correctional school."
"Educational observation" is a treatment that could be considered a juvenile version of probation for juveniles with low antisocial tendencies, but it places more emphasis on education than adult probation.
"Transfer to a correctional school" is a type of restrictive treatment aimed at juveniles with strong antisocial tendencies who are difficult to rehabilitate through "educational observation," but unlike adult correctional facilities, it allows for correction to go hand in hand with academics.
Furthermore, juveniles who are referred to custody for specific problematic behavior (delinquency) that does not constitute a serious offence, or juveniles who have committed a minor first offence such as shoplifting, are removed from the juvenile treatment route and sent directly to the appropriate juvenile welfare institution for welfare protection measures.
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
