NationStates Jolt Archive

There is a bit of debate in Queensland at the moment about the possibility of naming and shaming juvenile offenders. I personally think it's a ridiculous bandaid solution meant to pander to the conservative majority. It ultimately achieves nothing but further cementing the poor self-belief and self-worth of these children.

But I could be wrong, as I have been before.

So NS General, what do we think?

Should we name and shame juvenile offenders? Or allow them to keep their privacy and perhaps their one moment of stupidity a secret of their misspent youth?

I think all its going to do is anger the offenders even further, making them more aggressive towards society.

I also believe its more about vengeance than actial justice.

Shaming only works if its a part of your cultural norms.

It's meant to be a deterrent, as much as a punishment, I think. Perhaps it would make current offenders worse, but perhaps it would also keep other new ones from thinking they can keep it quiet if they misbehave.

I just think, rather than reinforcing the idea that these kids are worthless and criminals, we should be recognising the causes and solving it. I really want to work with at-risk kids as a teacher (an umbrella term for all kids at risk of not completing grade 12 in QLD), and specifically those who are at-risk because they are not able to cope with formal schooling in it's current incarnation. However, there is nothing out there to train me as a teacher to help them. There are no specialisations for classroom teachers in this area. And I firmly believe that school is where a lot of the feelings of worthlessness are ingrained, through teacher stereotyping, kids repeatedly failing, and the consequences in place (suspension, exclusion etc.).