You are a juvenile probation officer with a 16 year-old female client whose initial crime was a joy-ride vehicle theft. While on probation your client commits an aggravated assault. The judge asks you to work with the prosecutor to come up with an appropriate disposition to recommend for the offender. You are a supporter of the least-restrictive approach and the prosecutor is an advocate of the

Question

get-tough approach. The prosecutor adamantly pushes for incarceration. Would you be likely to agree with her recommendation? Why or why not?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Yes.
• The least-restrictive approach is not completely anti-incarceration. This approach is somewhere in-between get-tough and go-soft approaches. An important factor in deciding the disposition of an offender is the seriousness of the crime.
• Normally, an advocate of the least-restrictive approach would ask the court to do no more than necessary with youthful offenders, but juveniles who commit serious crimes or continue to break the law are presumed to deserve punishment rather than treatment because they possess free will and know what they are doing.
• Their delinquencies are viewed as purposeful activity resulting from rational decisions in which the pros and cons are weighed and the acts that promise the greatest potential gains are performed.