Rehabilitative and Restorative Justice for Juvenile Offenders

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12078
• Published date: 01 February 2014
• Author: John W. Raine
• Date: 01 February 2014

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

JUVENILE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

Rehabilitative and Restorative Justice for

Juvenile Offenders

How Might Economic Sanctions Help?

John W. Raine

University of Birmingham, U.K.

Once upon a time, court sentences were all about punishing the offender. But

these days a broader range of objectives tends to underpin sentencing policy and

practice, including the pursuit of positive outcomes—notably, the avoidance

of repeat behavior and addressing of harm done to the victim(s). Seeking such outcomes

inevitably calls for more care on the part of sentencers in choosing the particular sanction

to be applied, and for many years now, there has been an ongoing debate about the efficacy

(both absolute and relative) of different options, such as a term of imprisonment, some

form of community service (or payback), or an economic sanction (i.e., a financial penalty

of one form or another).

Economic sanctions are often favored for less serious offending not least because of

their relatively low cost to implement and because they are regarded as “hitting where it

hurts” most—in the personal pocket. However,this is not always the reality, as enforcement

costs can be high in tracking down those who are determined to evade paying, and because

it is rarely clear who actually bears the burden of economic sanctions (the offender, his or

her family and dependents, or perhaps even other victims, if settling a financial debt to the

court means resorting to further crime?).

Perhapsmost par ticularly for juvenileoffenders, there is a strong argument for sanctions

that both promote rehabilitation and are restorative in nature, i.e., ones that encourage

offenders to desist from crime or antisocial behavior; that help them to understand and

acknowledge the negative impacts of their actions; and ideally, that involvemaking amends

in some way. For many sentencers, economic sanctions, and particularly fines, can seem

unlikely candidates in this respect. This is especially the case if the financial penalties are

Direct correspondence to John W. Raine, Institute of Local Government Studies, School of Government and

Society, 9th Floor West, Muirhead Tower, University of Birmingham B15 2TT (e-mail: j.w.raine@bham.ac.uk).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12078 C2014 American Society of Criminology 27

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 13 rIssue 1