Juvenile delinquency

From Republika

The statements made by Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono and Umar Firdaus Achmadi, who advocate stern measures against juvenile delinquents by moving them elsewhere or even treating them as criminals, compels me to comment.

First, the argument that to incarcerate them would teach the delinquent youths a lesson is too fervent. In short, while such measures may perhaps seem effective it does not solve the problem. The reason is that once out of jail, even more complex problems will be confronting them.

One line of thought says that jails are schools for crime. Youths who are condemned and put in jail will have contact with seasoned criminals, which opens up the real possibility of their learning from them.

Another negative effect involves the youth's self-perception. They could come to perceive themselves as law-violating personalities and, on being set free, act their role as such in society.

Second, whatever they are, young people are still part of our human resources that must be developed. Therefore it is time that Indonesia set up juvenile courts to overcome the problem of juvenile delinquency.

I also propose that we take the road of wisdom in tackling the problem of juvenile delinquency by developing rehabilitating methods in order to give our youths the chance of reaching for a better future.

R. ABDURRASJID

Sukabumi, W. Java