I agree with you to the greater extent - especially if some of the crimes are petty. I do wonder where this kid would have ended up later though - killing someone in a robbery or smashing some other poor kid beyond recognition.
What people refuse to believe but behavioral psychologists know is the the potential for extreme behavior later shows up when these kids are young teens or even pre-teens in this sought of behavior. I have worked with youth and in Security and if there is no possibility of early, parental supported, intervention at a very young age then it is only the possibility of them hearing and accepting the gospel that will turn them around.
Mel
While I agree with you that somebody who, is prone to doing petty crime certainly needs to be monitored to see if he is becoming progressively more dangerous, it is my experience that petty criminals usually stay petty criminals, unless they are subject to conditions that force them to do worse things, such as having to mix with more dangerous people in the state prisons.
That does not mean I don’t support holding the petty criminals accountable for their actions. A better plan would have been to, for every time he stole a couple of pieces of pizza, convict him and have him pay it back doing things like pulling potatoes at some farm for the weekend.
If the person doesn’t have the level of awareness or self-control to not stop doing petty crimes, and spends his life doing chores for the public good, there’s really nothing fundamentally wrong with that. He will, in the end, give back to society more than he’s taken.
How many graffiti artistes have been arrested more than 3 times? How many of them are serving life in prison without parole?
Clearly not enough of the vandals.