In the big picture, excuse-makers like this are just as much a part of the problem as the perps. This is the sort of thinking that has allowed career criminals to keep getting put back on the streets, and career "juvenile" criminals to end up with no criminal record. If it weren't for the excuse-makers and the politicians they help elect, the neighborhoods full of career criminals wouldn't exist, because they'd all be locked up, instead of roaming the streets committing crimes and inspiring another generation to do the same. Some of them would actually straighten out, if they were locked up for years after their first "minor" offense, instead of being allowed to go right back to associating with the crowd that inspired them to commit their first crime.