A lot of people test the boundaries of acceptable and permissible behaviour in their lifetime. During puberty, many adolescents commit actions that are not approved by the community, some even commit a criminal act. Legislators of different countries agree that juveniles have to be treated differently than adult perpetrators because of their youth and inexperience. Different measures are also called for because of the nature and severity of juvenile criminal acts. Juveniles mostly commit less serious crimes, such as property offences. They often act in groups and members of the criminal group encourage each other to break the rules. Peer preasure, poor family relations and difficult social environment are only some reasons that can lead a young person to develop a criminal career. Slovenian system of dealing with juvenile criminals relies on a therapeutic approach. Rather than punsihing, we focus on helping the troubled adolescent. Our goal is to prevent the juveniles from continuing to commit crimes as adults. Most juvenile offenders are sentenced to community work and other educational sanctions. Serious juvenile criminals, who commit murder, rape or robery are mostly put in juvenile prison or in correctional homes. Therapeutic approach is also well known in other European countries, such as Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. On the other hand, the system in The United States of America and Great Britain is much more punitive and juvenile criminals are often tried in front of adult courts.
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