Letters: Restorative justice supports offending juveniles and their communities
In modern society, many of us are quick to judge and lay down the law when it comes to dealing with delinquent juveniles. For the longest time, the juvenile justice system has adopted the philosophy of parens patriae, which is the idea of the court acting as the parents for a juvenile.
Rather than looking to rehabilitate or support delinquenjuveniles, often times the juvenile justice system is quick to send offending juveniles to detention centers. This often results in juveniles entering a vicious cycle of going in and out of the juvenile and adult justice system.
Rather than taking this punitive approach, there should be a bigger focus on restorative justice. This philosophy would support proper rehabilitation because it not only focuses on the offender, but also the community they negatively affected. As a result, there is greater transparency in the community and a proper support base for juveniles.
A bad idea
Federal student loan debt forgiveness is a bad idea our current president has talked about in his short term. How do you justify that to the millions of people who didn't attend college? They also have debt, such as car payments, loan payments, house payments and second mortgages. How about asking Biden to erase all that and anything else in the future that we incur as debt?
People who cry about their college debt should get a grip. Remember it was your choice to assume that debt. It was your choice to buy that house, car and any other thing else that you can't afford. Now pay your college debt, because it's all yours.
By the way, I am a college graduate who worked and paid his way through college. It wasn't easy, but that was my choice. It took me two years longer to get my degree with no loans. I made a choice, and those with student debt made a choice. Life is one choice after another. Choose wisely!
Akos L. Kovach
Niles
Think carefully
Recently, the General Accountability Office released a report stating that during the Trump administration, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees said that they did not report political interference in their scientific work because they feared retaliation. We'll never know how many deaths might have been prevented without such interference.
Donald Trump is still the effective head of the Republican Party. Please think carefully about putting those in office who parrot his lies or promote his behavior by their silence.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Restorative justice, not punitive approach, for juvenile offenders.
