By Elham Aljafar
When teenagers commit a crime in the Kingdom, and depending on the severity of the crime, they often end up in prison. As a society, we should ask ourselves what benefit we get from sending teenagers to prison. In many cases, the young men we send to prison end up being physically or sexually abused by older inmates, and these deplorable acts of violence further alienate them from society.
These teenagers are not hardened criminals but are mostly victims of the bad decisions they made while surrounded by bad company. Drugs, assault and minor crimes are all a result of the poor life decisions these young men made, often because they did not have the family or social support many kids their age have.
As a result, these teenagers, who did not have anyone to provide a positive influence in their lives, end up making poor decisions. So when we send them to prison for a long time, is it a surprise that while living among hardened criminals, these young men resort to a life of crime?
I am not asking for the removal of all forms of punishment, but rather to offer alternative punishment that will both serve the community and discipline the offender. For example, instead of a jail term, why not hand out community service sentences? Offenders can spend a few hours every day serving their communities and this will keep them out of jail and away from danger while still repaying society for any crimes they have committed.
When offenders are in their teens, we need to differentiate between the punishment we give them and other adult offenders because they are still developing as human beings and their mistakes can still be corrected. All things considered, I truly hope there will be alternative punishments in the future that take into consideration the background of offenders.
