7. Examples of Juvenile Justice Models

• Welfare model (Nordic countries): Focus on child protection; courts act in loco parentis.
• Justice model (USA – some states): Emphasis on accountability and proportional sanctions.
• Restorative model (New Zealand, Canada): Community-based healing and reparation.
• Minimum intervention (Germany): Diversion for ~80% of cases; custody rare.

The ultimate measure of any justice system is not how it treats its model citizens, but how it treats its most broken, most frightened, and youngest. When we invest in youth justice, we are not merely reducing crime. We are building the kind of society where redemption is possible, where a single terrible night does not define an entire life, and where the future is not foreclosed by the past. That is not just good justice. That is common sense.

• Aumento da percepção de empatia no jovem.
• Redução da revitimização (a vítima tem voz).
• Evita-se a judicialização precoce, que muitas vezes rotula e agrava o comportamento desviante.