Punishment: Adults vs. Young people

I recently was sent an article about a study showing the effects of punishment as motivation on the brain. As I linked to the article about how the threat of punishment can deter bad behavior, a drawing of an adult immediately popped up.

I thanked the sender of the article with the following comments:

“The picture in the article shows an adult. I have absolutely no problem with incarcerating adults for retribution, fairness, justice, or protection of the public.

“As I explain in my seminars, if you believe that an 8-year-old is a 28-year-old, then you will treat the 8-year-old as you would treat the 28-year-old. However, if you believe that an 8-year-old is not yet a 28-year-old and you would like to prevent youth from joining the other 2,000,000 youth incarcerated in the USA, then you will consider using a more effective approach—one that motivates youth to be responsible, rather than an approach that prompts negative, anti-social feelings of rebellion.”

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