Parents say "I'm still underage anyway"
Recently, it was reported in Keelung that a junior high school student was taken to a remote open space by at least seven students from the same school to beat him up after school, and the video was filmed and circulated. The police have dealt with the incident in accordance with the law. According to the father of the murdered student, the parents of the leading students even replied that "they are still underage anyway." What is harsh about this sentence is not only the indifference towards the victim, but also the use of the space for growth and correction reserved by the system for teenagers as a shield for parents to shirk responsibility.
How can it be used as a shield to shirk responsibility?
Being a minor means that the system holds people accountable in different ways, but it does not mean that they are not held accountable. The juvenile court can adopt admonishment, protective control, placement counseling or reformatory education on a case-by-case basis; if the legal representative causes the juvenile to violate the law due to neglect of upbringing and meets the requirements, the court can also order him to receive parental education and counseling. "Not yet a minor" is not a talisman for teenagers, nor is it a reason for parents to shirk their parenting responsibilities.
Recently, I have been exposed to the work of the Juvenile Guidance Network, and I have a deeper understanding that young people who need to be "caught" rarely have only one problem: interruption of schooling, weak family support, psychological needs, and even employment and social recovery after judicial treatment. The Junior Auxiliary Association emphasizes "administration first, judicial backing", hoping to integrate education, social affairs, health administration, labor administration and police administration to intervene before the problem worsens.
After the penalty, who did we catch?
But it’s not just the behaving teenagers who need to be caught. After suffering bullying or violence, the victimized youth may suffer from fear, trauma, withdrawal or even refusal to go to school, and needs psychological, schooling, safety and family support. The acceptance of the case does not mean that the injury has been dealt with; the initiation of judicial proceedings does not mean that the child has recovered.
Regardless of whether we help a juvenile with a behavioral disorder rehabilitate or accompany a juvenile victim to get out of harm's way, he will eventually return to his family, school, peers and community. This is also the focus that empirical research has repeatedly pointed to in recent years. A systematic review in 2023 compiled 28 studies on juvenile delinquency in the United States from 2012 to 2022 and found that family conflict, dysfunction, neglect and inappropriate treatment are recurring risk factors; positive parent-child relationships and better academic performance have a protective effect, and family- and community-oriented intervention also shows certain prevention and recovery potential.
Therefore, emphasizing counseling does not mean downplaying violence. The safety and recovery of the victim must be ensured, and juvenile offenders should bear appropriate legal consequences. But the more central question is: What changed after the incident ended? If after the punishment, family support is still weak, high-risk peers are still there, and the victimized youth can only face the trauma alone, that is just the end of the judicial process and does not mean that the risk has been dealt with. In the end, we only closed this case but did not prevent the next one.
