摘要：In his article Unmitigated Punishment: Adolescent Criminal Responsibility and LWOP Sentences, Professor Barry C. Feld asserts that ";paroxysms of punitiveness"; in juvenile justice laws, policies and programs are based on irrational assumptions about, inter alia, the moral judgment capabilities of juveniles and widely held racist beliefs about ";other people's children.";' He puts forward persuasive evidence that juvenile crime policy changes come in waves or cycles reflecting a variety of unsavory factors including nativism, racism, and partisan politics, as well as the growth of the drug culture (especially the crack cocaine epidemic), socio-economic factors, the spread of firearms, and a temporary rise in serious juvenile crimes. 2 He asserts that adolescents lack adult culpability because of immature brain development,3 criticizes ";get tough"; Life Without Parole (LWOP) juvenile sentences,4 and calls for moderating reforms to undo some of the damage caused by the political overreaction and paroxysm of punitiveness.
