What special difficulties face juveniles with criminal records?
Special difficulties face juveniles with criminal records and these difficulties have led to spent conviction schemes distinguishing between juveniles and adults. For instance, in Queensland a conviction becomes spent for a juvenile after five years and a conviction becomes spent for an adult after 10 years [ Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act (QLD) 1986] . This distinction is justified because juvenile offenders are still maturing which shows they are capable of reform. Also, juvenile offenders should be given the chance to lay their past to rest and get on with their lives without further problems arising. Often if juveniles are not given this chance they become entrenched in a criminal life style and it is hard to break free from this lifestyle if it is all that you have known from an early age.
