Many commentators agree that the trend to try juveniles as adults fails to recognize that there should be an asymmetry in our treatment of juvenile and adult crime such that all else being equal juvenile crime deserves less punishment than does adult crime. This essay explores different rationales for this asymmetry. A political rationale claims that the disenfranchisement of juveniles compromises the state’s democratic authority to punish juveniles in the same way it is permitted to punish adults. A developmental rationale claims that juveniles deserve to be punished less than adults because their immaturity makes them less responsible and, hence, less culpable for their wrongdoing. Gideon Yaffe’s new book The Age of Culpability expresses skepticism about the developmental rationale and defends a version of the political rationale. By contrast, this essay finds important limits to the political rationale and defends a qualified version of the developmental rationale. In the process, it argues against treating the asymmetry between juvenile and adult crime as a categorical one.

中文翻译：

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少年犯和成年犯的道德不对称

许多评论员认为，成年人试举的趋势并未认识到，我们对待少年犯罪和成人犯罪的做法应该存在不对称性，因此，与成年人犯罪相比，其他所有等同的少年犯罪都应受到较少的惩罚。本文探讨了这种不对称的不同原理。一种政治理论认为，剥夺少年的权利会损害该州惩罚少年的民主权力，就像允许惩罚成年人一样。一个发展的理论认为，未成年人应受到的惩罚比成年人少，因为他们的不成熟使他们的责任感降低，因此对他们的不法行为也应减轻罪责。吉迪恩·雅夫（Gideon Yaffe）的新书《易犯的时代》（Age of Culpability）对发展理论提出了怀疑，并捍卫了政治理论的一种形式。相比之下，本文发现了政治理论的重要局限，并捍卫了发展理论的合格版本。在此过程中，它反对将少年犯罪和成人犯罪之间的不对称性视为绝对犯罪。