Capacity for Change & Rehabilitation

Adolescent personality and character are still forming and are not reliable indicators of fixed adult character; most adolescents who engage in antisocial behavior, including serious offending, desist as they mature, so adolescent conduct is a poor predictor of irretrievable depravity.

Structured, developmentally-appropriate interventions can, on average, reduce reoffending among juveniles; as a group, adolescents are responsive to rehabilitation -- though effects are modest and depend strongly on the type of program, the targeting of higher-risk youth, and the quality of implementation.