PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Lotti, Giulia TI - Tough on Young Offenders: Harmful or Helpful? AID - 10.3368/jhr.57.4.1017-9113R3 DP - 2020 Apr 09 TA - Journal of Human Resources PG - 1017-9113R3 4099 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/04/03/jhr.57.4.1017-9113R3.short 4100 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/04/03/jhr.57.4.1017-9113R3.full AB - How harshly should society punish young lawbreakers? Through a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, I compare harsh and rehabilitative criminal incarceration practices. Young offenders sent to the more rehabilitative youth facilities become less likely to reoffend. On the contrary, offenders at the margin of the age cut-off and exposed to the harsher youth facilities are 27 percent more likely to recidivate in the eight years subsequent to their custody, and they are more likely to commit violent offences, thefts, and criminal damages. Keeping young offenders separate from their older peers in prison seems effective, but only in institutions not solely focused on punishment.