Introduction, research question and hypothesis There has been a strong debate in diverse settings that touches on whether punishment or rehabilitation should form the focus of justice system for juveniles. One school of thought states that punishment should continue while another school of thought indicate that punishment should be abolished. This is because it has been subjecting children to severe torture and does not translate to their holistic transformation. According to the report on governor’s task force that was formulating ways of reforming criminal justice system in US, juveniles are young individuals whose illegal undertakings should be corrected through structured disciplinary actions to ensure their holistic transformation. This justifies why justice system should give them special attention to ensure that decent character traits are inculcated in them as they grow as evident under the juvenile justice system. Indeed, this paper focuses in establishing if the difference in punishment throughout time has helped in rehabilitating juveniles in most settings. It is the key research question that is adopted for this paper. It is set with an aim of equipping various stakeholders with credible information on whether punishment has helped in rehabilitating juveniles or not. Background information In US, most research studies have been conducted to establish the major problems of juvenile delinquency among teenagers and how the problems can be solved systematically. The studies have also been focusing on the rehabilitation initiatives and how effective they have been compared to punishment (Trepanier, 1999). In particular, the researchers have highlighted key causes that give rise to juvenile problems. Firstly, they noted that juvenile problems arise due to the fact that most teenagers are always inclined to testing their parents or society’s limits. They try testing how much they can be tolerated even if they participate in criminal activities. This inferior thinking among the youths has made them engage into various criminal activities that have landed them into trouble with state justice systems (Trepanier, 1999). This affects most children especially at the adolescence stage where they would also want to be recognized and gain some kind of independence or to show that they are getting of age. Secondly, poor parenting has been a key cause of juvenile problems. This is evident since most juvenile offenders are children who have not been subjected to noble teachings on various moral values. It becomes a juvenile problem since such individuals suffer from decision disorders due to inferior nurturing. Thirdly, mental incapacity and substance abuse also form large contributing factors to juvenile offenses. Notably, over 30% of juveniles who were convicted in US in the year 1991 had various mental complications and illnesses. Currently, the number of juveniles that are being convicted due to substance abuse and mental related complications stand at 20%. The decrease is due to the continuous sensitization programs on the dangers of substance abuse among children and rehabilitation programs that most of them undergo. Statistics also show that poverty levels, living arrangemen