It's not yet too late [for juvenile delinquents]. There's still time to nudge them, if we think about nudging them rather than just punishing them.

Dow’s remark contrasts two approaches to youth crime: retribution versus intervention. By insisting it is “not yet too late,” he frames juvenile wrongdoing as developmentally contingent—something still malleable rather than fixed. The verb “nudge” suggests small, practical course-corrections (guidance, support, education, treatment, stable environments) that can redirect behavior before it hardens into adult patterns. The quote also critiques a system that defaults to punishment, implying that punitive responses may satisfy anger or political demands but do little to reduce future harm. Its ethical claim is forward-looking: society’s responsibility is not only to condemn past acts but to invest in preventing the next ones by helping young people change.