The belief that youth court sentences are too lenient and young offenders should be processed in the adult justice system, along with the view that sentences for specific cases should be harsher, were all related to one another in an Ontario, Canada, survey. However, the nature of the relationship was complex, and more detailed analyses suggested that the wish to imprison young offenders was not solely a desire for more punitive responses but also reflected the perception that alternatives to prison were ineffective. Citizens favored prevention over building more prisons, preferred youth to be in separate facilities from adults, and, for minor crimes, preferred youth to be in the community instead of in prison. The article concludes that increasing the severity of sentences and treating youth more like adults will not allay the public's underlying concern about the inability of the justice system to accomplish anything beyond imprisonment. Tables, notes, references