The Youth and School Resource Officers School Resource Officers (SROs) are sworn police officers trained to serve and protect the community. As such, they have a duty to serve and protect schools within their jurisdiction as part of a total community-policing strategy. Research has shown that the youth with healthy relationships and “protective factors” have a reduced chance of becoming involved in serious delinquency. These “protective factors” include adding school resource officers to school campuses with the growing number of at-risk students. It is important for schools to have SROs because the SRO’s role on school campus is keeping students safe and supporting the education mission not only as law enforcement officer but also as a teacher and a counselor. They aren’t at schools “just to bust people.” School Resource Officers are there to teach about the law and students rights and also to protect and help students succeed in a safe learning environment; this equals less crime and more success. Crime and Disciplinary Infractions on Campus and Beyond …show more content…
However, varied structures of SRO programs and inconsistency in local record-keeping practices prevent reviews of the impact of every SRO program nationwide. However, national juvenile-crime and school-based crime statistics, as well as state statistics and studies of county and local SRO programs, show how dramatically SROs can reduce crime not only on school campus, but also in the community. Since SRO programs came to prominence in the early 2000s, the juvenile arrests declined 17% across-the-board between 2000–2009. The violent-crime fell 13%, and the property-crime fell 19% during this period. Other assaults, vandalism, weapons, drug, DUI, curfew, and loitering offenses all fell as well (pg.24 national
Because JYC focuses on the teen demonstrating an understanding of why their actions were wrong and helping them fix it, repeat offenders are rare (only 6-9% of offenders repeat within 6 months). Being a part of JYC has made me aware that some kids in our community are faced with significant challenges beyond the specific offense that brought them to JYC. These challenges include substance or alcohol abuse by the minor or their family, sexual or physical violence, family instability, neglect, or a frequent changing of schools.
There are indication that most criminals have a juvenile records in the US, indicating that crime manifests from a tender age. Therefore, to reverse the incidence of crime, it follows that the best strategy is to reduce the criminal orientation in the juvenile offenders as opposed to hardening them and preparing them for criminal careers. The case of the Crossroads Juvenile Center demonstrates the willingness of the juvenile justice systems to make these changes on the children. References Day, S. (2014). Runaway Man: A Journey Back to Hope.
There is a saying in the Oklahoma City Police academy, “bring everything, everyday.” This statement is a lesson to the recruits to make sure they have everything. Because you never know what you are going to need, like black cross trainers, which is what I did not bring. I failed when it came to following through on the statement of “bring everything, everyday.” I did not bring my cross trainers, honestly because I did not think we would need them.
The federal government’s “War on Crime” by the Johnson administration in the 60s made way for tougher law enforcement and surveillance (Hinton, 2015). However, with this came the separation of children and adults in the criminal justice system; then the separation of juvenile delinquents from status offenders. As mentioned, status offenders are different from juvenile delinquents because they had broken rules which apply to only children. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquents are youths under the age of 18, who committed offenses that would be punishable to adults as well. By the late 1960s, there became a growing concern that juveniles involved in the court-based status-offense system, were not getting their best interests met (Shubik & Kendall, 2007).
McCarter describes thoroughly the consequences STPP has on the nation’s school-age youth, including but not limited to increased exposure the criminal justice system, and gives solutions that schools can implement that will hopefully limit the overwhelming amount of students coming in contact with the STPP. The article proves that zero tolerance policies are not conducive to a safe school environment and does not foster a safe learning climate for
Annotated bibliography Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/ More states are considering to raising the age for juvenile crimes before being tried as adult because young offender's mental capacity. The idea is to cut the cost of incarcerate young offender in adult prison and ensure offenders to receive proper education and specialized care to change their behavior. Putting children in adult prison does not deter crime.
102 were charged with any type of offense during the follow-up period, and of those 102, 62 were for violent offenses. The study also found that over the course of a year, the JSOAP-II significantly predicted recidivism rates in all categories. Youths that were registered sex offenders had lower rates of misdemeanor charges, which is likely due to the fact that the registered offenders were lower risk. The study found few differences between registered and unregistered juvenile sex offenders, meaning that it could not conclude that registration lowers the risk of recidivism. These findings are important because it is useful to know the effects that our policies have.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted a study in 40 of the nation’s largest urban communities. “It was found that an estimated 7,100 juvenile defendants were charged with felonies in adult criminal court in 1998. Of these 40 county criminal courts, juveniles were 64% more likely than adults to be charged with a violent felony. These juvenile defendants were generally treated as serious offenders, as 52% did not receive pretrial release, 63% were convicted of a felony, and 43% of those convicted received a prison sentence. States have expanded the mechanisms by which juveniles can be charged in criminal courts.
Law enforcement presence in schools is a topic that has been spoken about by many researchers throughout the years and has brought up a lot of controversial thoughts and ideas. Many researchers that have conducted research that is related to this topic have mentioned how they came across studies that made them come up with conclusions about school law enforcement officers that were rather mixed than geared towards one side of the spectrum (Bracy, 2010). The studies that I looked into were very similar in that many of them looked down upon the idea of having law enforcement officers present in schools, while a small handful felt that it has more pros than it does cons. Na and Gottfredson (2013), for example, conducted a study in which they
Within the urban communities, negative perceptions are magnified. Adolescents are more prone to be a product of their environment, especially those whose parents are incarcerated. Because of this trend adolescents are being incarcerated at an alarming rate and sentenced to adult facilities. Lambie & Randall (2013) states, the United States have imposed harsher penalties on serious young offenders, and have consequently increased rates of incarcerated youth and made it easier for youth to be treated and incarcerated as adults within the justice
Juvenile Justice Issues In today’s society the youth generation seems to be facing some problems that there is no solution for. Juveniles are participating in many wrongdoing activities that they are not being held accountable for. I see many gray areas when it comes to the juveniles justice system and I strongly believe there should be changes made in order to help these juveniles be deterred from such behavior so they do not continue down a path that can affect the rest of their lives.
Being safe at school is something that a person shouldn’t have to worry, about but it has become a concern for a lot of parents, teachers, and school administration. Increasing security in high school, middle school, and elementary school would help control and protect the kids from possible threats, as well as creating a safe learning environment and show kids that police officers are good people. Most middle and high schools nowadays have resource officers in the building or some sort of security within the school. In 2007 only 40% of schools in the country had a school resource officer on campus (James and McCallion 11). From a study done by The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice services, they reported that “‘an overwhelming majority of students and staff feel safe at school’ as a result of school resource officers (SROs) being present in school buildings” (Weiler and Cray).
In an age where juvenile crime has escalated from simple truancy to more serious crimes such as mass school shootings some would agree it is time to abolish juvenile courts or modify the system at the very least. Because of the seriousness of juvenile crime in this day and age, most states have already lowered the age limit for juvenile court jurisdiction from 17 years and are prosecuting more children as adults depending of the seriousness of the crime. Some criminal justice and child welfare scholars argue that younger children do not have the mental capability or experience to weigh the consequence of committing a crime and much less understand the implications of a criminal record in their future. Furthermore, they note that most juveniles grow out of criminal behavior as they mature out of the system and in
Cases such as the one at Dorchester High just goes to prove that having law enforcement present in schools is beneficial and has a positive effect. Yes, there are some cases that officers make a mistake like you see in the news, but maybe we should think twice when judging them. Being a school resource officer is not an easy job and it has many dangers but they want to make sure that students and faculty are safe. Everyday law enforcement officers risk their lives to ensure the safety of others, in school and out of school. Even if having a SRO doesn’t turn crime around immediately in the end there will be some change.
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, or youth crime, is participation in illegal behavior by minors (juveniles) (individuals younger than the statutory age of majority). Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers, and courts. A juvenile delinquent is a person who is typically under the age of 18 and commits an act that otherwise would have been charged as a crime if they were an adult. Depending on the type and severity of the offense committed, it is possible for persons under 18 to be charged and tried as adults .