Effects Of Recidivism On Juveniles

Every now and then, adolescents move off the straight and narrow path of prosperity; leading them to run against the law instead of with it. It is important to help these children get back on the right track, and start moving towards a more productive life. This is the main goal of juvenile probation in the United States. The juvenile probation system has developed with the evolution of the juvenile justice and court system in America; as a way to separate young lawbreakers from adult criminals. As some sort of feedback to the harshness of the criminal law system during the 1800s was the effort to keep young lawbreakers out of institutions.

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

o For example, the area of the courts and concerns over jury nullification  This concern stems from the larger issue of citizens serving as the conscience of the community and a jury’s ethical obligation to abide by law but its refusal to convict in a situation which would lead to an unjust result. One great ethical dilemma we face is sentencing juveniles to life-without-parole. A drastic punishment is to give a person a criminal sentence of life with no possibility of parole. What this does is banishes the person from having any social interactions in the world outside those cement walls. This punishment is viewed to be

This placed a strong reliance on psychological remedies for crime, including psychological analysis, diagnosis, and treatment of the root causes of criminal behavior similar to the treatment of a patient with a mental illness. In theory this would prevent recidivism because the true cause of the behavior would be resolved. The crime control period views crime as more of a rational choice and values punishment that is swift, certain, and severe in order to prevent/suppress criminality which threatens the functioning of a free society. This “us vs them” mentality supports greater prosecutorial power, increased usage of punitive processes like imprisonment/fines, and greater police power to deter

Issue Presented: The use of rational choice theory, as well as labeling theory in regards to decision making and assisting in developing departmental policy. Short Answer: The ability to enforce stricter rules will change the thought process of offender before committing a crime or rule violation, along with making them productive members of society through re-entry will lift the label off of them. Statement of Facts: The use of rational choice theory can be used to help determine what offenders thought process maybe during the commitment of violating facility rules. This is often considered “risk vs reward.” (SNHU, 2018)According to the book Criminological Theories it states “rationality is the decision-making process of determining the

This would reduce by a huge volume the number of youths who end up in jail for committing offences, whether petty or serious crimes. Such reformed youth, after being accepted back into the society, will help in economic growth. Such legislation would also shift responsibility to the older generation to dictate moral and constitutional adherence to be followed by the younger generation. This is proven by a research carried out by the Society for Investigating the Causes of the Alarming Increase of Juvenile Delinquency that found that the causes of crime were firmly rooted in the low moral condition of parents and parental neglect (Arthur, 2010). A shift of responsibility to parents would consequently result to lesser criminal prosecutions as the society will have a sound environment in which young people are raised up

Juveniles in the justice system need an alternative to incarceration because incarceration has been proven to increase criminal activity instead of providing a rehabilitation system for the juveniles. Juveniles in New Orleans are being arrested at a high rate for non violent offenses. Most juveniles who commit non violent offenses are tried as adults in court (Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights). After juveniles are convicted they are subjected to incarceration which leads to trauma and an increase in criminal activity (Hasselle). Also, while the juveniles are in prison they lose essential educational opportunities , because of the lack of

There are many different statistics that show different percentages of juveniles being tried as adults. Many people would say that we should be protecting the children and not taking out vengeance on them and they are too young to take on such a weighty legal responsibility. If the child is old enough to commit the crime, then they should be punished for it. Several reasons explain why they should be tried like they will understand the

Because of this, juveniles are more vulnerable to the pressures of the interrogation, which can cause them to give involuntary or even false confessions. In order to preserve the evidentiary value of a juvenile’s confession, the law enforcement official taking the confession must act with great caution. If I were a detective supervisor and needed to outline a policy for my detectives, when interviewing juveniles, I would incorporate a variety of them to ensure all confessions are

This theory was selected instead of others because it fits the overall content in the paper that is focused on factors attributing to juvenile delinquency. With credit, this paper delves into why those factors such as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem are essential to influencing the development of an adolescent, but also explains how these factors when disrupted can affect an adolescent’s trajectory toward

Since youths are still developing, they have the potential to change. The Forbes article (2015), 4 Things to Understand about Youth, Mental Health & Juvenile Justice in the US, shows both the nature and the nurture that results in a juvenile’s behavior, thus, showing that more nurture, or better rehabilitation practices, can help alter the demeanor of a child ( ). Research in general, on deterrence-oriented-correction programmes and assessments of the effects of prison-term length has shown that punishment has little or no effect on recidivism, and that offenders who are sent to prison had higher recidivism rates than those placed on probation (Chu & Ogloff, 2012). In contrast to correctional sanctions, rehabilitation treatment aims at motivating, guiding and supporting constructive change within offenders in whatever characteristics and circumstances that give rise to their criminal behavior or undermine their prosocial behavior (Chu & Ogloff, 2012). In order to identify the reason for a juveniles actions and begin the treatment process, the first step is the screening process.

The system is put into place in hopes it will deter juveniles away from future crimes to keep their life on track. If the juvenile justice system had a few improvements and more people supported it then it could become a very successful system. With the system already making modifications, there is still a few changes left that

It is plausible that if the city put more interest in preventing crime, there would be less depressive kids, or kids committing crimes. We must also put into consideration what happens to the young criminal after they come out of jail. In addition, in the article “Delinquent youth in corrections: Medicaid and reentry into the community,Gupta Ravindra talks about how the juvenile delinquent isn’t given mental help to be readmitted into the community. Thus leads to the assumption that

When determining whether juveniles should be given access to a diversion program, the court should look at the offender rather than the offense. Over the past few decades, the juvenile justice system has become increasingly more punitive with a desire to “punish” rather than “rehabilitate.” Rather than (dishing out) “get tough” policy driven sentences, the juvenile court should provide alternative options of treatment in alignment with the original purpose of the juvenile court. Many opponents of diversion programs have cited to the extensive costs to maintain such treatment option. However, costs remain high if juvenile continues to participate in criminal activity and is later sent to an adult detention facility. Further, diverting juvenile offenders towards community and treatment-based programs have proven to be far more effective at addressing and preventing future delinquency in comparison to placing them in confinement.

Instead of thinking the worse about teens. Have an open mind when a teen is doing something because it could be for the better. Not all teens have the intention to do something bad. Along with that, if you don’t have the full context wait until you make an assumption about the person. According to the article, “ Negative Stereotypes Hurting Teens Job prospects,” Birdwell said, “Teenagers are motivated to make a difference in their community, but the approach they take is radically different to previous generations.” People need to notice these differences and think about the good possibilities.