Four Correctional Components In The Juvenile Justice System

If a teenager were to commit murder, most people say that they should be sentenced to life without parole. If a teen is sentenced to life without parole, they are also sent to adult prisons. In adult prisons, teens do not “have access to any education” (Caitlin Curly), therefore, they cannot learn anything from prison. Even if some prisons have educational services, teens in adult prisons are “36 times more likely to commit suicide than those in juvenile facilities” (Caitlin Curly). Consequently, these teens won’t live with being in jail their whole lives. Although, some teens commit offenses at age thirteen and fourteen. “Approximately 79 individuals who committed offenses at age 13 or 14 have been sentenced to LWOP” (Charles Stimson, Elizabeth

The juvenile court system is a fixture of the justice system with many moving parts. Each component and member of the court system are essential in carrying out their common goal. By helping operate a complex system built to rehabilitate juveniles, these people, and the programs they run, prevent juveniles from reoffending, benefit them, and help them towards the path of becoming a productive member of society.

Imagine being a child imprisoned for committing a crime for which you did not understand the consequences. Alone and afraid, with only hardened criminals and psychopaths as adult role models, you live in fear. Through a vicious combination of physical, sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, there is no option but to turn back to crime as an adult, and continue the cycle. This is a daily reality for thousands of American juveniles. Yet, we continue to call it the juvenile justice system. Where is the justice in a system that allows juveniles to be made into victims of heinous crimes while not providing these children with necessary rehabilitation?

The juvenile justice system in America has seen many trends in the incarceration of youth. Initially, the system was created to help children who were left abandoned, neglected or abused. However, with the demands of stronger juvenile laws, the correctional facilities have become more of a prison, than of a rehabilitation center. Unlike the adult justice system, the arrested minors often go through a series of steps such as intake, determination of jurisdiction, adjudication and disposition. Today, with the rise of juvenile crimes, more than a million minors are set into the juvenile justice system for even the smallest of crimes. In that regard, many of these minors are being arrested for running away from home, truancy, ungovernability, liquor offenses, etc. These minors are plagued by juvenile records which prevent them from living a life that does not include more criminal activity.

The American juvenile justice system was designed over a hundred years ago to reform kids who were found guilty of minor crimes such as petty theft and truancy. Today, the system is becoming overwhelmed by crimes of violence. Stealing and skipping school have been replaced by violent crimes, such as rape and murder. The juvenile justice system is not meant to deal with these kinds of problems. In the past, the juvenile justice system sought to rehabilitate youthful offenders by taking a protective stance over juvenile delinquents. However, the protect instead of punish philosophy does not work for today’s society. Today, as juvenile crime has become more common and violent, our system will be forced to change. The justice

Many, many years ago the goal for the United States was to divide youth offenders from the adult offenders, calling the youth offenders juveniles. A Juvenile Detention Center or a Juvenile Hall, otherwise known as Juvy is a prison for people particularly under the age of eighteen depending in which state, who had committed a serious crime. Jail, on the other hand, is a place for the confinement of people who had been accused or convicted of a crime ages eighteen and older, depending on the state. There are over 5,000 jails and prisons located in the United States, over 2.2 million people are currently in U.S jails or prison, and over 2.7 million children have parents who are in prison. The average annual cost to incarcerate

I prefer the Crime Control Model of Justice over the Due Process Model of Justice. I prefer the Crime Control Model of Justice because I believe that order is a necessary condition for a free society. And while I think that the Due Process Model is a great model of justice that emphasizes individual rights, I feel like vindicating victims' rights is more pressing than protecting defendants' rights. I think that expanding the police’s power would be beneficial for society. By doing so I think it would be easier to investigate, arrest, search, seize, and convict criminals in a more efficient manner. These reasons lead me to believe that the Crime Control Model which emphasizes efficient arrest and conviction of criminal offenders is the more

Sentencing juveniles to prison happens to be a very controversial topic today. Many people believe that juveniles should receive the same consequences as an adult criminal and a vast amount of people believe that juveniles should be given a second chance. I personally believe that a child should not be given the same consequences as an adult so the question I would like to pose to my audience is should juvenile offenders be offered the same consequences as adult offenders?

In the United States prisons there are two thousand juveniles serving life without parole before, the age of eighteen. Only one of a few countries in the world allows children, to be sentenced to prison without release. And, the United States is one of them holding young teens accountable for their actions. But, there is accordance with age, stage development and how their cases should be dealt with in court. There are an estimated twenty-six percent of juveniles sentenced to prison for life convicted with felony murder. There is fifty-nine percent serving life without parole with a first time sentence. For example, there are twenty-six states that sentence life without parole being mandatory for anyone. So may feel, there is a racial issue

Teen court also known as youth courts is a juvenile justice system program that permits teens to try and sentence their fellow peers for committing minor and status offenses. The main purpose of the teen court is to make young offenders accountable for their wrong doing by paying the price for their offences. However this system keeps first time offenders away from the Juvenile system and gives them a chance to change. In order for a youth to be considered to serve on a teen court, the young individual must be 8th to 12th grade with good academic standing, the teen must be nominated by teacher, parent or him or herself, an application must be filled up and signed with the parent’s approval.

Life in in american prison is a brutal experience. Tensions run high as criminals are confined to to cells and given minimal interactions with the outside world; admittedly for some convict a life sentence is due punishments, but for juveniles with life sentences their actions as a teen can end their life before it even begins. For juveniles who have committed a violent crime, (defined as robbery; murder and non-intentional manslaughter, rape, and aggravated assault by the FBI), life sentences are fairly common. In fact, in a paper written by Stella Steele, a BSA analyst and investigator on the “Disparities and Harshness of Youth Sentencing” touched on the subject of juvenile sentencing. She demonstrating the high rates of harsher punishments

Arriving at the connection of crime to all three of our group 's topics was fairly easy. Each member brainstormed, out loud, their thoughts on ways that plants and cars could possibly lead to juvenile incarceration, which is our third group topic, in order to reveal a general connection. Tying cars to juvenile incarceration took the least creativity, since grand theft auto, driving while intoxicated, and use of vehicles to commit crimes are all issues related to delinquency. Plants was a slightly more challenging topic to link with juvenile incarceration. In general, it was too broad of a topic. After considering specific types of plants, we decided the best connection to use would be marijuana. Possession is illegal, in most places, and leads

I do not think it’s a good idea to incarcerate juveniles because there is a large amount of evidence that shows the negative effects this has on the juvenile. This incarceration can stunt their growth not only physically but also mentally. There is also evidence that shows that incarcerating juveniles can cause them to become more criminal. However I also believe that it is important to create a safe community for everyone. In order to create a safe community it may be important and necessary to incarcerate some juveniles. I feel that the juveniles that need to be incarcerated are the most likely to reoffend or the juveniles who have committed serious crimes such as assault. I also think that incarcerating juveniles should be a last resort

It appears on the multiple studies reviewed in this report there is a variation in the response pending the severity of the offense and the type of restorative justice utilized. It is indicated Sentencing Circles are consistent in all arenas; they report a low recidivism rate in relation to all levels of crime severity. Over all, recidivism rates were down with restorative justice programs when compared to traditional programs. Statistics reported dependable results noting when offenders did re-offend the crimes were not as violent or severe and this was found not to be the circumstance with traditional programs (Umbreit, Vos, & Coates, 2006, p.

Within the criminal justice community, there has been no consensus on exactly how restorative justice should be defined. As a result, there is also some confusion within the community on whether or not restorative justice should be viewed as an outcome or a process (Daly, 2015)