The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and Protection Act (JJDPA) was established in 1974 and was the first federal law that dealt comprehensively with juvenile delinquency to improve the juvenile justice system and support state and local efforts at delinquency prevention. This paper will assess the JJDPA and summarize its purpose and implementation and enforcement. Next, there will be a discussion of the historical context of the policy; followed by a focus of the latent consequences. Finally there will be a vignette as to how this Act has affected a person or family as well as personal reflection toward the policy. The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and Protection Act was established in 1974 and has since been reauthorized …show more content…
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). This can be seen in the growing number of court-involved status offenders who were being detained and placed outside of their homes for noncriminal behavior (Shubik & Kendall, 2007). Following multiple studies and research, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended that the juvenile court be the agency of last resort and that community-based organizations, not penal institutions, should be responsible for these youths (Shubik & Kendall, 2007; Farrington, …show more content…
Furthermore, this leaves room for states to implement their own practices and ways to address status offenders. It has also been argued that the Act “fractured the juvenile justice system so that officials in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare handled white, middle-income youth” (Hinton, 2015, p. 816). Programs which labeled white youths as “children in trouble” marked minority youths as “chronic offenders” who were deemed a danger to society, and tried as an adult. The exceptions and revisions that have been made to the Act make it possible for repeat status offenders to be detained in secure
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Show MoreThere 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.
The implementation of juvenile justice programs hold offenders accountable for wrongdoing, but prevent formal system involvement through discretionary methods (DeFosset, Schooley, Abrams, Kuo, & Gase, 2017). However, due to the case burden and cost, research continues to show the need and value of the peer/youth court (Smith & Chonody, 2010). Due to the time shortage of research time, the cost comparison for the peer/youth court implementation based on each of the court models presented. Each model provides a level of cost savings based on staffing requirements and available facilities. The limitation of the assessment is due to time restrictions, foundations, charities, and community-funding interviews were not conducted for implementation
Essay Week 5 The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative isn’t about letting juvenile offenders off the hook with just a slap on the wrist, it is about a more proactive approach that involves the community as whole. JDAI is about reducing the number of juveniles that are being detained and using that information to help make the right decisions for our youth that are considered at risk. The goals of JDAI are to reduce the number of juveniles that are in detention facilities, and to help reform the juvenile justice system. JDAI jurisdictions have achieved a cumulative reduction of 43 percent in average daily population (Casey, 2015)
Roper v. Simmons is considered a landmark case and is one of a handful that shows a new direction in granting some relief from what has been established as harsh “adult” punishments for juveniles (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). In fact, many studies are showing that the differences between adults and juveniles are quite significant (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). The courts are realizing that these differences must be taking into account when dealing with juveniles in the criminal justice system (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). However, that being said, change does not occur overnight, and for the unforeseeable future, juveniles will still continue to be waived into adult courts (Elrod & Ryder, 2014).
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, also can be referred as JJDPA, was originally called the Juvenile Delinquency Prevent and Control Act of 1968. The act of 1968 was to “to assist the courts, correctional systems, community agencies, and primary and secondary public school systems to prevent, treat, and control juvenile delinquency; to support research and training efforts in the prevention, treatment, and control of juvenile delinquency; and for other purposes,” (OJJDP). The interest in delinquency prevention, diversion and deinstrulationazation program starts between the 1960s-1980s. It was the initial way of getting the right help for youth in order to control and change their mindsets to prevent them from transferring
In “Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” Henry Wilson notes that the zero-tolerance policy has become a significant contributor to the raised number of young individuals being marked as a failure and eventually lead up to belonging in the justice system. Schools have become one of the biggest contributors to the raised number of young individuals being sent to prison in America. “Prisons spawn a new generation of future prisoners: there are more than two million children with at least one incarcerated parent, and these youth are five times more likely to end up in prison themselves” (49). Due to the 80’s and 90’s increased crime rate, people began to fear those in urban areas leading to the increased penalties for juvenile offenders.
Today’s juvenile justice system focuses on rehabilitation and education over punishment. Is it possible that all juveniles can be rehabilitated rather than just awarding punishment? Most juveniles start out with small violations that are not criminal in nature. These are known as status offenses. Interventions and programs for rehabilitation for the juvenile move into motion once they get themselves mixed up with the justice system for status offenses.
For many years and throughout the United States children have been disobeying rules as well as the law. Children are usually taught right from wrong but there are some that still choose to do what they want to do and go against their parent’s rules and the laws that are set within the states that they reside. So, once a child has made the decision to break a law and commit a crime, they are considered to be a juvenile delinquent. Most juveniles are either given rehabilitation or they are placed in a juvenile detention center, but it only depends on the type of charge they are receiving from the crime they have committed. Throughout this research I will be discussing a case of a juvenile who was waived to adult status.
Not only does Berstein call for an overall reform of this nation’s juvenile prisons, she goes as far as saying the practice of locking up youth is in need of a “more profound than incremental and partial reform” (13). The fact that Bernstein outlines the numerous failed strategies and goals of this practice with her compelling use of studies and statistics is enough to promote an audience to reject the practice of locking up youth. The statistic she shares that “four out of five juvenile parolees [will be] back behind bars within three years of release” as well as the studies she conducted on numerous instances when a guards abuse of power lead to the death of a child work to further prove her point: being that “institution[s] as intrinsically destructive as the juvenile prison” have no place in a modern society (13, 83). Bernstein refutes this false sense effectiveness further by sharing her own ideas on what she believes works as a much more humane solution to rehabilitating
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
In today’s world there are countless crimes committed every single day. “In 2015, there were 1.42 million total arrests, at a rate of 3,641 arrests per 100,000 residents” (State of California, Department of Justice). Grown adults are not the only people being arrested every year, there are also juveniles, children, being arrested every day. One topic of controversy today is whether or not juveniles who commit these crimes should be tried as adults in criminal court. There are many differences between the justice system for adults and the justice system for juveniles.
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.
The juvenile justice system has made numerous of ethical issues when managing juvenile offenders. The issue with the juvenile justice system is the laws and rules that govern it. It has led to years of controversial debate over the ethical dilemmas of the juvenile corrections system, and how they work with youth offenders. The number of minors entering the juvenile justice system is increasing every month. The reasons why the juvenile justice system faces ethical dilemmas is important and needs to be addressed: (1) a vast proportion of juveniles are being tried and prosecuted as adults; (2) the psychological maturation of the juvenile to fully comprehend the justice system; and (3) the factors that contribute to minorities being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system are more likely than White offenders.
It is shocking to know that before 1967 youths in the United States did not have the same rights as adults in court. Before the landmark case In Re Gault individuals underage were not promised the freedoms under the fourteenth amendment. The court system did not take juvenile delinquent cases as seriously. It was almost as if they brushed the delinquents under the rug and put them into a detention center the first chance they got. The Supreme Court came to the conclusion that in the case of In Re Gault the requirements for due process were not met.
(1988). Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice and Law (3rd ed.). United States of America: West Publishing Company. Wright, W. &.