When contact into the juvenile justice system is exhibited by minority youth at a significantly higher rate than their white, non-Hispanic counterparts, a racial disparity exists within the system. Years of racial segregation, discrimination and the overall mistreatment of minorities in the public, however, have influenced the disparity trend. Although minorities represent 21% of the U.S. population for adolescents in 2011, they represented 71% of all adolescents held in detention while committing 66% to a juvenile facility upon determination of delinquency. Accordingly, the percentage of minorities who made contact with the juvenile system is more than double their percentage in population. Likewise, although data on juvenile delinquency has
Introduction “High school dropout rates nationally - Not enough is being done on this issue.” Mass incarceration is a term used by historians and sociologists to describe the substantial increase in the number of incarcerated people in the United States ' prisons over the past forty years. “ Approximately 12–13% of the American population is African-American, but they make up 35% of jail inmates, and 37% of prison inmates of the 2.2 million male inmates as of 2014 U.S. Department of Justice, 2014.” The strongest cause of disproportionate minority males is the school to prison pipeline.
The article is discussing how public schools are forcing students of color and who are economically disadvantaged out of schools and placed into juvenile justice systems. The author explains there is a high number of students who do not graduate from high school; with numbers steadily increasing each year. Therefore, the author finds it necessary to discuss school discipline policies in the article and present how different students find themselves being
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.
Today, in society the double standards of juvenile justice system is when the “double bind’ that are created to deny girls and women the opportunity to gain power. Even though the juvenile justice system is suppose to be set up where it promotes racial equality, it does not for women. It is set up where gender is set with certain roles and behavior for men/boys and women/girls. In society, gender forms the roles of what girls and boys can and can’t do. It also sets up how certain crimes are seen depending on gender.
Low self esteem and discrimination are big factors in a juvenile committing delinquent
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).
Incarceration has become used as the answer to every social problem. Incarceration has been used for students of color who are not doing well in school or fighting or acquiring truancy. The implementation of disciplinary policies only perpetuates problems by fulfilling a short term solution of “treatment,” instead of deeper involvement with children like Demetra in order to create a long-term solution. However, this is not a single story, but one that mark Black and Hispanic students who “represent over 70 percent of the students arrested or referred to law enforcement at school” (Heitzeg 100). Students of color are labeled as criminals, which moves them from one stage to the next:
African Americans have been placed on a path that their fates have been set throughout history. The criminal justice system has also taken it upon itself to make sure that they do not move away from this path and continue to go forward with it. So many parts of the system have played its role and it continues to play it by keeping African incarcerated. Not only do they target African Americans, but they target those who have a disadvantage when fighting against the system. The system has its history with African Americans so one can figure that this would continue to lead on in the future.
African Americans who were born in the 1970s and grew up during the American prison boom, the chances they are going to serve time in state federal prison if they dropped out of high school is about 70%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Currently, 1.2 million (1 in 9) African American children have a parent who is incarcerated, and there’s evidence that kids who experience parental incarceration have behavioral problems and low achievement. This creates the risk that incarceration becomes an inherited trait, and recidivism induces. The underlying issue is how the U.S. criminal justice system marginalizes African Americans relative to other ethnic groups. There has been an incredible increase in arrests and incarceration over the past four decades, mostly from the war on drugs.
The juvenile justice system is a system created to handle minors who are convicted of crimes to separate them from adult court. The justice system has many problems with racial discrimination amongst juveniles. The four theories explain the reasons sociologists explain why they believe such discrimination against other race happens. The strain theorists believe strain and stressful things on racial discrimination among juvenile delinquents are the reason why there is an increase in juvenile delinquency. The control theorists idea is that people with low levels of control especially in racial situations are more likely to have an increase in delinquency.
From such a small percent to a high percent, the overall population of blacks and the minorities must be taken accounted for. Thus, the incarceration rate is disportional. Having the minority group of African American having not even a third of the US population, it must say something about the justice system. Ethnicity plays a role in prison sentencing. Even more so, another researcher, Martin Explains, author of “One in Three,” explains that since the 1980’s, the US prison population has quadrupled where 60% percent of it at black, who only make 13% of the US population.
In 1998, statutory exclusion was the most common method (42%) used to charge juveniles defendants compared to the more traditional use of juvenile waiver (24%). In the 40 counties in 1998, 62% of the juvenile felony defendants were black, 20% were white, 16% were Hispanic, and almost 2% were of another race” (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”).As time goes on, crime rates of youths
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.
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
(1988). Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice and Law (3rd ed.). United States of America: West Publishing Company. Wright, W. &.