The primary reason I chose my topic is due to my involvement with institutionalized youth. I am a correctional officer at a juvenile rehabilitation center. Upon completion of our facilities Gateway Program, the resident is ordered into the custody of their legal guardian, or into a transitional living program. The juvenile is released back into society where they are expected to become a productive memeber of society. For most juveniles transitioning back into society this can be easier done than said.
Richard Ross has interviewed over 1,000 juveniles in over 200 facilities all over the United States, he has gone to detention centers, correctional centers, and treatment centers. He has also worked alongside with the police department and juvenile courtrooms in order to get a better inside on how juveniles feel while they are locked up. All the people he has interviewed are as young as 10 years old to their late 20’s there are both females and males, who are placed behind bars. Almost 3 of every 4-youths detained in a facility for delinquency are not in there for a serious violent crime (Ross, 2012).
One method that is used to turn juvenile offenders around is, “...Growing Up FAST (Families and Adolescents Surviving and Thriving), [Stephen Gavazzi’s] program makes parents and caregivers an integral part of treatment; focuses on the strengths of the child and family instead of their weaknesses; and asks families to identify the issues they want to work on. The intervention also helps juvenile offenders avoid problem behaviors and
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,
The kids in the juvenile facilities often suffer from physical or sexual abuse and the staff provide them with a safe environment. They will form meaningful relationships with these juveniles and then they become willing to change their behaviors. In addition, these systems are built like homes and close to families. They will never be far away from their families. This system implements a group treatment model instead of isolating them and leaving them defenseless to other delinquents.
Johnston, D. (2012). Services for Children of Incarcerated Parents. Family Court Review, 50, 91-105. The author illustrates how growing up without a parent is hard and children should have services directed towards them to help them cope.
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)
Mark, age 17, is serving 13 years in the L.A. County Men’s Jail and when asked about how he felt about the situation he said, “little kid, he should be put in a program. When you send them to the pen all you making is a better criminal.” What Mark said is right criminal youth would be better off being placed in programs that help them get their life back on track, not placed into prison with a bunch of adults who have been criminals for years. A teen placed in a prison rather that a juvenile facility faces much more risk of repeating their criminal behavior and continuing down a dangerous path. When a youth is placed into an adult prison they are missing out on an important part of growing up, education.
They may not “have the right to claim they know what is good for them” (Young, 1990). As such, parents or legal guardians ideally help guide them in their path toward adulthood to learn to make sound life choices. However, the level of marginalization delinquent juveniles face is particularly sticking. “Being a dependent in our society implies being legitimately subject to the often arbitrary and invasive authority of social service providers and other public and private administrators, who enforce rules with which the marginal must comply, and otherwise exercise power over the conditions of their lives”( Young, 1990).
Juveniles in prison face increased violence and sexual abuse, and are at much higher risks of committing suicide than juveniles in juvenile prisons. In addition, the number of released prisoners that turn back to crime is much higher for those that were juveniles in adult prisons. Juveniles will face the consequences of their actions in juvenile prisons, but will also be given a second chance to change their lives through rehabilitation. It is time to stop failing this nation’s juveniles and build a system that benefits not only these children, but society as a whole through the end of a vicious criminal
Well...I was 6 when Child Protective Services came to get us. I lived with my mom and my three sisters, the youngest was Donna she was 5 & Lizzy was 7 and Mary was 10. I remember most of my family lived in the same neighborhood like my two Aunts and my uncle and grandpa and grandma. There was an occasional gunshot, sometimes there was a fire truck rushing down our street . We lived on top of a hill at 1015 Norwich in Grand Rapids.
Adolescents can then be put into rehabilitation programs and detention centers to help them recover without going through the struggle of prison. However, most programs and centers are “meant to be transitional placements, yet over half of the youth they hold are there longer than 90 days” (Sawyer). This proves that juveniles are not being helped and they will not mentally improve. In conclusion, there are many valid arguments that individuals could share about never trying juveniles as adults but it’s unethical to always let them off
Juveniles need rehabilitation instead of lifelong sentences their deviance could be factors of conformity to how they grew up, and we need to help them grow out of their old ways to become a new person instead of sitting in a cell for the rest of their
If they receive assistance, some are then discharged without continued treatment, without treatment they may continue to a path of delinquency and, eventually, adult criminality (Hammond, 2007). Early intervention can “break the cycle” and prevent juveniles from committing future crimes. Crime rate have been falling over the past decade, juvenile arrest is at a 30yr low. “The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) found in its latest periodic national report on offenders and victims that the number of killings committed by youth under 18 is at the lowest point in at least three decades” (Smith, 2015). The reasoning behind the drop is that we are sending juveniles to residential treatment over incarceration, which is more in line with the goal of rehabilitation over punishment.
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.