A growing number of probation officers, judges, prosecutors as well as other juvenile professionals are advocating for a juvenile justice system which is greatly based on restorative justice. These groups of people have been frustrated by the policy uncertainty between retribution and treatment as well as unrealistic and unclear public expectations. As a primary mission, the balanced approach or policy allows juvenile justice systems together with its agencies to improve in their capacity of protecting the community and ensuring accountability of the system and the offenders . It enables the youths to become productive and competent citizens. This guiding philosophical framework for this policy is restorative justice as it promotes the maximum involvement of the community, victim, and the offender in the justice process. Restorative justice also presents a viable alternative to sanctions as well as interventions that are based on traditional or retributive treatment assumptions. In the policy proposal for restorative justice, the balanced approach mission assists juvenile justice system in becoming more responsive to the needs of the community, victims, and the offenders . Therefore, this paper considers how restorative justice reduces referrals of juveniles to criminal and juvenile justice systems and gives a proposal on the implementation of restorative justice in the community together with a number of recommendations. For instance, preliminary research reveals that application of restorative justice in schools significantly reduces school expulsions, suspensions, and referrals to the criminal justice systems. Restorative justice programs are an alternative for zero-tolerance policies for juveniles or youths . Criminal just... ... middle of paper ... ...ide. Available at: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/sisfcf/ Larry Sherman and Heather Strang, Restorative Justice: The Evidence (London: Smith Institute, 2007) Sharon Lewis, Improving School Climate: Findings from Schools Implementing Restorative Practices, (Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices, 2009). Kim, Catherine Y., Daniel J. Losen, and Damon Hewitt. 2010. The school to prison pipeline: structuring legal reform. New York: New York University Press. Sherman, Francine T. 2011. Juvenile justice: advancing research, policy, and practice. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Kafka, Judith. 2011. The history of "zero tolerance" in American public schooling. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.palgraveconnect.com/doifinder/10.1057/9781137001962. Church, Wesley T. 2014. Juvenile justice sourcebook: past, present and future.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act has many concerns creating inequalities in the restorative justice approach. For instance, juvenile delinquents who develop from a background that is impoverished may lack the ability to satisfy the reparative objectives of punishment and may not be ready to be reintegrated back into socie...
In the current days, we have a problem with our youth, they aren’t finishing school. Majority of middle school and high school students will not graduate because of a problem called the “School to Prison Pipeline”, this zero- tolerance policy that has been adopted by many schools, police officers, and judges. In my research, I tend to find “How is School to Prison Pipeline affecting juveniles around the United States?”. This topic is very interesting to me because how are juveniles being treated like criminals at a very young age, when they have done nothing wrong.
...a clear definition for what the school-to-prison pipeline is and why it continues to exist. I see the issues that have proceeded because of this policy. The research gives me an advantage of providing the unconstitutional wrongdoings. This is not an issue just morally wrong, it is unjust. Literature provides me with information on why courts are not taking action as well as possible solutions to endure without depending on legislators to take actions. The school-to-prison pipeline has a direct target and the literature also contributes information on who that target group is and why they are so easily targeted.
High rates of recidivism demonstrate that the judicial system has been unsuccessful in determining criminal activity. Alternatives to incarceration known as restorative justice has existed for centuries, yet has only been recently implicated into the Canadian judicial system. The practices of restorative justice have been proven very successful for minor offences among adults and youth in bringing together the offenders, victims, and the community. However, acts of violence and serious offences committed by youths have no place in these resolutions. The act of violence is traumatizing to the victim. There is a high chance of re-conviction of a violent offence and these types of offences are too complicated to be resolved outside of the judicial system.
With increased media coverage of violent juvenile behavior, legislators began to pass laws to toughen up on juvenile crime. Many laws made it easier to waive juveniles into adult courts, or even exclude juveniles who had committed serious crimes from juvenile court jurisdiction. Furthermore, the sentences to be handed out for offenders were lengthened and made much more severe. As a result, the juvenile courts began to resemble the adult courts. Yet, this movement’s influence began to fade, and by the turn of the century, another shift had occurred. In the current juvenile courts, a balanced approach is emphasized. While the court deals with chronic and dangerous offenders with a heavy hand, needy youth who need help to get back on track are still assisted under the parens patriae philosophy. Restorative justice has come to be the preferred method of today’s juvenile courts. In an overall sense, the modern juvenile court has taken on a paternalistic view similar to parens patriae towards youths who are in need of guidance, while punitively punishing offenders who do not respond to the helping hand extended to
The article The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Rhetoric and Reality by Aaron Kupchik unpacks the meaning behind the very popular phrase that we hear about today. The conversation is centered on the idea that schools can shape the future of children.
Petteruti A (2009). The Justice Policy Institute . The Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice
As we have learned, school-to-prison pipeline does nothing but stray at-risk youths away from education by criminalizing the students. At-risk students who are forced into a system like the school-to-prison pipeline are stripped away from their human rights and are powerless to fight back. It is not the students’ decision to be surrounded by the toxic systems, but because of the socio-economic imbalance that exist. Many of these at-risk students are from poverty where their parents are unable to fully provide for them and enroll them to a well off curriculum. However, socio-economic imbalance is not the only factor, policies like the zero tolerance reduces the students’ possibility to thrive in school. The zero tolerance policy demands for
The goals of juvenile corrections are too deter, rehabilitate and reintegrate, prevent, punish and reattribute, as well as isolate and control youth offenders and offenses. Each different goal comes with its own challenges. The goal of deterrence has its limits; because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion which are integral aspects of community corrections can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency.
There are various reasons why many juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system unjustly. The pipeline commences with inadequate resources in public schools. Many children are locked into second rate educational environments in which they are placed in overcrowded classrooms, insufficient funding, lack of special education services and even textbooks. This failure to meet the educational needs of children leads to more dropout rates which could also increase the risk of later court involvement. Surprisingly enough, some school may even encourage children to drop out in response to pressures from test-based accountability regimes which create incentives to push out low-performing students to increase overall test scores.
Introduction: Recidivism or, habitual relapses into crime, has time and time again proven to be an issue among delinquents, which thereby increases the overall juvenile prison population. This issue has become more prevalent than what we realize. Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile delinquency? Simply put, we must create a means of measuring juvenile’s level of risk and in turn, form an effective rehabilitation program that will decrease their risk level for future recidivism.
The concept of restorative justice became a game-changer in juvenile justice system. Through the course of time, professionals explored every possible methods and approaches that could positively affect the children without the expense of harming their future and wellbeing. The idea of restorative justice is “administer justice that focuses or repairing the harm done to the victim and the community. (Save the Children-UK, 2005)” The four guiding principles are to: (1) Repair and restore the balance within the community. (2) restitution for the victim. (3) Ensure that the offender understand and take responsibility. (4) Help the offender to change and improve. In South Africa, this is practiced in their community throughout
Over the years many laws and policies have been created and altered. As a result many activities have become illegal. With so many laws in place now, juvenile crime is also on the rise. More and more juveniles are being sent to prison than ever before. The goal of the juvenile justice system was to rehabilitate but now it is more focused on punishment. However, many rehabilitation programs are still in place to help delinquent juveniles get back on the path to becoming successful productive members of society. One program that comes to mind is the restorative justice program.
One of the fasting growing juvenile treatment and interventions programs are known as teen courts. Teen courts serve as an alternative juvenile justice, to young offenders. Non-violent, and mostly first time offenders are sentenced by their peers’ in teen courts. Teen courts also serve as juvenile justice diversion programs. Teen courts vary from state to state, and sometimes within the same state. With this program, all parties of the judicial setting are juveniles with the exception of the judge. Each teen court, is designed specifically to meet the needs of the community it serves. Teen courts were created to re-educate offenders throughout the judicial process, create a program with sanctions that will allow the youth not to have a juvenile record, and to also instil a sense of responsibility.
As the purpose of restorative justice is to mend the very relationship between the victim, offender, and society, communities that embrace restorative justice foster an awareness on how the act has harmed others. Braithwaite (1989) notes that by rejecting only the criminal act and not the offender, restorative justice allows for a closer empathetic relationship between the offender, victims, and community. By acknowledging the intrinsic worth of the offender and their ability to contribute back to the community, restorative justice shows how all individuals are capable of being useful despite criminal acts previous. This encourages offenders to safely reintegrate into society, as they are encouraged to rejoin and find rapport with the community through their emotions and