There are two main goals when it comes to the juvenile justice system: reducing crime and rehabilitation. Status offender’s cases and delinquent cases differ when it comes to processing and when it is time to face a judge in court. A delinquent offense is an act committed by a juvenile for which they can be tried as an adult and be prosecuted in criminal court. Running away from home, truancy, curfew violation and underage drinking are examples of status offenses. They aren’t punished with such harshness as a delinquent offender would. All of these behaviors are not always considered law violations. These behaviors in many states are viewed as indicators that the child is in need of supervision and they often respond to the behavior with the outcome being social services. This different characterization of status offenses causes them to be handled more like dependency than delinquency cases. This is why the juvenile courts should definitely be split into two separate courts. Of course there’s going to be advantages and disadvantages to this process. I do feel that both taxpayers an...
A juvenile is a person under the age of 18. If he or she commits an offense that is considered a crime in the law of a state, including theft, assault, drug abuse, disorderly conduct, and curfew violations, that person is labeled as a juvenile delinquent. Similarly, if a juvenile commits an offense that is considered a crime in the juvenile code, including running away from home, truancy from school, and disobeying the lawful orders of parents or legal guardians, that person is also labeled as a juvenile
Demetria suffers from ADHD and anxiety/depression so instead of her going to a rehabilitation center she was sent to a juvenile shelter. She later then ran away from then shelter but was found by the police and they locked her up. In juvenile court they will determine what actions should be taken if the juvenile is deemed a delinquent. This stage differs from the adult system in the purpose of the action. In the adult system, the goal is to punish. In the juvenile system, on the other hand, the goal is to rehabilitate and serve the minor 's best interest. But sometimes they still treat the juveniles as if they were criminals by calling them by their inmate numbers instead of their names. The only difference between Juvenile court and Criminal court is that in the juvenile justice system, the main aim is to rehabilitate and reform the juvenile offender so that they can resume functioning normally in society. Thus, the focus is more on alternative sentences that keep the juvenile out of jail, such as probation, parole, and diversionary
This quote by Edward Humes sums it up the best, “The fundamental question Juvenile Court was designed to ask - What's the best way to deal with this individual kid? - is often lost in the process, replaced by a point system that opens the door, or locks it, depending on the qualities of the crime, not the child.” (No Matter How Loud I shout, 1996, p. 325). The courts need to focus on what is best for the child and finding punishment that fits the child not the crime.
There are pros and cons to community treatment programs of juvenile offenders. Personally, I would not want a juvenile treatment program in my neighborhood, and here are a few reasons why.
What is important to understand in terms of the difference between the juvenile and adult system is that there is a level of dependency that is created between the two and the juvenile system focuses on how to help rather than in prison individuals at such a young age. However, it usually depends on the type of crimes that have been committed and what those crimes mean for the families and how they impact the greater society. The adult system distinguishes between dependence and delinquency mainly because there is a psychological transition that occurs with juveniles that is not always a predictor of a cyclical life of crime. However, if an adult is committed to the justice system, there can be a dependency of delinquency and a cycle of crime that is more likely to be sustained at that age and level of cognitive ability than in comparison to a juvenile. The reasoning behind this is important is that it is focused on maintaining a level of attention to the needs and capacity abilities of individuals living and working in different types of societies (Zinn et al., 2017).
Using the MST significantly reduces recidivism in juvenile offenders. When recidivism does occur it is much less severe. In one study, juvenile offenders enrolled in MST had a recidivism rate of 22.1% in comparison to an individual therapy group which had a recidivism rate of 71.4%. This study also noted that even when a juvenile offender was only involved in MST temporarily their recidivism rate still dropped to 46.6% in comparison to the control group (Bourdin et al. 1995). MST programs ' net cost was $4,743 for each juvenile offender. However, MST is so effective that for each juvenile offender enrolled in MST, the public saves $131,918 (Osher et al. 2003).(May, Osmond, and Billick 2014)
Sentencing to Service (STS) is a sentencing option available to most Courts where a convicted offender "works off” his/her fine by performing a specified number of hours of public service work under the supervision of a work crew leader employed by the state or a local corrections agency. Courts may also sentence offenders to STS rather than jail or workhouse time.
Harassment, reckless endangerment, and burglary are all juvenile offenses. These juvenile offenses almost always stay on the juvenile’s criminal record, and the offenses displayed on a juvenile’s criminal record may cause employers, educators, and other authority figures to think less of the juvenile offender. As a viewer can see, this one mistake or lapse in judgment can ruin the juvenile offenders chance to further their success in life. For example, juvenile offenders may not obtain the dream job that they have always wanted, get into the college that they have always wanted to, or be eligible for a scholarship whether athletic or academic. However, there is a loophole in the juvenile justice system called teen courts. Teen courts give first-time offenders and some re-offenders a second chance because the offense (s) do not go on their criminal record, and their peers get to decide what sanctions the juvenile offender receives or performs. The big question that I am going to discuss throughout this essay is do juvenile offenders who appear before teen courts recidivate?
The Criminal Law state at the age of 7, any young child that are engaged in a criminal behavior can be prosecuted in the Family Court of Law. Additionally, juveniles can also be arrested for curfews violations, refusal to obey parents, running away, skipping school, and underage alcohol consumption. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that roughly half of all youth arrested are charged with theft, simple assaults, drug abuse, disorderly conduct, and curfew violations. OJJDP statistics confirms that theft is the greatest cause of youth arrests. (Martin, 2011) When they are prosecute and after the judge made there verdict, they become Juvenile Delinquent. A Juvenile Delinquent is a youth between the age of 7 and 18 who commits the act of a crime. The law also follows a specific term placement, which is:
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
In most states juvenile delinquency are criminal acts committed by minors’ ages 10 to 18 years old, the crimes are categorized as status offenders or delinquent offenders. Offenses committed by status offenders can only be committed because the offender is a minor, such as running away from home, truancy and underage drinking. (Mooney, pg 115) then there are delinquent offenders whose offenses would be a crime if they were committed by an adult. Depending on the nature of the crime, minors are tried in a juvenile justice system or can be transferred to the adult justice system. According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, it is estimated 1.7 million youths are in the juvenile justice system with 100,000 cases being heard in juvenile court annually. Currently, it is estimated that 70% of the youths arrested are boys and 30% are girls, although African-Americans make up only 17% of the total youth population, they are 30% more likely than white youth to face harsher sentences and be transferred into the adult
In the juvenile justice system, status offenses are often viewed as being a precursor to more serious delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is committing criminal acts or offenses by a young person, generally involving people under the age of eighteen. That is what this research proposal is about. For my research proposal my research question is what can cause or deter juvenile delinquency in first time offenders? I feel that this is an important question to be asking, because in our society there is too much juvenile delinquency and if we can use this research to figure out what can cause and deter this phenomenon then we could sincerely help a lot of adolescents.
Indeed, on the most basic level, both offenders are committing an illegal act, in some form or fashion. As a result of this, there is no doubt that immediate action is required in both cases to hopefully curb this crime and prevent any future crimes in the future. The distinction, then, comes from the exact measures that are to be taken to prevent these crimes. That is to say, status offenders should not merely be lumped into the same category as delinquent offenders because the very nature of the crimes that they are committing is fundamentally different. As a result, this would no doubt have a salient effect on policy in this area. That is to say, status offenders would not actually be seen as juvenile offenders at all, complete with all of the implications and consequences of that. Rather, these status offenders would be placed into the same category of juveniles who have some sort of mental disorder, needing rehabilitation only, with no punishment at all. This would help to ensure that these juveniles are not unjustly punished, and are allowed to immediately get the help they
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.