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Ethics in criminal justice administration
Things that can combat over crowding in prisons
Things that can combat over crowding in prisons
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An ethical problem that exists in the field of criminal justice is the incarceration of juveniles. While juvenile incarceration has been decreasing over the past decade, it is still an ethical dilemma that many criminal justice professionals will come across. Juveniles’ brains are not fully developed, incarceration is used when not appropriate to fit the problem, and some populations are over-represented in the criminal justice system. Juvenile Brains It has been found that juvenile brains are not yet fully developed. The parts of the brain specifically still changing during the teen years include the brain circuitry involved in emotional responses and impulsive responses. Teen emotional reactions are intense and urgent (National Institute …show more content…
Perhaps the biggest issue with youth confinement is that about 70 percent of committed youth were adjudicated for a nonviolent offense (Holman & Ziedenberg, 2006). In 2010, only 1 out of 4 incarcerated youth were based on a violent offense (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2014). Incarceration should only be used to protect the public. Juvenile incarceration does not protect the community and substantially increases the risk of recidivism. When predicting recidivism rates, youth who have a prior detention are at the greatest risk; more than having a poor parental relationship, a gang affiliation, or carrying a weapon (Holman & Ziedenberg, 2006). Incarceration leads to poor mental health for adolescents and it decreases the ability for youth to complete school and get a job. Youth who are incarcerated are at a higher risk for being harmed while incarcerated. Often overcrowded and understaffed, juvenile detention centers generate neglect and violence. A large burden is placed on families when youth are incarcerated. There is not only the pain of being separated, but it also prevents families from being involved in the juvenile’s life, which is a barrier to the child’s recovery, future, and …show more content…
The majority of youth can be served by these community-based services. Too often incarceration is used as a first step rather than a last resort. By using the money currently spent on incarceration and focusing it on community-based options for treatment and supervision that keep youth close to home should lead to more productive future adults. The dilemma of juvenile incarceration is a problem that thankfully has been declining, but still continues to be an ethical issue. The de-incarceration trend has coincided with a decrease in crime. It is hopeful that our nation is changing the approach to the treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system. It means we know what to do and what is working, now just to follow through and continue the change to creating a juvenile justice system that is truly rehabilitative and gives youth tools to be able to be positive members of
The adult system’s shifts leaked into the juvenile system, causing an increase in incarcerations even when delinquency rates were declining at the time. Juvenile reform legislations prompted more compulsory sentencing and more determinate sentences for juveniles, lowering of the upper age of juvenile jurisdiction, considerable ease in obtaining waivers to adult court for juvenile prosecution, and made it easier to gain access to juvenile records as well. Furthermore, it led to greater preoccupation with chronic, violent offenders, which in turn led to a redirection of resources for their confinement. Thereby, the absence of reliable criteria for identifying such offenders tends to stereotype all delinquents and is more likely to raise the level of precautionary confinements. These three major shifts in juvenile justice policy demonstrate the power and depth of traditional beliefs about the causes and cures of crimes in U.S. society. It also shows how the system can bend for a time in the direction of new approaches to prevention and control. Today, we are presently in a time of conservative responses where the prevailing views about crime express beliefs about prevention, retribution, and incapacitation that are profoundly rooted in our
Life is precious and we live it only once, however, what we do with it is to our own discretion. It is a shame that many people at young ages decide to live a life of misdeeds and become what we call juvenile criminals, but, every action has a consequence and to deal with these unlawful adolescent we have the Juvenile Justice Department. The juvenile justice system is a network of agencies that deal with juveniles whose conduct has come in conflict with the law. These agencies include police, prosecutor, detention, court, probation, and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. However, when young offenders commit a series of crimes, constantly being in trouble with the law, they are waivered into Adult court where they will be subject to any
The inappropriate or unnecessary use of incarceration is “expensive, ineffective, and inhumane,” and initiates a “cycle of juvenile reoffending” (Bala et. al, 2009). A study conducted by Mann (2014) exemplifies this cycle of youth reoffending. The youth interviewed demonstrated that despite a stay in sentenced custody, the threat of future punishment was not enough to deter from future offences. Cook and Roesch (2012) demonstrate that youth have developmental limitations that can impair their involvement in the justice system; for example, not understanding their sentencing options properly or their competence to stand trial. Therefore, deterrence as a justification for youth incarceration is ineffective, as incarceration proves to be not a strong enough deterrent. Alternative methods such as extrajudicial measures and community-based sanctions were considered more effective (Cook & Roesch,
...ing beckoned in with the 21st century. While U.S.’s JLWOP laws are inconsistent with many human rights treatises and with international law, it is more important for our policies to be based on a thorough understanding of the issue- the most essential being a separation of the processes for juvenile and adult criminal offenders. With an emphasis on rehabilitation for juvenile offenders, and the goal of encouraging maturity and personal development after wayward actions, the futures of many teens in the criminal justice system can become much more hopeful.
The juvenile justice system faces a significant challenge in identifying and responding to the psychiatric disorders of detained youth because research has shown that it is difficult to define the best means to use and enhance the scarce mental health resources (Kessler & Kraus, 2007). According to Cocozza and Skowyra (2000) “Children’s and adolescents’ mental health needs have historically been addressed inadequately in policy, practice, and research and have only the number of youth with mental illness and their level of unmet needs recognized” (p 4). Furthermore, that the juvenile justice system has gone from treatment and rehabilitation to retribution and punishment, that the prevalence is higher for youths who are involved with the system have mental health disorders when compared to the general population. In this paper I will be discussing pathways of juvenile detentions, types of mentally ill juvenile offenders, working alliance, treatment/intervention options available, challenges of untreated mental illness, and research findings.
Studies and anecdotes have shown that our modern approach, however, is ill-equipped to reduce crime or deal with chronic delinquents while at the same time protecting their due liberties. We now stand on the precipice of decision: How can we strike an appropriate balance in the juvenile justice system? Should we even retain a separate system for children at all? The answers are usually difficult, sometimes subtle, but always possible to attain.
(Ochs, S. L., 2012). In certain cases, there was the moral and ethical responsibility of the court to decide whether rehabilitative efforts should be mandated, allowing juvenile murderers the opportunity to be ultimately released back into society, or if sentencing these juvenile murderers to serve a life term in prison as punishment was the better alternative. (Ochs, S. L., 2012).
...ing with young minds and punishing them in juvenile courts may be of advantage to the young people and at the same time reduce propagating them into developing a violent future in criminal activities. Correctional facilities that address and cater for the juveniles are the way forward to streamlining the youths (Kristin, page4).
A deep look into juveniles in adult prisons. Touch bases on several smaller issues that contribute to juveniles being in and effects of adult prisons. The United States Bureau of Prisons handles two hundred and thirty-nine juveniles and their average age is seventeen. Execution of juveniles, The United States is one of only six countries to execute juveniles. There are sixty-eight juveniles sitting on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. Forty-three of those inmates are minorities. People, who are too young to vote, drink alcohol, or drive are held to the same standard of responsibility as adults. In prisons, they argue that the juveniles become targets of older, more hardened criminals. Brian Stevenson, Director of the Alabama Capital Resource Center said, “We have totally given up in the idea of reform of rehabilitation for the very young. We are basically saying we will throw those kids away. Leading To Prison Juvenile Justice Bulletin Report shows that two-thirds of juveniles apprehended for violent offenses were released or put on probation. Only slightly more than one-third of youths charged with homicide was transferred to adult criminal court. Little more than one out of every one hundred New York youths arrested for muggings, beatings, rape and murder ended up in a correctional institution. Another report showed a delinquent boy has to be arrested on average thirteen times before the court will act more restrictive than probation. Laws began changing as early as 1978 in New York to try juveniles over 12 who commit violent crimes as adults did. However, even since the laws changed only twenty percent of serious offenders served any time. The decision of whether to waive a juven...
Science supports the notation that the frontal lobe is not fully developed until an individual is in their late 20’s. One of the biggest concerns with juveniles is their impulsivity and lack of judgment, both of which are controlled by the prefrontal cortex. It is alarming to me to hold a juvenile fully accountable for their actions when unlike adults; part of their brain has not been fully developed. Biologically, they are not yet mature and their executive system is not full functioning. In addition to the profound physical changes of the brain, Deborah Yurgelun-Todd of Harvard University states that adolescents also undergo dramatic hormonal and emotional changes. For example, testosterone being one of the hormones that has the most dramatic effect on the body is closely associated with aggression and increases tenfold in adolescent boys (2004). Juveniles suffer from significant neurological deficits that may increase delinquency; therefore holding them to the same standards as adults is
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.
This shows how instead of having kids get rehabilitated in an a jail it is actually harming them. In adult prisons, “they are also kids that are in for minor crimes. They should not be in adult prison but instead in juvenile facilities where they can be rehabilitated”(Bechtold). This might be linked to the color of skin of a kid because judges think they are dangerous. “Out of all the juveniles, 32.1 percent of them in adult prisons reported being attacked with a weapon while being incarcerated. This could led to many juvenile deaths”(Bechtold). This fact is important because instead of being rehabilitated they are fighting for their lives. They come out thinking everyone is out to hurt them because of what they have endured during the time the have been in prison.Lisa Poliak, author of Teen Crime Adult Time Each Year, Thousands of Juvenile Offenders are Sent to Prison. Does the Practise Discourage Criminal Behavior- Or is it Cruel and Unusual Punishment?,did a case of a kid named Jason
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.
Alternatives to Incarceration for the Young Offenders In recent years there have been so many crimes that youth have been involved. The crime rate has really gone up. There are too many young inmates in our prison jails; the percentage is so high that we really need to do something about it. “Despite a decline in juvenile offending over the past decade, the population of youth confined in pre-trial secure detention has steadily grown. On an average day, more than 27,000 youth are estimated to reside in locked detention centers — a number that has grown 72 percent since the early 1990s”.
A collaborative approach to meeting the needs of adolescent offenders with complex needs in custodial settings: An 18-month cohort study. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 22(3), 437-454. Mendel, R. (2012). The 'Made in the World'. Juvenile justice reform in Connecticut.