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Juvenile delinquency
Chapter 6 juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency
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Boot Camp for Juvenile Delinquents
In 2014, police made an estimated arrest count of over a million people under the age of 18. That means that they are juveniles. Almost all that were convicted went to juvenile detention centers. One of these teens was 16 year old Gynnya McMillen. After 14 hours in a cell she was found unresponsive. She did not die of natural causes, drugs, or becauses of self inflicted injury. It is the fact of the matter that these “Detention Centers” are not well structured and have an unofficial, but high, recidivism rate. There are much better alternatives that teach discipline, respect, leadership, and reverence. A military style boot camp is a much healthier environment that will promote physical fitness and mental health.
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However, this crime is not considered a “CRIME”. It’s called a delinquent act. How many of you are juvenile delinquents. Be honest how many of you have ever broken a law? Do you think that if you were caught you should be sent to Juvie? Juvie as in a jail; a prison for children. I’m not saying that we should send murderers to boot camp and then let them off scot free. The killers should be tried as adults and sent to a real prison.
The problem with Juvenile Detention Centers is that they are a punishment facility. They have no correctional tendencies. Delinquent acts are generally caused by a social structure flaw within their family. Children learn what is right and wrong based on what they see and hear. They see and hear what their family does and says. Why are we not adding more structure? These teens have learned not to respect authority, and this is why they fail. Teach them and they will learn. Punish them and they resent authority for the rest of their
Nell Bernstein, the author of Burning Down The House: The End Of Juvenile Prison has a very strong opinion about juvenile facilities. He believes that children do not learn to correct their behavior by being forced into these facilities because the main root of their behavior stems from their “broken” family structures, in more cases than not. This is supported from the text when he states “In fact multiple studies have shown that putting youth behind bars not only fails to enhance public safety; it does just the opposite, driving low-level delinquents deeper into criminality and increasing the likelihood that they will end up behind bars again and again.” Bernstein really tries to push his audience to agree with his opinion; to stop putting
Parents should be more involved with their children’s lives, and try to discipline and set rules at an early age. It is better for a juvenile to be confined rather than him/her influencing average teenagers to follow in his footsteps. It is a sad day when a teenager has to spend his/her days in a juvenile facility rather than outside enjoying his freedom and childhood. Children, who attend these programs and cannot cope with the challenges, can be easily abused. The risk in enrolling these teenagers into such disciplinary programs may either break them or make them improve their behaviors and quality of life. Teenagers who come out of these camps are stronger, disciplined, educated and even become role models to other teens can someday help other delinquents. In order to change someone’s life, one must first change his/her actions and
In 1899, the juvenile justice court system began in the United States in the state of Illinois. The focus was intended to improve the welfare and rehabilitation of youth incarcerated in juvenile justice system. The court mainly was focused on the rehabilitation of the youths rather than punishing them being that they still have immature ways and still growing. Specialized detention centers, youth centers, and training schools were created to treat delinquent youth apart from adult offenders in adult facilities. “Of these, approximately 14,500 are housed in adult facilities. The largest proportion, approximately 9,100 youth, are housed in local jails, and some 5,400 youth are housed in adult prisons” (Austin, 2000).
Juvenile delinquency is a relatively new phenomenon. For this reason, society’s reactions and solutions to the problem of delinquency are also modern developments. The United States developed the first youth court in 1899 and is now home to many new and formerly untested methods of juvenile rehabilitation and correction. One of many unique programs within the Juvenile Justice system, boot camps are institutions designed to keep delinquent juveniles out of traditional incarceration facilities and still provide a structured method of punishment and rehabilitation. Boot camps developed in the early 1990s and quickly proliferated throughout the nation. Specifically, they are “…short-term residential programs modeled after military basic training facilities” (Meade & Steiner, 2010). Designed with the goal of reducing recidivism and preventing violent offenses, boot camps target non-violent individuals under the age of 18 and typically exclude already violent offenders. In theory, boot camps apprehend juveniles while they are committing minor delinquency and prevent more-serious crime by “giving the juvenile offender a more optimistic, community oriented outlook” (Ravenell, 2002). Fundamentally, boot camps have four central purposes; rehabilitation, punishment, deterrence, and cost control (Muscar, 2008).
The problem of dealing with juvenile justice has plagued are country for years, since the establishment of the first juvenile court in 1899. Prior to that development, delinquent juveniles had to be processed through the adult justic3e system which gave much harsher penalties. By 1945, separate juvenile courts existed in every single state. Similar to the adult system, all through most of the 20th century, the juvenile justice system was based upon a medical/rehabilitative representation. The new challenges of the juvenile court were to examine, analyze, and recommend treatment for offenders, not to deliver judgment fault or fix responsibility. The court ran under the policy of “parens patriae” that intended that the state would step in and act as a parent on behalf of a disobedient juvenile. Actions were informal and a juvenile court judge had a vast sum of discretion in the nature of juvenile cases, much like the discretion afforded judges in adult unlawful settings until the 1970s. In line with the early juvenile court’s attitude of shielding youth, juvenile offenders’ position was often in reformatories or instruction schools that were intended, in speculation, to keep them away from the terrible influences of society and to encourage self-control through accurate structure and very unsympathetic discipline. Opposing to the fundamental theory, all through the first part of the century, the places that housed juveniles were frequently unsafe and unhealthy places where the state warehoused delinquent, deserted, and deserted children for unclear periods. Ordinary tribulations included lack of medical care, therapy programs, and even sometimes food. Some very poor circumstances continue even today.
Juvenile crime or juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by teenagers who are under the age of eighteen. In several cases, teenagers can be tried as adults; there are many different opinions about teenagers being sent to jail. Many believe that teens shouldn't be tried as adults. In the other hand, others believe that teens who committed serious crimes should be tried as adults. It is true that teens sent to an adult prison disciplines them. There are many cases that involve murders, rapists, and other criminals that are being released from trials without being tried as an adult. Teenagers should be able to know the difference ...
In today's society juveniles are being tried in adult courts, given the death penalty, and sent to prison. Should fourteen-year olds accused of murder or rape automatically be tried as adults? Should six-teen year olds and seven-teen year olds tried in adult courts be forced to serve time in adult prisons, where they are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to become repeat offenders. How much discretion should a judge have in deciding the fate of a juvenile accused of a crime - serious, violent, or otherwise? The juvenile crime rate that was so alarming a few years ago has begun to fall - juvenile felony arrest rates in California have declined by more than forty percent in the last twenty years. While California's juvenile population rose by a half a million since the middle and late 1970's, juveniles made up less than fifth-teen percent of California's felony arrests in 1998, compared to thirty percent in 1978; according to the Justice Policy Institute. The juvenile arrests have dropped back, even as the population of kids between ages of ten and eight-teen has continued to grow, and the number of kids confined in the California Youth Authority (CYA) has fallen. With all the progress our society has made in cutting back in juvenile crimes there is still a very serious problem. But if locking kids up is the best way to address it, how do we explain a drop in crime when there are more teens in California and fewer in custody? First we must look at the economy around us. With so many job opportunities available more and more teenagers find honest ways to keep busy and make money. Our generation has a brighter future than the generation a decade ago. Next we look at successful crime prevention efforts: after-school programs, mentoring, teen outreach programs, truancy abatement, anti-gang programs, family resource centers. There is evidence that these programs are beginning to pay off. Sending more, and younger teens through the adult court system has been a trend across the country in reaction to crimes, such as school shootings and violent rapes. Yet evidence shows that treating youth as adults does not reduce crime. In Florida, where probability wise more kids are tried as adults then in any other state, studies found that youth sent through the adult court system are twice as likely to commit more crimes when they're release...
There are two pathways that juvenile facilities are divided into first are detention centers and second are correctional centers. Detention centers hold juvenile during the pre-adjudication phase of the case or in rare cases post-adjudicated juveniles for example, they are waiting for a placement into a residential program. Pre-adjudication refers not having the court hear facts supporting the allegations against the juvenile whereas post-adjudication refers to having been found to have committed a delinquent act by a judge. Some reasons that young people enter into detention centers include: perceived to be at high risk...
The recent media obsession with the scared straight program, juvenile boot camps and other scare tactics has lead to the question as to whether they actually are beneficial or not in treating adolescent criminal recidivism. On television programs like Maury (Pauvich) the answer to treating the troubled young girls who are brought to the show is boot camp. Those in charge take these girls to prisons, dangerous streets at night and often morgues to make a visual argument as to where they will end up as a result of the path they've taken. They also go through a rigorous run with drill sergeants to break down their egos. Of course it only last one day as opposed to any length of time a judge would sentence, but they get a small taste of it. Without surprise, at the end of every program of this nature, all the girls are rehabilitated and promise to go back to school, quit drugs, stealing, prostituting, and stop the abusive behavior.
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.
People support sending juveniles to adult prisons for many reasons. One reason is that it is the job of the courts to help protect society. Once a troubled juvenile is sent to an adult prison, they are out of the way of society. Hopefully when they re-enter, the punishments they received will be imprinted in their brain and stop them from performing any wrong again. Another reason people think that disturbed youth cannot be saved is that punishment will not save them from themselves and they just need to be locked up forever. It is thought to be true that juveniles who are sent to jail will not commit the same crime again or even any crimes at all. All the reasons and opinions that say that juveniles should be sent to adult prisons for their heinous crimes seem logical. Despite this, they are not. There are more rational reasons why adolescents should be sent to their own private penitentiary.
This inappropriateness is because they employ a lot of humiliation and intimidation to inmates. Such practices make the program counterproductive for most inmates in the justice systems of juveniles. The bullying and aggressiveness among the inmates may cause problems such that the environment may not promote the development of the pro-social behavior. It may also hinder the development of compassion that the inmates really need to get. Boot camp program are not a quick fix for the behavior of juveniles. For instance, most of the youths are never ready to participate in other productive activities.
The Prison system can help juveniles turn their lives around; rehabilitation gives juveniles a second chance. Successful rehabilitation, many argue, is better for society in the long run than releasing someone who 's spent their entire young adult life in general Prison population. A young person released from juvenile Prison is far less likely to commit a crime than someone coming out of an adult facility. Children do not have the intellectual or moral capacity to understand the consequences of their actions; similarly, they lack the same capacity to be trial defendants. Children shouldn 't be able to get deadly weapons in the first place. Adults who provide juveniles with guns used in violent crimes should be held at least as accountable
There are many types of boot camp operations that practice different strategies but the same philosophy in implementing their goals. Some of the boot camps are operated by the state as alternate for juvenile detention/jail. This strategy is use to deter delinquent children from the community and reform their behavior before reentering the community. Some private institutions are run to implement strict rules and regulations by getting through on individuals in camp to change their behaviors. Some boot camps are mostly designed to challenge students to follow regulations at school or restrict the students by the rules in school. This strategy can lead to enforcing physical long runs and offering difficult courses. Lastly, other boot camps are designed to shake up the individuals’ awareness of reality (Boot Camp Info, 2000). Even though this is not reality, because many people did not live in boot camp or military atmosphere i...
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.