For my research paper, I desired to learn more about juvenile delinquency in Frederick County by researching and finding what crimes are most common and what sentences or court dispositions are common for juveniles found guilty of crimes. I know that court dispositions frequently result in probation and that Frederick County does not have a Juvenile Detention center, therefore I was most interested in how probation was implemented in Frederick County and other counties in Maryland and what other probation programs Maryland currently implements or implemented in the past. I was also interested in the profession of a juvenile probation officer in Maryland such as the job requirements, daily responsibilities, etc. The last information I …show more content…
Probation is the nonpunitive, legal disposition of offenders that emphasizes community treatment. During probation, the offender is closely supervised by a probation officer and must adhere to strict guidelines; if any guidelines are violated the offender can be incarcerated. Within the juvenile court system in Maryland and across the country, probation is the most frequently used disposition. Through conducting an email interview with Bill Keefer, Case Management Program Supervisor for the Department of Juvenile Services Office in Frederick County, and through further research, I have been able to learn more about juvenile crime rates in Frederick County and common court dispositions following those crime. I was also able to learn more about the profession of a juvenile probation officer and about how probation is being implemented for juveniles in Frederick County and other counties throughout Maryland. I have also found other “non-traditional” juvenile probation initiatives that are currently being implemented or have been implemented in the past in Maryland.
A juvenile probation officer, which is known as a Case Management Specialist in Maryland, is in charge of coordinating and implementing the delivery of services and treatment plans for juveniles on informal supervision, probation supervision, aftercare supervision, detained pending trial or disposition, or committed to the Department of Juvenile
Finally, the Department of Juvenile Justice is gunned in a formal organizational structure because it utilizes specific rules and regulations. These rules and regulations are DJJ’s policies on what to follow. For example, the Department keeps a Probation and Community Intervention Handbook at every desk. This handbook outlines the rules, responsibilities, and regulations that each Officer must follow for Juvenile Probation. Every Probation Officer has certain daily operational guidelines on what needs to be done. Both on duty and off duty, it is up to all of the staff of the Department to work under the handbook’s specific regulations.
There are several steps to the criminal justice system, one of them is Probation; a program where the offender’s freedom is limited; usually they have a curfew, and have limits on the things they do. Probations Officers are a huge factor in getting the juvenile offender back on the right track following their sentence. One of the problems with probation is that rather than helping the offenders, sometimes it can hurt them. Some scholars argue that the officers do not take the juveniles, specifically females, seriously when it comes to referring them to receive mental health treatment. In contrast, other scholars argue that Probation Officers are the key to connecting the offenders with mental health care. I will begin by talking about how the gender of the juvenile contributes to the unjust treatment of juveniles on probation, then I will talk about probation officers as “the problem,” and lastly I will talk about a solution. I will conclude by stating my research question and making some contributions as to what can be done to build a stronger relationship between the offenders and the probation officers.
Probation serves as the most frequently used sentence for those convicted. This is evident when you consider that the United States justice system oversees nearly 7 million people. Over half of those, a staggering 3.7 million people, are on probation with another 840,000 on parole (Rabuy, 2017). With those individuals representing the largest percentage of the American corrections system, it is important that we learn as much as possible about probation in order to improve the success of these programs. Probation involves a set of conditions that the probationer agrees to adhere to in exchange for remaining in the community. Typical conditions include a waiver of the offenders fourth amendment rights, maintaining employment or school
My chosen career path is to become a Juvenile probation officer. Juvenile probation officers work with youths that have been placed on probation and or have been court order to attend an alternative consequence school to continue their education. Most juvenile probation officers work with youths at a particular stage of their probation process, for an example supervision or investigation. This paper will cover information on the juvenile justice system and my career choice by touching bases with my interviewee a Juvenile Probation Officer Shelvin McGill the agency he is employed with as well as its clientele, I will also speak on the job description and responsibilities, his theory-of-use, and briefly touch on why he chooses this line of work, and his educational background.
Juvenile correctional systems have many different components and some are likely to be affected with a primary focus on rehabilitation. Today the United States falls short of providing adequate public juvenile facilities. With a focus on punishment, the need for new facilities will continue to rise. Switching the primary focus to
Probation has been called the "workhorse" of the juvenile justice system -- according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, probation is the most common disposition in juvenile cases that receive a juvenile court sanction. In an average year, about half of all minors judged to be delinquent receive probation as the most restrictive sentence.
The United States juvenile justice court was based on the English parens patriae adopted in the United States as part of the legal tradition of England. But the efforts of the state to rehabilitate juvenile offenders with institutional treatment with the houses of refuge and reformatories failed. Today, the United States has 51 different juvenile court systems; the laws and statutes vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Thus, each state’s approach to handle the youth offenders is responsible for how the youth offenders will experience the justice system. Both the past and the present approaches to deal with juvenile offenders have shaped today’s juvenile justice system.
As described by Kelly Peterson juvenile probation officers work with high risk teens along with their peers, family, work, school and involved activities. People like Kelly do there best to try and keep juveniles out of the adult system and further criminal systems. Over the course of Kelly’s visit she talked about many things some main points being; Her caseload and how she manages it, the main kinds of cases she deals with, and the court experience of people in the juvenile system.
Both jail and prison offer some type of early released programs, in this case probation and parole will briefly be discussed. Probation is a prison sentence that is suspended on the condition that the offender follow certain prescribed rules and commit no further crime (Seiter, 2008). Parole is similar to probation except that it is after a period of incarceration, which involved determinate and indeterminate sentencing (Seiter, 2008). The other types of prison sentencing include mandatory minimums, three-strike laws, and truth-in-sentencing (Wilson, 2001). The only difference is that a parole board allows convicts to serve the remainder of their term in society under supervision and strict limitations (Wilson, 2001). In summary both jails and prisons should strive to provide as much educational, health, and counseling opportunities as possible to reduce the likelihood of recidivism. Second, funding for the jail and prison systems will be briefly discussed.
As a probation officer, the officer balanced approach between the use of evidence-base practice and maintaining a responsive officer-offender working relationship is necessary. Several factors are at play when considering the complexity of the job of an officer making the effectiveness of probation supervision difficult to assess. In order for an officer to enforce the law and help offenders, the officer must attain the following: have the skills of an officer, the availability of service such as employment counseling or drug treatment, and the understanding needs and motives of the probationer. Firstly, in order for an officer to enforce the law and help offenders the officer must have the skills of an officer.
Nearly six decades later, six states had passed laws regarding probation. By 1910, “thirty-two more states had passed legislation establishing juvenile probation” (Probation Historical Roots, 2013). Twenty years later, forty-nine out of fifty states had a juvenile probation law (Probation Historical Roots, 2013). Today, as defined by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “probation refers to adult offenders whom courts place on supervision in the community through a probation agency, generally in lieu of incarceration” (Community Corrections (Probation and Parole),
Although based on the adult criminal justice system, the juvenile justice process works differently. Juveniles can end up in court by way of arrest, truancy or for curfew violations or running away. A youth may also be referred to the juvenile court system by school officials or a parent or guardian for being continuously disobedient. The juvenile justice process involves several different steps including intake, detention, adjudication, disposition and aftercare following release from a juvenile correctional facility. In this paper we will breakdown the numerous steps involved in the juvenile justice process as well as compared some
The juvenile justice system is similar to the criminal justice system. This system is where juveniles are processed, and may be arrested after referrals for juvenile delinquency. Juvenile justice is very different in every state and can be very similar as well because every system has limited jurisdiction and that most focus on the offenders and not their offenses. Therefore, there are 51 juvenile justice systems in the United States. The United States has the juvenile justice system because children are very different than adults – in that they can be better receptive for change and also being easier to rehabilitate. Moreover, the main goal of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation (Juvenile Law Center). The juvenile justice system is made up of police, courts, corrections, probation and parole services, as well as community-based programs to name a few (book).
Probation is the most common form of criminal sentencing in the United States. It 's defined as placing the offender under the control, supervision, and care of the probation officer as long as the probationer meets certain standards of conduct (Criminal Justice Degree Hub, n.d.).
Juvenile delinquency has been a problem in the United States ever since it has been able to be documented. From 100 years ago to now, the process of juvenile delinquency has changed dramatically; from the way juveniles are tried, to the way that they are released back into society, so that they do not return back to the justice system (Scott and Steinberg, 2008). Saying this, juveniles tend to