Juvenile Crime
Introduction
Every year, millions of juveniles are involved in criminal activities. According to statistics, as of 1999, the arrest rate for juvenile crime has dropped from its peak in the mid-1990’s. Statistics about juvenile crime have shown a steady increase of juvenile arrests from 1987 to 1994. Although overall crime rates have decreased since 1994, they are still above what they were in 1980. The following paragraphs and charts show the crime rates of specific crimes committed by juveniles.
Statistics on Juvenile Crime Rates
In the year of 1999, law enforcement agencies made an estimated 2.5 million convictions of persons under the age of 18.
There were 28,000 arrests for robbery,
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Statistics on Juvenile Court Case Flow
Of every 1,000 petitioned adjudicated delinquency cases handled in 1997, 177 resulted in formal probation and 94 resulted in residential placement following adjudication.
In many formally handled delinquency cases that did not result in juvenile court adjudication, the youth agreed to informal services or sanctions, including out-of-home placement, informal probation, and other dispositions such as restitution.
In a small number of cases (13 of 1,000), the juvenile was adjudicated but the court closed the case with a stayed or suspended sentence, warned and released the youth, or perhaps required the youth to write an essay. In such cases, the juvenile is not under any continuing court supervision.
Although juvenile courts handled more than 4 in 10 delinquency cases without the filing of a formal petition, more than half of these cases received some form of court sanction, including probation or other dispositions such as restitution, community service, or referral to another agency. (http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/delinquencytotal.html)
Note: All of the above graphs and charts were based on info from the OJJDP website.
Our group’s opinion on juvenile crimes is that we think that someone who commits a serious crime like robbery, murder, assault and rape, knows what they are doing is wrong. If a thirteen year old or even a ten year
When a child is committed of a crime and must undergo punishment through the juvenile system they are being given the punishment with the thought of rehabilitation. As a child the goal for the state is to help them get back on their feet and stop the criminal behavior that is accruing in order to ensure that when they are an adult they will not still be committing these crimes. As soon as a minor has been committed of a crime and arrested for this crime the police submit an application for petition to Probation, probation them looks over the circumstances such as family life, history of crimes, and psychological state before deciding how the case should be handled. (Inside the Juvenile Justice System: 2014) If the case is thought to
The one thing that those people won’t understand is that minors don’t know the typed of crime they had committed until they received adult consequences for their adult decisions they make. “In the Los Angeles two teenage sisters allegedly killed an elderly neighbor while another sister allegedly played a stereo to drown out the screams. They have denied all charges” demonstrates how even though they were committing adult crime they didn’t get adult consequence for what they had done. At that moment they probably didn’t realize the decision they were making but by getting adult consequences they would learn from there
The juvenile justice system is a foundation in society that is granted certain powers and responsibilities. It faces several different tasks, among the most important is maintaining order and preserving constitutional rights. When a juvenile is arrested and charged with committing a crime there are many different factors that will come in to play during the course of his arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing, and rehabilitation process. This paper examines the Juvenile Justice System’s court process in the State of New Jersey and the State of California.
Juvenile Delinquency has increased throughout the years. In 2008 the United States police arrested about 2.11 million juveniles. Juvenile arrest rates had increased in 2005 and again in 2006. Data show increases in some offense categories but declines in most. Most changes being less than 10% in either direction. According to the data arson at 47% is one of the biggest crimes that juveniles commit. Following are robbery at 27%, burglary at 27%, and property crimes at 26%. Juveniles are creating more problems for parents, schools, and communities. In 2007 juvenile courts dealt with a large amount of juvenile delinquents. About 4,600 cases per day were being treated at the courts (Puzzanchera, Charles).
According to the FBI Arrest Statistics from 1994 to 2000 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 was reported as 80% to 65%, which was high and then slowly decrease, whereas in 2001 to 2007 the crimes committed by juveniles between the ages of 10 to 17 has increased from 68% to 75% and the crimes that are being committed range from violent crimes of rape and murder to non-violent crimes such as forgery and counterfeiting. The FBI provides their annual data files containing agency-based arrest counts to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) within the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan with funds from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, NACJD aggregates agency-level counts to the county level, and then applies an estimation procedure to compensate for the under reporting and no reporting agencies within the county. (Puzzanchera, 2009)
Today, the juvenile system primary goals are crime reduction and rehabilitation. The juvenile officials must assess whether youthful offenders are likely to commit crimes in the future and whether they can benefit from interventions. If these kids cannot benefit, then they will most like end up a delinquent. In most states delinquency is defined as the commission of a criminal act by a child who was under the age of 18 at that time (Virginia Rules). Most states allow youth to remain under the supervision of the juvenile court until the age of 21, but this depends on the type of crime that was committed. There has been many times where a juvenile case was transferred to an adult criminal court. This would have to be done thru a process called a waiver. A waiver is when a judge waives the protections that the juvenile court provides (Larry J. Siegel). Cases that
Juvenile delinquency has become a controversial issue within the Criminal Justice system. In the United States, juvenile delinquency refers to disruptive and criminal behavior committed by an individual under the age of 18. In many states, a minor at the age of 16 to 17 ½ can be tried as an adult. Once the individual reaches adulthood, the disruptive and criminal behavior is recognized as a crime. However, the criminal justice system has divided juvenile delinquency into two general types of categories that has brought upon controversial issues of inequality and corruption. Yet, putting young individuals in juvenile detentions facilities seems to open the door for them to commit more crimes in the future. Therefore, under certain circumstances juveniles should be tried as an adult.
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
According to Caldwell (1961) the juvenile justice system is based on the principle that youth are developmentally and fundamentally different from adults. According to Mack (1909) the focus of the juvenile justice system has shifted from “was the crime committed” to “why did the child commit the crime”, “how can we help the child”. When performing as it is designed and up to the initial intentions, the juvenile court balances rehabilitation (treatment) of the offender with suitable sanctions when necessary such as incarceration. According to Griffin (2008) in some cases juveniles may be required to be “transferred” to adult court. In this paper I am going to discuss the three primary mechanisms of waiver to adult court: judicial waiver
Juvenile crime statistics show that offenders under the age of 15 represent the leading edge of the juvenile crime problem. "Violent crime grew some 94% among these youngsters from 1990 to 1995- compared with 47% for older youth (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).
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
Juvenile corrections encompasses the portions of the criminal justice system that deal with juvenile offenders. Many of these facilities and programs seem to mirror jails and prisons, but juvenile corrections are not meant for long term sentences. Sometimes sentences for juveniles are only several weeks long. Juvenile corrections also have a strong focus on rehabilitation because studies have shown that juvenile offenders are more prone to rehabilitation than adult offenders. These programs and services were aimed to help to teach
Serious crimes such as murder, burglary and rape have raised questions as to whether the young offenders should face severe punitive treatment or the normal punitive measures in juvenile courts. Many would prefer the juveniles given harsh punishment in order to discourage other young people from engaging in similar activities and to serve as a lesson to these particular offenders. However, results from previous studies indicate such punitive measures were neither successful nor morally acceptable. Instead, the solutions achieved have unfairly treated the youths and compromised the society status (Kristin, page 1).
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
The Juvenile System has been around for a long time. The primary reason behind separating Juvenile from adult criminals is quite simple; the judicial system believes that the children are less culpable for their irresponsive behavior and they could easily be reformed as compared to adult offenders. The crucial role of the judicial system is to critically investigate, diagnose, and recommend treatments for the Juveniles rather than accrediting them. However, because of the increasing number of juvenile arrest for crimes committed by persons considered as a child, the attention that the given to a crime involving juveniles, the decreasing trust to the juvenile system itself and the lauder roar of the society for a safer place to live in,