Juvenile Delinquency : A Serious Problem

Juvenile delinquency is an ever growing issue in the United States, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “In 2012, there were 3,941 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States” (OJJDP, 2014). The way juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system is very different than the way adults are. In 1899, in Cook County, Illinois, the first juvenile justice system in the country was founded. This established an alternative way of dealing with offenders whom are inherently different, in the way they think and commit crimes, than those of adult age. There are a few distinct differences between the juvenile and adult criminal system, but the biggest difference is the

Reading this book has had an effect on the way I see Juvenile delinquency and the Juvenile Justice System. The reason for this is because I now realize that these young individuals just do not become delinquent overnight and majority of the time it is not their fault that they are the way they are. It can be several factors that cause them to engage in criminal acts similar to the boys and girls in Giddings State School. This book may be very uncomfortable to read because of some of the disturbing events that these young individual experienced, but I would definitely recommend others to read it. Parents that are currently struggling with their teenage child should definitely read the book. I feel like the book may have solutions to their problems.

In the 1990s, violent juvenile crime rates had reached record high levels throughout the United States. During these years, many Americans considered the criminal justice system too easy on violent juvenile offenders and demanded reform. Many states, including Florida began to focus efforts on juvenile crime. “Florida’s criminal sentencing laws and punishment policies from 1980 to 2000 reflected an ongoing, focused effort to deter serious crimes” (Taylor). Crimes were given stricter sentencing guidelines. Serious offenses carried mandatory minimum sentences. “When it comes to kids and crime, Florida is known and the toughest state in the nation” (Clary). More juveniles are prosecuted as adults than in all other states combined. Juveniles were at the hands of these harsher adult sentences.

Juvenile Delinquency is the participation of illegal behavior by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit. A delinquent is a minor who commits a crime or a status offense. A status offense is conduct that is illegal only because the child is under age i.e. smoking cigarettes (Senna 10, 20). The cases of Eric Smith, Lionel Tate, and an unidentified NJ child are similar only because, they are guilty of killing another child, but the Criminal Justice System treated and punished them very differently. In August 1993 in Savona, New York 13 year old Eric Smith killed 4 year old Derrick Robie. Smith lured Robie into the woods and strangled, beat with large rocks, and sodomized Robie. Smith was questioned by police and kept changing some

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.

Chronic violent juvenile offenders, though small in numbers, account for the majority of all violent offenses, which presents a level of severity that shows a need for a policy intervention. When utilized on violent juvenile offenders, Aggression Replacement Training (ART), which teaches prosocial behaviors, anger control training, and moral education, can act as a recidivism-reducing policy tool. ART theorizes that by giving violent juveniles these skills and education, those juveniles will become less aggressive and thus decrease their criminal offending. The creators of ART performed implementation evaluations at two juvenile detention centers in New York when first

There are various delinquency prevention and community interventions used to combat juvenile crime. These measures have been put in place following the increase in unlawful conducts by the juveniles or underage offenders. That has in turn resulted in increased number of minors going to correctional facilities to serve time for having committed crime (Sieh, 2006). The first program is the Adolescent Diversion Project that revolves around the juvenile justice system in attending to the juvenile delinquents who need special treatment in serving their mandatory terms (Martin, 2005). The program primarily entails exposing the minor offenders to a formal juvenile justice process where they receive flexible sentences, they pay restitution to those

Like the case example of Bridget in the article, “Art Therapy: A Proposal for Inclusion in School Settings” where she was assessed by the school art therapist, Marie learned to also use art to process her inner physical and emotional pain in an environment where she felt safe. Since the beginning of Marie’s assessment and interaction with the art therapist she began showing baby steps and signs of progress. With that being said, Marie’s trauma was so severe and had been going on for years, therefore it became clear that her need for continued art therapy was necessary and

Art therapy is based off of experiential family therapy which emerged from the humanistic approach of existential psychology. Gladding (2014) says that The foundation of experiential theory is that the individual within the family are unaware of their true emotions and if they are aware of them they suppress them. Experiential approaches incorporate family play into session which is good because it helps,

Future research should examine the use of art therapy with specific diagnostic populations in an effort to more target groups who benefit most from this form of intervention. One of the personal advantages taken from the process of completing this assignment has been the opportunity to reflect on my approach to working with adolescent clients. For instance, it has become easier to express what has been learned through experience about the needs of the adolescent client especially with my internship this spring semester.

Juvenile offending is a concern in society today. Juveniles account for approximately 19% of the population but are responsible for 29% of criminal arrests (Cottle, Lee, & Heilbrun, 2001). Crime overall has been found to be decreasing throughout the last two decades. The issue is that the rate in which adult crime is decreasing is significantly greater than the rate in which juvenile crime is decreasing. Since the rate of juvenile crime is so high, juvenile delinquents are seen as predators and many believe they lack morals. The way in which media of today’s society constructs juvenile delinquency impacts the views of a community towards their youth and youth offenders. Media presents an inaccurate image of youth offenders as violent predators (Rhineberger-Dunn, 2013). This inaccurate image significantly promotes the myths that juvenile crime is rising, juveniles commit crimes that are primarily violent, and that juveniles are highly effected by recidivism and continue committing crimes into adulthood (Bohm, & Walker, 2013). It has already been stated though that crime rates have been decreasing over the last two decades so the first myth is refuted. The myth that juveniles primarily commit violent crimes is also very off. In most cases, juveniles are involved in property crimes and although there are some violent crime cases, they are very rare. When these rare violent crimes do occur, youth can be tried in adult court. The

Expressive art therapy can take the form of painting, writing poems, drawing, or any other art form that the therapist is comfortable using and has had some sort of training. It is important that the therapist be comfortable with the art form they choose because they provide all the supplies and need to be sure the area is equipped for whatever they choose to do. While it may seem silly to teens to color, draw, paint, or create stuff using materials that are common for preschoolers and grade school children, they are in control and free to express themselves as they wish with the supplies given.

This assignment will illustrate that by understanding the fundamentals of combatting juvenile delinquency and applying the theories to command practice will enhance the overall knowledge of the material. This document will demonstrate the juvenile delinquency reduction efforts and programs currently in operation in the Tampa area community. In addition, I will propose ways to improve the Tampa area community’s juvenile delinquency prevention efforts. Next, this paper will attempt to apply the main sociological theories that underlie these interventions that shape the community’s public policy for delinquency prevention. Finally, this paper will identify an appropriate strategy geared toward preventing delinquency that in consistent with the Behavioral theory.

Juvenile Delinquency has been an active issue in the criminal justice system that is considered as an evil by the society. It is believed to be a social and psychological problem faced by the youth and the society, which violates the legal system. The violation of the legal system makes it important to overcome the problem. The need to prevent the juvenile delinquency is important to help the youth cope with the society as well as the criminal justice system. The prevention of the delinquency is only possible if the results can be gathered for the causes of this behaviour. The causes can be gathered by examining a group of youth who can become possible offenders by knowing that what causes the delinquency and at what stages of the life does it trigger. The paper will be focus on the problem of juvenile delinquency, and the factors that contribute towards the onset of delinquency in youth. The research proposal would be based upon the previous research’s done and the data collected by those research’s that depicted some of the possible factors of delinquency found in youth that could be childhood maltreatment, negative relationship between the parents and the delinquent youth, emotional disturbance faced in the adolescent, genetics and the geographical factors. The factors would be further investigated by using them as independent variables in the research to find out how these factors can be removed to make the community aware of the negative impacts the

A traumatic childhood may predispose a child to violence against themselves or against others, in adolescence or adulthood. This information is and has been off the records, but so far no known relationship between the magnitude of traumatic experiences and different forms of violence at puberty. A study published in Pediatrics, which involved 136,549 U.S. students between 12 and 17 has been commissioned to evaluate this relationship. The researchers sought to determine six adverse experiences for which they had passed the boys in childhood and physical and sexual abuse, witnessing abuse or problems at home by alcohol or drugs taken by a relative. Then he saw the violent behavior at puberty: crime, harassment, bullying, dating violence,