Juvenile Delinquency And The Recidivism Rate

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

Juvenile Delinquents are being incarcerated at earlier ages as time progresses. The term delinquent speaks of two or more youths, typically amongst the ages of ten and seventeen years old, who are involved in doings well-defined as illegal. The study of juvenile delinquents in inner city Chicago have been studied for many years and the rates continue to sky rocket as juveniles are being locked down by the justice system. Cases of violence amongst juveniles has been increasing rapidly in the past 20 years, juveniles are now linked to severer crimes, and it can be speculated that regardless of efforts of rehabilitation that the recidivism of juveniles relapsing is very great. Thus leading to physiological and mental problems that can be damaging to the youth as

According to Schiraldi and Drizin (1999), the first juvenile court in the United States was founded in Chicago in 1899 after a young lawyer named John Altgeld toured the House of Corrections and found hundreds of children as young as 8 years old jailed with adults. The Cook County Juvenile Court was created to rehabilitate instead of punishing the offenders under 16 years of age. In other words, for the juvenile court judges to treat rather than to punish juveniles placing attention on the offender instead of the offense. Most importantly, for the children to receive a second chance and keep them away from the adults in jails. Certainly, “jails and prisons clearly were no places for children” (Bartollas & Miller, 2017, p.5).

Minors are a diverse group that varies in terms of the severity of criminal acts they commit, the frequency with which they commit criminal acts, how early they begin their criminal career, and how long they commit these crimes for. For many minors, juvenile lawlessness is a short-lived flirtation that disappears as quickly as it emerges. It is common and even normal for minors to engage in trivial forms of misbehavior and delinquency as they mature through adolescence and enter adulthood. However, for some minors, juvenile lawlessness has a more troubling meaning.

According to T. Williams at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us/us-prison-population.html?_r=0, (2016). “The number of inmates held in state and federal prisons, fell to its lowest level since 2005 dropping by 2.7 percent.” However, while adult crimes seem to be decreasing. The opposite can be said about juvenile related crimes which seem to be increasing. In this paper, I will be providing my reasons as to why I believe juvenile related crimes are going up, as well as talk about two programs that are working to keep at risk youth out of the criminal justice system.

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.

The juvenile court system in the state of Tennessee has transformed their approach to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and reduce juvenile recidivism by establishing evidence-based treatment services (Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, 2017). Furthermore, these evidence-based treatment services include a myriad of intervention treatments services from Functional Family Therapy, to Aggression Replacement Training, and Teen Outreach Program plus numerous other programs (TN DCS, 2017).

Juvenile delinquents have created a subculture that provides them with motives, reasons, and justifications that enable them to account for their involvement in proscribed activities. Within this subculture they have developed a rational to justify their misdeeds, during times when they are brought under scrutiny by police, courts etc. For instance, when youth engage in a crime, and are charged with a criminal offense, they deny their involvement. What youth fail to realize, is that as they engage in criminal acts, they disrupt the fabric of society.

According to Silva (2013), the first juvenile court was established in 1899 in Cook County, Illinois. At the time of the establishment of the first juvenile court, they only dealt with cases where the child was under the age of sixteen years old (Silva, 2013). Today in some cases a child can be seventeen years old and be tried in a Juvenile Court, but

Juvenile justice is the area of criminal law for a person not old enough to be held responsible for their criminal actions (“Juvenile Justice”). In most states this kind of categorization is determined by age, set at eighteen years old. In general, juvenile law is governed by state law and most states have an individual juvenile code set in place that contributes to the number of youth in detention centers today (“Juvenile Justice”). Despite the lowest youth crime rates in twenty years, according to Holman and Ziedenberg (2006), hundreds of thousands of juveniles are locked away each year. Detention centers are intended to provide temporary housing for youth who are described as having high risk of re-offence before trial or who are

To discuss the findings on juvenile and adult recidivism, 20-literature review articles were used. Out of the 20 articles found, many did not report findings on implementation and impact of reentry programs on reducing juvenile recidivism. In 2004-2011 data obtained from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) was used in this study. These programs were comprised of 16 out of 89 programs located in Colorado, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Maine, Missouri, Indiana, `Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Washington and South Carolina. Arrest data acquired from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) were used to conduct a treatment outcome evaluation for both SVORI and non-SVORI respondents consisting of in person,

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

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

When a juvenile commits an act that would be criminal if committed by an adult, the juvenile is determined to be delinquent. Delinquent acts may include crimes against persons, crimes against property, drug offenses, and crimes against public order. Delinquency prevention efforts seek to redirect youth who are considered at-risk for delinquency or who have committed a delinquent offense from deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system (Deling, 2014).

As stated by Bartol and Bartol “Juvenile delinquency is an imprecise, nebulous, social, clinical, and legal label for a wide variety of law- and norm-violating behavior” (2011, Pg 139). The juvenile delinquency term has come to imply disgrace in today's correctional institution. Our government is up hold to procedures and expected to come with a solution to solving the delinquent problem. An underage offender can be labeled a delinquent for breaking any number of laws, ranging from robbery to running away from home, and especially being involved in school violence. The following situations faced by correction officials when dealing with juvenile delinquents will be examined. Three main areas (child development, punishments, and deterrence