Juvenile delinquency has become an increasing problem within the United States. According to Siegel and Welsh (2012), more than 1.1 million youth are being arrested each year for various crimes ranging from loitering to murder. There are numerous reasons why there should be programs to help deter delinquency. One of which, Greenwood (2008), states that juvenile delinquency has started to take it’s toll on tax payers. The cost of arresting, incarcerating, prosecuting, and treating offenders has began to cost billions of dollars within a year. The other reason being that adult criminals begin as juveniles therefor preventing delinquency helps to prevent the early onset of adult criminals and reduces crime on victims as well as society as a whole (Henggeler, Melton, & Smith, 1992). Juvenile Delinquency is driven by negative consequences of a communities social and economic development (Juvenile Delinquency, 2003). Delinquency can be affected by the interactions youth have with other people, such as family and peers being the main influences. A program that would be willing to help delinquent’s home life as well as having positive peer mentors to help academically and socially would help to improve structure and behavioral problems within the delinquent.
Statistics in Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is made up of about four hundred and fifty-thousand people. Although Virginia Beach is made up of a variety of ethnic groups, the majority of the population is Caucasian at
This paper will look at the importance of Preventing Juvenile Delinquency and what different ideas, concepts and methods are available to those adolescents that are either at-risk already or those that can be in the future. Early prevention is the best method of slowing down the statistics of crimes among adolescents, by keeping them off of the streets and out of the justice system by providing the means to teach them to be productive rather than destructive.
The students take a two-semester course that trains them how to put the program’s theory into practice by placing the students as mentors with young offenders for eight hours a week for 18 weeks. The student mentors the offender and their family on how to effectively communicate with each other. In addition, the students find ways to help the juveniles tap into their interest such as music, computer technology, and dance. As a result, the program has become an award-winning program that has been a success for over 35 years. Although, most delinquents eventually age out of crime; the assumption is family bonds is a major key factor of the therapeutic process. This is evidenced by research which shows the negative impact of waiting until the mid-to-late teenage years to intervene in persistent delinquency ensures that the battle will be all but lost
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 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).
Today the public became more concern about youth crime rising within the community. The public also believes that some of juvenile delinquents do not belong behind bars whereas others do. In the concern of the juveniles who do not belong behind bars the public started creating community outreach programs, intervention, and prevention programs. These programs create an environment for the youth to understand the consequences of their actions, responsibility, and help. This paper will be examining two juvenile diversions, interventions, and prevention
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 Adult Correctional system in the United States is growing at an alarming rate due to the increase in recidivism among adults. How do we combat the problem? The answer is quite simple. We start at the very beginning when the adults are involved in the Juvenile Justice System, under the age of eighteen. Juvenile delinquency is an ongoing issue within the United States that presents a challenge, not only to the respective court, but to the correctional system. It is often thought that the Juvenile System is separate from the criminal justice system due to the age of the youth. However, a lot of the same laws apply in Juvenile Court. A delinquent can be adjudicated with an offense and given a determinate or indeterminate sentence should the court feel that the youth should enter into the legal custody of the respective State. There is a strong correlation
In the past several years researchers have found intervention strategies and program models that hope to prevent juvenile delinquency and promote good social attitudes and development (Greenwood, 2008). More than 1,000,000 adolescents go through the American Criminal court system every year and of those approximately 160,000 juvenile offenders are sent to juvenile placement centers (Henggeler & Schoenwald, 2011). The U.S. criminal justice system has been wise enough to realize that treatment programs need to be implemented in order to lessen recidivism in these young offenders and help ensure that they go on to live healthy productive lives.
Juvenile delinquency is a social issue in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, is when “a violation of the law is committed by a juvenile and is not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Juvenile Delinquency). The juvenile system is different from the adult system in many way and most juvenile delinquents are from the age of ten to the age of seventeen (Juvenile Delinquent). Once the delinquent or anyone is at the age of eighteen, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, in the justice system they are tried as an adult. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, peer influence, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. Teens are greatly influenced by the interactions and surroundings they are around. Their behaviors can result from the parent and/or their peer influences. Parents play a great role in the child’s life and a teen’s peers also play a strong role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not insight. This research will examine links between the social environment of teens and how it influences the teens actions and behavior which leads them to commit an offense.
The utilization of evidence based programs have proven to have positive outcomes for youth such as; reduced anxieties, and depression, academic success, support systems and skills for employment. Characteristically, juvenile delinquency follows a route comparable to that of usual adolescent development. Delinquent behavior is a path followed and not just something that children randomly engage in and therefore, through the understanding of the developmental paths of at-risk youth, researchers believe that early interventions can help to increase positive outcomes (Youth.Gov, 2017).
In the United States it seems that the thought process is once one is a criminal always a criminal. Our responsibility as adults is to shape and provide environments where our youth are not put in environments to repeat a crime. This is easier when the economics of the family is at a certain level and not the poverty level. Our goal as adult’s not just parents is to encourage positive change in the lives of youthful offenders through shared affiliations and culturally pertinent beneficial and academic involvements that support safety and prepare youth to lead productive lives. Rapid population growth, the unavailability of housing and support services, poverty, unemployment and underemployment among youth, the decline in the authority of local communities, overcrowding in poor urban areas, the disintegration of the family, and ineffective educational systems are some of the pressures young people must deal with.
In the United States, juvenile delinquency is becoming a major problem in the communities across the country. Because of the actions that these juveniles engage in on a regular basis, taxpayers across the country are having to shell out hundreds upon thousands of dollars to rehabilitate these children in order to help them make better choices. This leads citizens to wonder what factors actually cause juveniles to live a life of crime rather than success. In short, there are three main factors that often cause children to live a life of crime. These three factors are social influences, psychological characteristics, and academic potential.
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
Characteristically, juvenile delinquency follows a similar path just like normal adolescent development and children tend to follow delinquent and criminal behavior rather than engaging in it randomly. Research has shown that there are two types of delinquents, those in whom the onset of severe antisocial behavior begins in early childhood, and those in whom this onset coincides with entry into adolescence. With either type, these developmental paths give families, communities, and systems the opportunity to intervene and prevent the onset of antisocial behaviors and justice system involvement (APA, 2017).
The development of preventive strategies will necessarily follow from an understanding of delinquency's root causes. If social structure is a key factor in the development of juvenile delinquency, then prevention will entail addressing issues regarding place, identity, or socioeconomic status. For example, if poverty is considered a significant causative factor, then taking steps such as providing jobs, job training, and perhaps additional welfare benefits becomes an important social concern. By eliminating poverty, society will thus