Although, each state varies in legal terms, a juvenile is a youth that is either at the age or under the age of 17 (Bartollas & Schmalleger, 2014, p. 5.) The Office of the United States Attorneys simply addresses it as, a person who has not attained his/her eighteenth birthday (Stevens, 1998.) Delinquent acts committed by these minors after often collected and measured to track trending behavior patterns. Beginning in 1930, The Uniform Crime Report Program was designated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by the attorney general to maintain all the data criminal data reported to the police (Bartollas & Schmalleger, 2014, p. 27.) The Uniform Crime Report is used to measure the arrest statistics or crimes reported to the police such as arrests made or persons arrested, with this information the measurement of juvenile delinquency is found to be largely spread across the United States (Bartollas & Schmalleger, 2014, p. 27.) Moreover, investigative techniques such as surveying, whether from self -reporting or victims themselves, allow for the acknowledgement of delinquent acts that are not reported to the police and would have remained undocumented otherwise.
What is a Juvenile? A juvenile is a person who has not reached his or her 18th birthday. Juvenile delinquency is the violation of a law of the United States committed by a person prior to reaching 18 years of age, which would have been a crime committed by an adult (office). There are many residential programs put in place all over the country to help these youths that are coming in and out of the Criminal Justice system. Once these Juveniles come out of jail, or get released on bond, they sometimes do not have a stable place to go to and live. As these youths are leaving the jail facility there are a wide variety of residential programs to help them get back on their feet. These residential programs include Out of home placement in an institutional or camp like setting, or they might be eligible for an alternative placement, such a community confinement. (programs)
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)
Should convicted youth gang members be treated like other juvenile delinquents, including status offenders and why do you feel the way you do?
There are various efforts that are currently underway to bring about changes and reform in the juvenile justice system. One such program is The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University. This is a program that supports and educates leaders across systems of care to advance a balanced, multi-system approach to improving outcomes for, and promoting the positive development of, youth at risk of juvenile justice involvement (Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, 2014).
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
For awhile now I have felt the call to serve children in a unique way. The more I prayed about God’s calling the more he directed me to the criminal justice field. As I did my research I came to realize that the juvenile justice system was where God wanted me. As a freshman in college I decided to pursue a degree in criminal justice. However, this evolved into a double major in criminal justice and psychology. I have chosen to make this calling my profession. There are many ways I hope to impact the lives of juveniles, as well as the system itself. Due to the tough on crime era, some children are been transferred into the adult court one non–homicidal cases. Some have been tried as an adult for drug offense. I firmly believe this jeopardizes
Wilma Mankiller, my fellow Cherokee, believed that "individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward." However, this isn't limited to the Cherokees. All tribal people have faced challenges and have continued to thrive. Therefore, juveniles delinquents have the ability to improve their lives. Some viable tribal and community-based alternatives to detention for juveniles who have committed non-violent offenses include community service, giving or attending lectures about the dangers of criminal behavior, and participating in support groups. These alternatives are successful in rehabilitation and prevention of crime.
The Department of Juvenile Justice has many responsibilities inside a secure facility and intake is considering a critical area. While working in intake there is no room for error. A simple mistake can cause a new identity to youth or even a youth being released that should not. You should be alert and very detailed while working in the intake
Juvenile court is a type of specific court that functions within the judicial system. Every state has this special courts that transact with juveniles, individuals between the ages of 10 and 18 in most states, who have been suspected of violating an unlawful act. Adults are accused of crimes and juveniles are commonly accused of delinquent acts. Subsequently, children have a lesser understanding of the regulations, so they receive or are awarded special protections. They do not have all the constitutional rights that adults have because they are minors. A minor could be tried as an adult and will not receive special protections, if they have violated certain atrocious crimes.
“America’s heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration is unique among the world’s most developed countries.” Annie Casey, advocate for the improvement of imprisonment conditions for juvenile, states. Despite a lower youth crime rate compared than in past decades, the Unites States is the leading country that incarcerates minors in the world, in the nation 591 detention facilities. There are approximately 3,000 individuals serving life sentence for crimes that were committed before they turned 18 years old, in the United States. In the rest of the world combined, there is about only 16 individuals serving life sentences for crimes committed when they were minors. Minors should not
Since the 1930’s the Uniform Crime Reports on the amount criminal behavior among individuals throughout the United States to the FBI. These reports range from murder, rape, robbery, assault to burglary and more that have been reported to the police. Police will then make reports on all the crimes they have collected over a period of time and send them to the FBI for statistical purposes. Unfortunately, youth are often part of these reports. “Youth crime is widespread in U.S. society. The number of victimization discovered is much higher than the number of offenses reported to the police” (Bartollas & Miller, 2014, p.28). This is because again many times family’s keep these incidents to themselves and do not report to the police when youth are
Many risk factors tie into juveniles committing crimes and these crimes contribute to the national statistics in the United
Envision viewing a list of 1.7 million delinquency cases, and knowing all those were done by juvenile criminals who did not take full responsibility of their actions. Every year there are approximately one million juvenile cases, but not all juveniles are tried as adults due to the cases and age. Furthermore, the list mentioned earlier is an actual list from 2007 with approximately 40 of those cases dated back to 1997. This list contains two thousand cases of criminal homicide, sixty-five hundred cases of forcible rape, sixty-seven thousand cases of aggravated assault, and lastly, one hundred eighty thousand drug cases. These juveniles are committing crimes an adult would be committing, therefore, the juveniles should take full responsibility
Juvenile delinquency has been around since the late 19th and early 20th century. It was at this time that the first juvenile court was created by the child savers movement (Mallicoat 2016). The rate of juvenile delinquency increased dramatically around the year 1938, which was the time that child labor laws were enforced. These laws limited the amount of time that a child could work in any given week, which gave them more free time. Because children were used to working anywhere between 50 to 70 hour weeks, they did not know what to do with their free time. So, they did what any young child would do, they started getting into trouble. At the time, juvenile delinquency only accounted for the male population. Females at the time were being
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,