Juvenile Detention Facilities Research Paper

For starters, children in the juvenile correction system are not rehabilitated for drug addictions or treated for mental health conditions. Being incarcerated does nothing positive for them. These children become stuck in the cycle of arrests and reoffending, in which every time they are brought back to a facility it is now exponentially harder for them to return to be a functioning member of society. In fact, there are kids who have been trapped “in this system for decades” (Mayeux). Obviously juvenile detention policies do not work, or these children would have been reformed and not have been in the same situation for so long. Young adults stuck in this cycle get released and then are immediately back where they started when they break another law, harming the teenager’s future, and endangering public safety (Mayeux). Society, in fact, would benefit from a rehabilitory stance on juvenile crime instead of a punishing one. Juvenile detention intervenes in these at-risk children’s lives in a way that actually turns them into criminals, by imposing stereotypes on them, and treating them like they are dangerous, and not worth fixing. The American perspective on juvenile crime needs to change, because the current program is not benefitting at-risk children, or

Placing a juvenile in a detention center early in the court process increases the risk that youths will be found to be delinquent and damage their prospects for future success. A majority of the youths that are placed in these facilities pose little or no threat to the public and essentially do not need to be there. This portion of the juvenile court process is detrimental to the future and mental aspects of a youth’s life. We desperately need to change the way that we handle the juvenile court system because we are only reinforcing the delinquent behavior that these youths have been exposed to. We need to focus on the rehabilitation and prevention efforts for these youths not the punishment aspect and until then (insert a better ending).

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) began in 1992 by the Annie C. Casey Foundation with the purpose of providing alternatives to low-risk teens being placed in detention centers. Detention decisions are based on criteria standards for possible alternatives to incarceration. Data is collected to provide accurate numbers to help diagnose and provide alternative solutions to system issues. The JDAI is also actively involved in collaborating between government agencies, and policies regarding these system issues and youth reform. Incarceration options also reduce teens being placed in detention for warrants, awaiting placement and violations.

Studies suggest that there is a divide between the government and public response to juvenile incarceration. Bullis & Yovas (2005) state that support is given to correctional facilities to house juvenile offenders as a form of punishment (as cited in Shannon, 2013, p. 17). Individuals who support this perspective are often more likely to support the construction of more prisons and stern penalties on crime based upon the presumptions that youthful offenders are aware of the consequences of their actions (Drakeford, 2002 as cited in Shannon, 2013, p. 17). On the other hand, opponents of this perspective believe that incarceration creates an opportunity to rehabilitate the offenders (Huffine, 2006 as cited in Shannon, 2013, p. 18). This perspective supports the purpose of juvenile detention centers as “preparatory in nature – that is, offering services focused on the development of skills needed to return successfully to mainstream

In America on any give day, approximately ten thousand juveniles are housed in adult prisons and jails. Approximately two hundred thousand juveniles enter the adult criminal justice system each year and most have non-violent crimes. Juveniles in the adult jails lose out on the educational and psychological benefits offered by juvenile detention facilities and

In order to properly address mandatory incarceration for chronic juvenile offender’s criminal activities, it is important to begin with psychological assessments and evaluations. Half of our youths have experienced some type of psychological trauma such as depression, PTSD, personality disorders, anxiety, anger issues, or dissociation, just to name a few (Moroz, K. 2009). In order to determine mandatory incarceration, all of these factors must be considered. I will agree with most of our society that is , if they are a danger to society and serious of the crime, they need to be put into detention, where they cannot cause harm but where they can received the right intervention program and mental health treatment for them, it’s the law. The juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate not punish young offenders. Punishment is not the answer in solving their delinquent behavioral patterns.

Since the 1970s, America’s prison population rate has risen 700%. Despite the U.S. comprising only 5% of the world’s population, it is the largest jailer with 25% of the world’s prison population with one in 99 adults in prison and one in 31 under some type of correctional control (Mass Incarceration Problems, 2014, p. 1). According to 2013 data, 2.2 million are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons or jails (Incarceration, 2013, para. 1), a figure that indicates a rising problem with prison overcrowding. While prison overcrowding increases the economic burdens on local and state governments, common factors leading to the high prison population is linked to the need for improved juvenile programs that deter criminal behavior and fund for rehabilitation for reentry into mainstream society. With effective programs to deter juvenile crime and to aid in offender reentry coupled with sentencing reforms, overcrowding in the nation’s prisons would decline.

And why are most of these people incarcerated for minor, non-violent, drug related offenses? According to Wagner and Rabuy, today, there is an over imprisonment of youths who committed “behaviors that are not law violations for adults, such as running away, truancy, and incorrigibility” which lead and helps to the mass incarceration problems in our society today. There are also people in jail for crimes they haven’t been convicted of yet, and are just there waiting for their trial and be finally convicted from their delinquency.

Juvenile Justice Centers are secure prisons or jails for minors under the age of 18. Many say they do not help and potentially lead to a more damaged teen who was better before getting in there, but is this really the case? Some of these facilities have great programs that can teach these minors how to act and have a good character when they get out. Juvenile Justice Centers are beneficial to the inmates because they can teach important character traits and sets the inmates up for a future most thought were not reachable in the first place.

As I delve into my Criminal Justice learning, there have been several job options that look gratifying to me. The position that I am most interested in at this point, is a Juvenile Corrections officer. From my understanding this can be a source of employment that is available at federal, state and local levels. Depending on where the individual would prefer to work. For me personally, I'd prefer to work at a State level. As I've lived most of my adult life in Oregon, I'd like to stay near everything that I've cultivated. I am married with a toddler. This is where I envision raising my son. I wouldn't be interested in having to relocate to another state, if possible, as my husband also has his career here in Clackamas. I feel that I would be

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.

(find quote off the internet). With the way the system is set up, its getting these youths ready to fail again. Most kids that go through the Juvenile Justice System are more likely to go through the system again and then into the adult prisons. The Juvenile System has become a preparation for prison. There is no reform, only punishment, making these kids tougher and more prepared to further their career in illegal activities that are much worse than those that have landed them in the system in the first place. "’Time’ magazine reported in 2009 that detention centers often increase bad behavior once incarcerated youths are released, a trend that follows them into adulthood. The article states that ‘those who ended up being sentenced to juvenile prison were 37 times more likely to be arrested again as adults’ (Surman 2017).” Once in the system there is a much greater chance you will enter the system again. These systems are flawed and must be changed in order to change these kids ways of thinking toward life. These systems are not correcting or rehabilitating any of the unlucky youths that end up in there. They are now just getting prepared for further depth into criminal activities. Once changes are made to place more programs to help these kids succeed in society we will see these numbers decrease.

It also mentions that in past 30 years the population of the country increased by only 33 percent, however the number of prisoners increased by around 350 percent. With this data we can assume the amount of funding required for the functioning of jails. Prisoners are seen as potential threat for the society; government spends billions annually to keep criminals in jails, to supervise those on parole and probation. Though the prisoners are also human beings and deserve basic comforts of life in jail too; but, it is also necessary for the government to instill fear of prison in minds of all the people and it is not possible when prisoners enjoy the comfort in prisons. Jails should be dreadful for criminals and this fear should work as a deterrent to commit crime, but studies have revealed that fear of prison is not a successful deterrent for major part of prison population. Sometimes they don’t have an option but to commit crime, as many of them are not educated enough to get a decent job and earn money; so they resort to crime to earn a living. A report titled. “Education and Correctional Populations” suggests that it can only be stopped, if prisoners are provided education to make them skillful, and instead of spending money on gyms and other recreational things for prisoners, jails should spend money on making a good library and providing technical education to prisoners, so they

The United States leads the world in the incarceration of young people, there are over 100,000 youth placed in jail each year. Locking up youth has shown very little positive impact on reducing crime. Incarcerating youth have posed greater problems such as expenses, limited education, lack of employment, and effect on juveniles’ mental and physical well-being.

By law adolescents are not able to vote, purchase tobacco or alcohol, join the armed forces, or sign a legal contract. Children are not permitted the same rights and responsibilities as adults because the law recognizes their inability to make adult decisions. The law acknowledges that children are unable to handle the consequences that come along with the rights that adults have. By allowing them to be charged as adults is holding them to a double standard. Telling them that they are not old enough to enjoy the same luxuries as adults, but they can experience the same punishment as adults if they commit a crime. The law acknowledged the inability of children to make decisions but still allows them to suffer the same consequences as adults. Research demonstrates that transferring children from juvenile court to adult court does not decrease recidivism, and in fact actually increases crime. Instead of the child learning their mistake they are more likely to repeat it. Juvenile detention centers have programs that help reconstruct young minds and help them realize where they went wrong. Prison does not offer this same opportunity. (Estudillo, Mary Onelia)