Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention

Racial inequality in the American criminal justice system has a strong effect of many realms of society such as the family life, and employment. Education and race seem to be the most decisive factors when deciding who goes to jail and what age cohort has the greatest percentage chance of incarceration. Going to prison no longer affects just the individual who committed the crime. Instead, the family and community left behind gain a new burden by one individual's actions. The United States still has a large disparity between Whites and Blacks and now a growing Hispanic population. This racial disparity in the educational

Evidence-based studies imply that youth of color are being placed in detention at a higher rate all throughout juvenile justice system not only in Kentucky but, nationwide. Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in juvenile justice alludes to youth of color being place into the system at a greater rate than their Caucasian counterparts. All races break the law at about the same rate; however, youth of color are arrested, charged and institutionalized at a higher percentage than Caucasians for similar offenses. African-Americans made up 16 percent of all youth in the United States, but constituted 28 percent of youth arrests, 30 percent of referrals to juvenile court, 37 percent of detained youth, 34 percent of youth formally processed by juvenile court, 30 percent of youth adjudicated delinquent, 35 percent of youth judicially waived to criminal court, 38 percent of youth in residential placement, and 58 percent of youth sent to state adult prisons. (Grieshop et al 2009)

How would you feel if the police arrested kids all over our country to jail for just crossing the street the wrong way or pushing another kid on the playground? That is what is happening to many underage juvenile all over the United States; they are being sent to adult prisons for crimes that do not deserve such severe punishments. Why they were tried as adults is an enigma and we will explain why this is a terrible injustice. In 1899 children in between the ages of 7-14 were believed they were incapable of committing criminal intent. The court system back then believed that if enough evidence could be gathered to convince a jury, the underage person would be convicted and sent to an adult prison. Currently in our state, persons as

The Black youth is over represented at every stage in the United States juvenile justice system. Ten years ago, Black youth were more than two times more likely to have a delinquency case before the juvenile court than white youth. Dr. Shook and Dr. Goodkind examined three possible avenues to prove if black youth, are more likely to be detained than similarly situated white youth. “Three possible avenues have begun to be examined—the first is related to youths’ attitude and character as assessed by justice system personnel, the second is related to judgments about adequate parental supervision and/or school and work involvement, and the third is related to what some have called ‘‘justice by geography.’’ To conclude Dr. Shook’s and Goodkind findings, Black youth are treated

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).

The research done for this paper examines different studies of juveniles and their place in the United States’ justice system based on their race, gender, and social class, as well as looks into policing tactics that may be beneficial to the affected youths. By looking at a wide variety of academic journals and books it was clear to see that youths are looked upon and treated differently depending on what their race is, the sex that they were born, or their family’s economic standing. Resulting in the outcome of these youths being treated more harshly than others due to aspects about themselves that are out of their control. Doing further research into the juvenile justice system and how it is structured to help certain youths while neglecting others, it is clear that the treatment of minority youths is entirely unjust and that a reform of this system is, without question, necessary, not only to maintain an even and fair justice system for juveniles, but also to help these minority youths strive in their lifetime rather than fall victim to a life of crime.

In America minorities have been over represented as offenders in the criminal justice system for years. DMC that is prevalent in the criminal justice and juvenile justice system is one that was discovered and has been discussed for decades. In 1988, over 20 years ago, the NCSJJAG reported that, “…disparate juvenile and criminal justice rates for minorities are not a new phenomenon.” (NCSJJAG, 1998), and unfortunately this phenomena still exists. In 2010, African Americans comprised 17% of all juveniles, but 31% of all arrests in America,” (Puzzanchera, 2013), and the disparities are also quite apparent in the Latinos. When one compares the rates of racial disparities to the rates of overall juvenile crime rates, the racial disparity rates have remained steady

Minority youth are disproportionately represented throughout juvenile justice systems in nearly every state in the nation. Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in juvenile justice occurs when minority youth come into contact with the system at a higher rate than their white counterparts. African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans comprise a combined one-third of the nation's youth population. Yet they account for over two-thirds of the youth in secure juvenile facilities (Armour & Hammond, 2009).

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.

Disciplinary changes applied to the juvenile justice system in addition to negative impressions of juvenile males have caused juvenile male incarceration rates to surge. African American male juveniles encounter racial differences in society everyday due to view that media portrays them to be. Racial bias amongst these juvenile African American males is the principal cause of their incarceration rates climbing higher each year. The lives of these juveniles are seriously altered after being incarcerated due to the negative labels given to them. This chapter will discuss the findings, implications, and future research of the impact of incarceration on the social conceptions of African American juveniles.

The Mass Incarceration in the United States is a major topic of discussion in our society and has raised many questions about our criminal justice system. There are few topics disputed as much in criminal justice as the relationship between race, ethnicity, and criminal outcomes. Specifically, the large disparities that minorities face regarding incarceration in our country. Minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans are sentenced at far higher rates than their white counterparts. There are multiple factors that influence this such as the judicial system, racial profiling by law enforcement, and historical biases (Kamula, Clark-Coulson, Kamula, 2010). Additionally, the defendants race was found to be highly associated with either a jail or prison sentence; with the “odds increasing 29 percent for black defendants, and 44 percent for Hispanic defendants” (King, Johnson, McGeever, 2010).

It is very normal in the cities that shown these crime rates have been rapidly increasing. Usually it has been occurred in rural or urban areas. Increase of population in urban shows poverty, unstable, underdevelopment, deficiency and lack of housing areas. Theses can also affect teens that increase-doing crimes in which it called juvenile delinquency. There are two terms that define juvenile delinquency, 1: conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is a beyond parental control and therefore subject to legal action; 2: a violation of law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or live imprisonment. (Cite). In this topic, I will explain more about family factors in which it has major influence on teens such as the way parents discipline a child, parental conflict or separation, parental abuse or neglect or criminal parents or siblings. What has causes children to act out? It could be because they want some attention or misbehave when they are afraid. They misbehave when they also feel bad about themselves and learn bad behaviors by copying you. There will be four articles that I summarized that related with juvenile and give out some resources to prevent juvenile delinquency.

I think delinquency proceedings should be kept secret to alleviate potential stigma and a negative reputation for the juvenile's future. Many juveniles, but definitely not all are believed to “be less accurate in assessing the potential consequences of risky conduct” (Siegel pg. 21). With that being said, should they be publicly humiliated and have to be haunted by the stigma of their actions as a child or teen for the remainder of their lives? I do not see it fit to potentially ruin a delinquent juvenile or status offender’s “chances of gainful employment or higher education”. (Reid). One of the main goals is to reduce the recidivism rate among offenders and to potentially rehabilitate them as a whole and I feel like that process would be

Now in time it seems that crime is being exposed and done by minors. Juvenile delinquency has impacted the criminal justice system in various ways. It has grown over the past years and many do not know how it evolved. For once, family structure can affect juvenile delinquency in numerous of ways. The independent variable is family structure and the dependent variable is juvenile delinquency. Home environment does indeed play a role in the production of juvenile delinquency.

Since humankind has existed there has been delinquency among all humans as years progressed delinquency continues but became regulated and classified by different socioeconomic characteristics; gender, race, age, and class. Until the 20th century children and adults who broke the law were treated in the same manner and incarcerated in the same place. There was no distinction in age as to how the sentences were imposed. Juveniles started becoming distinguished in the early 1800’s with houses of refuge built by the society for the prevention of juvenile delinquency. They were established by religious leaders who were concerned about juvenile delinquents and their treatment.