Juvenile Justice System: A Research Study

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).

It has been one hundred years since the creation of the juvenile court in the United States. The court and the juvenile justice system has made some positive changes in the lives of millions of young people lives over the course or those years, within the last thirteen years there has been some daunting challenges in the system.

Over 1/3 of the 11,000 index crime arrests were juveniles under the age of 16.

There have been many studies conducted that examine ways in which the juvenile justice system responds to female offenders. Historically juvenile female offenders have been treated under status offense jurisdiction (Zahn et al., 2010, p. 10). United States Courts would exercise the principle of “parens patriae” to place the female in detention as a form of punishment for misbehavior (Sherman, 2012, pp. 1589-1590). This principle also remains prevalent as it pertains to how the juvenile justice system currently responds to juvenile female offenders.

In this study, a group of juveniles were evaluated by completing a self- reported assessment, being interviewed by a psychologist, and having their caretaker/guardian interviewed. The authors took this information and used demographics, substance abuse, psychiatric diagnosis, interviews, standardized measures, legal history, and history of childhood sexual abuse to determine recidivism rates among juveniles. The participants were monitored and after 12 months the authors gathered the data to determine what factors were key among those who had reoffended compared to those that did not.

Gender plays a big role in whether or not the juvenile offenders get the treatment they need. Often female offenders are misunderstood or not taken seriously because they are stereotyped as criers, liars, and manipulators. If and when these girls do get treatment for mental health care, often it is not the correct one. In the Gaarder, Rodriguez, and Zats (2004) article

The juvenile justice system exists to separate the youth from the adults that are imprisoned. The separation exists because of the different levels of maturity that are present between the two age groups. These young offenders are not arrested for the reason of punishment; they are arrested to be rehabilitated so they do not become habitual offenders later on in life. It gives them the opportunity to see what life will be like for them if they are to be adult offenders. With that being said, there are some instances where these young adults are to be tried as an adult offender with an adult punishment. Throughout most of history, young offenders were tried by the same courts as those that tried adults and were subject to the same sanction which does include execution and incarceration. (Masters, p 450, 2013) There are some places that truly believe that young criminals shouldn’t be treated like adults, such as in England. There is a law in affect called the “infancy defense” which says that children under the age of 7 are not to be tried as adults because they haven’t yet formed criminal intent. A child that was between the ages of 7 and 14 could be prosecuted but only if the prosecutor could prove that the child knew what they were doing was wrong. (Lectric Law Library, 2003) Lawmakers and social scientists found that those who were found guilty

Early in U.S. history, children who broke the law were treated the same as adult criminals. If you are a young person under the age of 18 and you commit a crime, you will have your case heard in the juvenile justice system. The thing is that, it hasn’t always gone that way. The idea of a separate justice system for juveniles is just over one hundred years old (American Bar). Where did juvenile justice come from? The law was in the image of the common law of England. William Blackstone, Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, first published in the late 1760s, was admired by the United States founders.

Juveniles committing crimes is not a new issued being introduced to society; actually, it has been an issue for centuries. However, the big question is, should juveniles be tried in adult courts? Before answering, take into consideration every possible scenario that could have led them to commit the crime. For instance, were they the leader in the act? Did they participate in the crime? Was the juvenile even aware of what was taking place? Were they peer pressured? Did they have any other choice at the time? There are so many other questions we could consider when making a decision here.

Every crime that people commit have consequences, depending on how big the crime was, the consequences can be worst and worst, those crimes can be paid on jail or community service, if you go to jail, and you are an adult, you are going to a jail in which everybody is an adult, or if you are an juvenile you are going to rehabilitation center, which is like jail but for juveniles. If you committed a crime, the court will decide where are you gonna go or how are you gonna pay for your crime, that is determined by whether you are an adult or a young person, they can say that you are an adult or a young person by your age, those ages can change according in what city or country you are. There are two kind of systems that say what is gonna be penance, those systems are the adult justice system and the juvenile justice system. This document is about the juvenile justice system in comparison to the adult justice system.

When thinking of reforming the juvenile justice system one has to think; what can we do to make this better for everyone involve? There are some programs that can be implemented when trying to make a change in the juvenile system. The main thing is getting parents or the guardian more involved in the child’s whereabouts. Secondly the community where the youth will have a place to go and have something more constructive to do to keep them out of trouble. Law enforcement can get involved in giving ride along and having visits to the local jails or prisons from the youth to talk to some of the inmates. Crime in life isn’t racist at all it has a no age limit, no certain gender and no social status for most of those whom decide to partake in a criminal activity. From the beginning juveniles have been an issue with law enforcement, the question has always arisen of whom will take control without cruel and unusual punishment and assist with the rehabilitation and prevention future crime actions.

Females are increasingly becoming more active in the juvenile justice system and this is said to be happening at alarming rates. It is important to learn more about why and how girls commit crimes so that we may also attempt intervention in an effective manner to prevent potential offenders and rehabilitate the girls who have already committed offenses. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has produced a report that includes a review of how these girls are getting into these situations, how states are dealing with this population of offenders, the national efforts that have taken place to attempt to address the needs of the adolescent female offender including training for individuals who work with these females and

This article discussed diversion programs, which helps adolescents who have been arrested for first-time misdemeanors. These diversion programs use group counseling as a mandatory component of sentencing demonstrates initial success in reducing recidivism rates in national outcome studies. The goal of these diversion programs is to keep adolescents out of the juvenile justice system whenever possible (Lipsey, Howell, Kelly, Chapman, & Carver, 2010). These diversion programs divert adolescents from entering the juvenile justice system and offer alternatives to formal disciplinary action (Chantoe & Manton, 2014).

The juvenile justice system is similar to the criminal justice system. This system is where juveniles are processed, and may be arrested after referrals for juvenile delinquency. Juvenile justice is very different in every state and can be very similar as well because every system has limited jurisdiction and that most focus on the offenders and not their offenses. Therefore, there are 51 juvenile justice systems in the United States. The United States has the juvenile justice system because children are very different than adults – in that they can be better receptive for change and also being easier to rehabilitate. Moreover, the main goal of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation (Juvenile Law Center). The juvenile justice system is made up of police, courts, corrections, probation and parole services, as well as community-based programs to name a few (book).

Every process has room for improvement, but the juvenile justice system can be altered by adding in possible solutions of what can be done to help this problem in American society. About 100 years ago, juveniles were always tried as adults. Now, that the government has altered the system for the better, the government knows that trying juveniles as adults is not always justified. It depends on the crime, but the majority of the time, juveniles are often always tried as juveniles, based solely on their age. Not only that has changed; the process of juvenile justice has changed as well to better help the juveniles in the system. The rights of juveniles in the system have changed so that the children can improve their lives once they are out of the system. Even though the process has changed and the rights have improved for the juveniles, there are still many improvements to be made. Studies show that recidivism rates are in fact going down, but the rate can always be better so that juveniles do not return to a life of crime.