Juvenile Rehabilitation Research Papers

Once the rehabilitated juveniles are released, they will be able to start a new life. Juveniles will be able to get a job and maybe earn a degree for a specific profession without being viewed a criminal.

The way the criminal justice system should handle crimes has always been a debated subject. For over the last forty years, ever since the war on drugs, there are more policies made to be “tough on crime”. From then, correctional systems have grown and as people are doing more crimes, there are plenty of punishments for them. In the mid 1970’s, rehabilitation was the main concern for the criminal justice system. It was common that when someone was convicted of a crime, they would be sentenced to prison but there would also be diagnosed treatments to help them as well. Most likely, they would have committed a crime due to psychological problems. When they receive treatment in prison, they can be healed and would not go back to their wrong lifestyle they had lived before. As years have gone by, people thought that it was better to take a more punitive stance in the criminal justice system. As a result of the turnaround of this more punitive criminal justice system, the United States now has more than 2 million people in prisons or jails--the equivalent of one in every 142 U.S. residents--and another four to five million people on probation or parole. The U.S. has a higher percentage of the

This assignment states that the current juvenile system focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishing the juveniles. With that in mind, the assumption is that all juveniles can be rehabilitated. The question posed to me is my view on why or why not all juveniles can be rehabilitated? The Webster dictionary defines juvenile’s delinquency as, “A violation of the law or some type of antisocial behavior by a child or young person, and rehabilitation is, “To restore someone to good condition or health.

The criminal justice system has a branch for juvenile offenders. Established in the early twentieth century; it is the responsibility of this division to decide the fates of youthful offenders. This is administered by family court with support of social workers and family. With the increased number of youthful, violent offenders, many are being processed and sentenced as adults. Important issues such as culpability, severity of the crime, accountability, constitutional rights of the offenders and victims, and probability of rehabilitation,

Most prisons offer programs that will help the offender to rehabilitate, such programs can help the offender with anger management, domestic violence, drink & driving, alcohol abuse, and drug rehabilitation. Personally I believe that we should work hard on rehabilitating all offenders but especially the juveniles because they are not as competent as adults and there is a greater likelihood that they will change, although the main focus should be on rehabilitation of all offenders therefore making our communities safer.

In order to address recidivism rates in this matter treatment needs to concentrate on the individuals criminogenic needs, and then be followed up by aftercare. The offender should complete all programs, like halfway houses/community residential treatment facilities. These facilities need to be empathetic, accepting, and genuine in nature for rehabilitation to occur. (Loftus, lecture)

If an inmate does fulfill the numerous participation requirements for completion of an in prison program, the chances of his continuing treatment are exponentially low. Prisoners often neglect to extend treatment through the use of after-care rehabilitation programs upon release from jail (Melnick, et al. 636). The benefits of rehabilitation are therefore lost because after-care facilities are designed to further reinforce critical values gained by prisoners during prior rehabilitation.

The material that discusses the therapeutic community and intensive after-care provided the most hope that a program has been developed and shows positive results. This article provided negative results for the inmates that did not continue after-care treatment, along with the positive results of the inmates that did continue after-care treatment. This article had statistics that backed up either route the inmate decided to take. This article would help further research by providing a specific topic to research. It was clear that the inmates were showing a reduction in recidivism when completing treatment within the therapeutic community and following up with intensive after-care treatment. This provides a guide in which topics to further explore in order to further research what treatment methods are working for the inmates who struggle with drug

In all honesty if they are taken this opportunity while they are incarcerated to get their life together they should be rewarded. For example,Jeff Henderson was arrested in 1988 at age of 24 for conspiracy with the intent to distribute drugs, while in prison Jeff Henderson fix up his life and was let out on good behavior. While in prison found his love of cooking and when he was release he began as a chef and became famous due to his dedication and love for

Prison-based drug treatment programs benefits the criminal justice systems, inmates, and the community in several aspects. Treating drug abuse and/or addiction in the criminal justice field can improve public safety and health. Instituting prison reforms such as re-entry programs and substance abuse treatment; can result in a reduction of recidivism and cost saving. The main goal for drug treatment programs in prison is to transform the lives of those inmates that are suffering from addiction.

Reducing the recidivism rate is necessary for citizens, inmates, families. The residents will feel safe knowing that the prisoner that was released won’t try to harm them. The inmates so that they can travel down a different path in life and learn how to support themselves without the aid of criminal activities. The families so that their lives can be less stressful fearing that something may happen to their husband, father, mate, brother or sister. There are challenges for the inmate when they re-enter society, fear of returning to prison, of not being able to find work, and being in the control by the criminal justice system if they’re on parole or probation. The programs that are available may have limited space or the inmates don’t know about them. The former inmate will need guidance for them to navigate the challenges of being released from prison and without it there is the reality of returning to jail.

The goals of juvenile corrections are too deter, rehabilitate and reintegrate, prevent, punish and reattribute, as well as isolate and control youth offenders and offenses. Each different goal comes with its own challenges. The goal of deterrence has its limits; because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion which are integral aspects of community corrections can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency.

Depending on crime that defendant committed, there are plenty of different programs that the offender can be ordered to do, or complete it on their own time. Benefits of these program could help manage time, improve the inmates life so they won’t reoffend and commit new crimes, improve their likelihood of early parole if they complete certain programs before released date and are on good behavior, reduce their boredom, maintain safety and security of the prison, keep the prison functional and operating, and they could offer incentives for good inmate behavior.

In-prison substance abuse treatment programs benefit inmates by allowing their sentences to be served in a therapeutic based community that provides training in life coping skills, drug relapse prevention and pre-release reentry planning.

The main goals of the U.S. prison system are to keep public safety and inmate rehabilitation. It’s safe to say that approximately more than two million people at any given time are incarcerated in the US. To help those who may be eligible for parole and those who are about to enter back into society prisons provide the proper training and educational programs and this is where correctional treatment specialist play a big role.