Policy Changes are Needed in Our Education System

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

Whether a child who has committed a serious crime deserves rehabilitation or harsh punishment has been argued and the Juvenile Justice System is being blamed. Children who deserve real punishment are receiving rehab and children who deserve rehab are receiving harsh punishment. Many children’s lives are getting ruined because of unnecessary harsh punishment. Some juvenile offenders are not learning their lesson. The article “Sentences Show Acknowledge Juveniles’ Maturity, and Immaturity,” by Laurence Steinburg and the article, “Remember the Victims of Juvenile Offenders,” by Jenifer Bishop-Jenkins differ not only in their views of issues surrounding the American juvenile justice system, they differ in quality; however, Steinburg who argues for rehabilitation, clearly presents the best argument using logical reasoning and relevant evidence.

There are many similarities and differences between the adult and juvenile justice systems. Although juvenile crimes have increased in violence and intensity in the last decade, there is still enough difference between the two legal proceedings, and the behaviors themselves, to keep the systems separated. There is room for changes in each structure. However, we cannot treat/punish juvenile offenders the way we do adult offenders, and vice versa. This much we know. So we have to find a way to merge between the two. And, let’s face it; our juveniles are more important to us in the justice system. They are the group at they

Youth incarceration is a growing dilemma in the United States that populates facilities as well as ruins lives at an alarming rate. As a society we cannot expect our kids to be the future of this nation when we are placing them in facilities where they become victims of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that is far worse for them than adults. Michelle Alexander is a professor at Ohio State University and a graduate of Standford Law school. She states in her award-winning book, The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness "Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted once being placed into a facility" (Alexander,123).  Adolescents being detained causes many problems that are much more detrimental to them than adults. Some of them will now have exposure to drugs and gangs. Others will become victims of sexual abuse from other older inmates or staff members and risk transmitting sexual diseases. Most young juveniles have a mental illness that has not been treated or they become suicidal when staying in a facility.  These young people are still adapting to their environment and should not be treated as adults.  They are unable to grow and develop when we are punishing them like adults and trapping them in the US justice system.  The families of these children will now suffer knowing what their child faces in these facilities. As a nation we cannot consider ourselves civilized when we are placing these young people in facilities that punish them like adults.

Since mandatory sentencing began in the mid-1980s, the United States prison system has seen a dramatic upswing in incarceration rates (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008, p. 1). “The United States’ increasingly punitive sentencing philosophy has resulted in an overreliance on incarceration, resulting in an incarcerated population that has soared from approximately 340,000 in the early 1970s to nearly 2.3 million today” (Raeder, 2012). “Parents held in the nation’s prisons—52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates—reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18” (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008, p. 1).

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.

Tens of thousands of children are put into detention centers for reasons that contradict the purpose of juvenile detention centers. Not having enough resources isn’t an excuse to put a child through the system and worsen his current life and increase the odds of the youth continuing to grow into delinquency as they transition into adulthood. Cook County in Illinois, Multnomah County in Portland, and Santa Cruz County in California are exemplary leaders in our country that have begun a reform movement known as the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). The Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative in order to reduce pre-adjudicatory detention, reduce racial disparities in the juvenile justice system and increase public safety they:

This week’s article focuses on the urgent need for juvenile justice reforms. Maryland lawmakers are questioning whether they should withhold $1 million from the juvenile justice system. These inquisitions over budget allocation resulted from the harsh treatments towards juvenile offenders. For instance, some Juveniles are subjected to strip searches and shackles. The new legislation would rid the Department of Juvenile Services from physically restraining young offenders. Furthermore, the uses of physical restraints on juveniles have been proven to be counterintuitive. Cruel punishments such as shackles counter the notion of rehabilitation. Research suggest that Juveniles that undergo harsh treatment tend to develop ruthless behaviors. In Baltimore,

An example of the system is, children are no longer "sentenced"; they are subject to a "disposition," and the focus in the juvenile system is not on punishment or retribution but rehabilitation and restitution. The causes and conditions of delinquency are obvious: poverty,

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.

The Juvenile Justice System is the primary system used to address and deal with youth who are caught and convicted of crimes. The juvenile justice system intervenes in delinquent behavior through police, court and correctional involvement, and is largely punitive. Youth and their parents or guardians can face a variety of consequences, including probation, community service, youth court, youth incarceration, and alternative schooling. The juvenile justice system, similar to the adult system, operates from a belief that intervening early in delinquent behavior will deter adolescents from engaging in criminal behavior as adults. Furthermore, according to Elizabeth S. Barnert, statistic which stated that about 2 million juveniles were arrested and over 60 000 detained annually. The statistic displayed that the United States incarcerates a larger proportion of youths than any other developed country. In addition, 1 to 3 incarcerated adolescents represent a high-risk, vulnerable population with disproportionately high rates of unmet physical, developmental, social, and mental health needs, and higher mortality. Moving forward, 4 to 7 juvenile offending predicts a higher likelihood of chronic adult offending, as well as adverse adult outcomes such as poor health, substance use, and increased mortality. Nevertheless, African American youths are approximately 5 times more likely, and Latino and American Indian adolescents are 3 times more likely, to be detained than their White

This paper will discuss the history of the juvenile justice system and how it has come to be what it is today. When a juvenile offender commits a crime and is sentenced to jail or reform school, the offender goes to a separate jail or reforming place than an adult. It hasn’t always been this way. Until the early 1800’s juveniles were tried just like everyone else. Today, that is not the case. This paper will explain the reforms that have taken place within the criminal justice system that developed the juvenile justice system.

Juvenile delinquency has been a problem in the United States ever since it has been able to be documented. From 100 years ago to now, the process of juvenile delinquency has changed dramatically; from the way juveniles are tried, to the way that they are released back into society, so that they do not return back to the justice system (Scott and Steinberg, 2008). Saying this, juveniles tend to

It is a common believe that adolescents require a special system thru which be processed because they are “youth who are in a transitional stage of development…young offenders that are neither innocent children nor mature adults…” (Nelson, 2012). Because juveniles are in a process of constant development sociologically, psychologically and physiologically, the juvenile court system focuses on alternative sentences and the creation of programs that will offer them rehabilitation instead of incarceration. However, in cases of extraordinary circumstances, the juvenile system shifts from looking at rehabilitation as a first choice to accountability and punishment (Read, n.d). All levels of society are collectively involved in delinquency

The Juvenile System has been around for a long time. The primary reason behind separating Juvenile from adult criminals is quite simple; the judicial system believes that the children are less culpable for their irresponsive behavior and they could easily be reformed as compared to adult offenders. The crucial role of the judicial system is to critically investigate, diagnose, and recommend treatments for the Juveniles rather than accrediting them. However, because of the increasing number of juvenile arrest for crimes committed by persons considered as a child, the attention that the given to a crime involving juveniles, the decreasing trust to the juvenile system itself and the lauder roar of the society for a safer place to live in,