Substance Abuse In The Juvenile Justice System

The widespread feeling today is that there are more troubled teenagers than it was in the past, the increase of gangs, drugs, and guns will continue to be a social problem. Youth gangs are increasingly becoming a minority problem, and this trend is likely to increase in years to come, the drugs choices of juvenile may change in the future but that don’t mean it will be less of a problem than it is now, their choice of drugs today is cocaine and methamphetamine. Juveniles will continue to drink alcohol, and there is no reason to believe that the use of alcohol will be less of a problem than at present.

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

For centuries Earth has had many problems that seek to corrupt the good things that every person strives to have in his or her life. As the twenty-first century is nearing two decades old many have been solved, yet so many remain or are being discovered. Juvenile delinquency is one of the many conflicts that occur in the world. How can it be put to an end? To solve a problem knowledge must first be obtained and data analyzed for conclusions. There are specific traits that juveniles have that help determine the risk of delinquency in a child. These can be caused by a vast number of environmental factors ranging from simple peer pressure to as grave as relying on deviant acts for survival due to parental neglect or abuse. A big problem with

As with adults, many nonviolent, substance-abusing juvenile offenders repeatedly cycle through the system due to a lack of intervention measures that would provide sanctions and services necessary to change their deviant behavior. In an attempt to resolve this problem, many communities have established juvenile drug courts. Determining the target population and eligibility is centered on making use of limited available resources. Because of this, most juvenile drug courts focus on non-violent juveniles with moderate to heavy substance abuse problems. The offender must sign the drug court agreement and a release of information, which states they admit to committing the crime.

There is a huge connection between adolescent substance abuse, and delinquency. As far as the law on legalization depending on the age and mental state of a person, it is illegal no matter what; Even if the kid is underage. The legal consequences of substance abuse are arrest, adjudication, and intervention by the juvenile justice system. In most cases, delinquents usually have the same common factors of school and family problems, negative peer groups, and a lack of being social in their neighborhood and community. Substance abuse also generates violence, and crime, which has been bringing much fear to their community and its residents. Gangs, drug trafficking, prostitution, and youth homicides are also other problems that link substance abuse and delinquency together.

The juvenile justice system can be dated back to the late 18th and early 19th century. Youths were confined to jails with mentally ill and hardened criminals because there were no other alternatives for them. Many of these youths were in these institutions for non-violent offenses. During this same time, many American cities had to find a solution to the overwhelming rate of child neglect. Today, there is still much debate about the well-being of youths in the criminal justice system. The juvenile justice system plays an important role in society because it allows youths the opportunity to change their behavior. The current system is effective in providing programs for juveniles in an effort to

if you had to look at all the juvenile delinquents in our society and guess what the most common crime is what would your guess be; theft, vandalism, assault, battery, murder? These would all be good guesses but are in fact incorrect. Drum roll please, and the correct answer is substance abuse, also known as drug use. The biggest issue that our communities are facing is our juveniles using drugs and this leading into the more severe violent crimes. “In 1997, courts with juvenile jurisdiction disposed of nearly 1.8 million cases nationwide for delinquency alone representing over one million individual juveniles who came into contact with the court that year. Many of these youth have alcohol, drug, or mental health (ADM) problems” (Breda, August 14, 2004, p. 3). 1.8 million Cases of drug related cases are a clear indicator of where our juvenile’s problems begin. The biggest issue that this creates is that the alcohol and substance abuse that surrounds our youth has been proven to be a gateway into more serious crimes. “

The existence of a myriad of social problems among teenagers that both parents and states have to deal with is a factor whose weight ought not to be treated lightly. The increasing level of drug use among the adolescents constitutes one of the ever increasing situations in the society and may, as a matter of fact, be a representation other underlying issues. The level of the situation in the contemporary world, though not discussed as much as it ought to be, has reached alarming levels. There seems to be an increasing predisposition among the use to take the drugs as it's reflected in the escalating trends of drug abuse among this generation of individuals (spooner, 1999). The ever deteriorating levels of this situation coupled with the widespread permissiveness in the society and the absence of attention from appropriate caregivers at different institutions only means that the need to address the problem is paramount. Different avenues of solutions can be applied in reducing the level of the problem and averting the massive negative consequences that come with the phenomena. Dealing with this issue is not a matter of instance as the different parameters of the problems, its causes and possible workable solutions have to be discovered. As such, research on these dynamics is a mandatory undertaking.

Overview: The criminal justice system is complex and in need of several types of reforms, this is especially true in the juvenile justice system. In 2012, there were 1,319,700 arrests of juveniles in the United States (OJJDP) and this includes both violent and non-violent offenses committed by those under the age of 18. Policy reforms can offer alternatives to the incarceration of young offenders, by providing mental health, or addiction rehabs for those that are in need of it rather than locking them up. This not only helps keep the amount of juveniles down but also can be a preventative in recidivism.

Juveniles across the country have many issues in today’s society however; the issues that are at hand can be prevented if the parents or guardians have control over that certain juvenile. If that parent doesn’t have control of that teen there are certain places in which the parents can reach out to and get help dealing with the issues. But when it comes to parenting just because you don’t have control over that teen at that moment doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent because teens these days are dealing with issues such as high school popularity to even the issue of

Juvenile delinquency is very prevalent especially among adolescents because studies have shown that during the time of adolescence that is when delinquency tends to increase and once adolescence has passed at about 17 years of age then it tends to decrease (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002). There are many factors that can contribute to the increase of delinquency during adolescence, some of the factors can be personality, mental disorders, genetics, economic status, environment, family, and culture among others, also to understand better the causes of juvenile delinquency the social control theory is the best theory to explain juvenile delinquency as a whole (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002).

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a link between the influences in a minors’ life and the delinquent behavior they are committing. Juvenile delinquency is the habitual committing of criminal acts or offenses by a young person, especially one below the age at

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges have recently discussed their methodology of how to respond to compliance and noncompliance with incentives and sanctions that are designed to reinforce or modify the behavior of youth and their families. As one would assume, similar concepts, different approaches. The juvenile drug court takes a lot into perspective when using behavior modification strategies. If there is a desirable and an undesirable behavior in the same period, the JDC places weight on each of the behaviors. Recognizing the youth’s progress and accomplishments with praise, and responding to the infraction. Where the focus lies, whether on the infraction or progress, depends on where the youth is in the program, and the significance of the behavior. JDC says that our intentions don’t matter- it is the perception of the

Delinquency prevention offers a plethora of programs which range anywhere from substance abuse education and treatment, family counseling, youth mentoring, parenting education, educational support, to youth sheltering. Many of these, if not all are helpful. The problem is: the situation of juvenile delinquency persists. Moreover, some

The social environment of teens holds an enormous influence on how the teens act and behave. Teens are easily influenced by their surroundings and they look to others for guidance. Their behavior results from that of the parent and peer influences. Parents play a particularly influential role in their child’s life and it is up to them to make sure that they are leading their sons or daughters in the right directions. A teen’s peers also play a large role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not around. A teen’s social environment, consisting of family and peers, plays a vital role in their life, therefore becoming the ultimate cause of juvenile delinquency.