The Importance Of Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is an ever growing issue in the United States, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “In 2012, there were 3,941 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States” (OJJDP, 2014). The way juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system is very different than the way adults are. In 1899, in Cook County, Illinois, the first juvenile justice system in the country was founded. This established an alternative way of dealing with offenders whom are inherently different, in the way they think and commit crimes, than those of adult age. There are a few distinct differences between the juvenile and adult criminal system, but the biggest difference is the

Reading this book has had an effect on the way I see Juvenile delinquency and the Juvenile Justice System. The reason for this is because I now realize that these young individuals just do not become delinquent overnight and majority of the time it is not their fault that they are the way they are. It can be several factors that cause them to engage in criminal acts similar to the boys and girls in Giddings State School. This book may be very uncomfortable to read because of some of the disturbing events that these young individual experienced, but I would definitely recommend others to read it. Parents that are currently struggling with their teenage child should definitely read the book. I feel like the book may have solutions to their problems.

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.

Female juveniles are known to be the most vulnerable. If they are growing up in poverty or suffering from abuse, their delinquent behavior are often leads to self-destruction. Female juveniles will most likely grow up to join street gangs, drop out of school, or become teenage mothers. Girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice system with minority females disproportionately represented among delinquent girls; two-thirds are girls of color. The majority have been subjected to some form of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse (Lowen, 2014). The statistical evidence behind the delinquent behavior of female juvenile is disturbing. Juvenile girls are likely to be criminalizes for their behavior than juvenile boys would in the criminal justice system.

There are approximately 7,700 girls in confinement, which is about 14.3 percent of the total youth population in residential placement. Fortunately, rates of confinement for boys and girls have decreased since 2001 (The Sentencing Project). Still, girls are more present in the juvenile justice system than they had been in the past, which is bringing more attention to girls’ behaviors, sentences, and treatments. The gender disparity faced in the adult criminal justice system carries over to the juvenile justice system. Similarly, the gap in arrests has narrowed within the past thirty years, with girls being arrested almost half as much as boys, up from about one quarter (Cauffman 5). This can be both positive and negative. The decline in violent

When a juvenile faces the court system in the United States it is much different than when an adult faces the court system. The main concern for a juvenile is not to get the punishment they may deserve but rather the court system focuses on treatment. They do this by using rehabilitation as a major tool, not to try and get them healthy per say, but rather to create better choices for the juvenile in the future. This includes the court system looking into the juvenile’s past history along with a psychological approach in order to meet his or her needs. The juvenile then faces a hearing which involves looking into not only the juvenile’s history, but also social needs in order to better accommodate them for their “healing” process. On the other

The characteristics of these offenders and the crimes they are committing are also changing over time. Demographically the juvenile female offender is most likely coming from a single parent home and may have been physically or sexually abused at some point in her life. She will also most likely be under the age of 15 and even more likely to be a woman of color, African-American young woman comprise almost 50 percent of all young women in secure detention, while Hispanics make up 13 percent (Bergsmann, 1994). In 1996, females represented 57 percent of the arrests for running away. In 1996, females represented 15 percent of juvenile arrests for violent crimes, while arrests of boys for violent offenses declined by 9 percent (Snyder, 1997). Aggravated assault, the most frequent of the violent offenses committed by juveniles, represented 20 percent of all arrests for juvenile females, while declining for boys by 10 percent (Snyder, 1997). In considering these changes it is still important to note that girls are still arrested more often for status offenses it is becoming more evident that girls are engaging in delinquent behaviors more often

Juvenile Justice has been a work in progress from the beginning of the program because of the evolving mentality of the generations. The purpose of Juvenile Justice was to correct the behavior of the juvenile delinquents and rehabilitation through a probationary period monitored by an individual who paid for bail and periodically reported behavior changes to courts. (Mulligan 2009) We do justice to the youth offenders by understanding the history of Juvenile Justice restorative programs, the alternatives to incarceration, and how to help them amend their actions and behavior.

Juvenile delinquency and recidivism are a major problem within our country today. There are a number of programs out there that provide treatment for issues such as drug addiction and abuse. There are other programs that provide help for gang involvement, provide help to female offenders, provide help with family counseling, and for mental health issues. There are still others that help with community outreach and help with parenting and helping the family dynamic. Providing effective treatment for offenders in the juvenile justice system is a cornerstone of any effective response to juvenile crime. To help address treatment issues that have failed in the past “Wraparound” programs have been created. This paper will set out to define what “wraparound” is and how it applies to the juvenile justice system. It will also serve to address and identify how it addresses the many issues that face the youth today in the many facets of society.

What role does gender play at the various stages of the juvenile justice system? Gender plays an enormous role in the juvenile justice system; both boys and girls have their fair share of run-ins with the Juvenile Justice System, but now more so than ever, females crime rates have increased. In some instances within the juvenile justice system, it may appear that boys and girls are comparable; however there are differences, even though they are subtle. As opposed to their male counterpart, female offenders have dissimilar needs, mainly due to unequal victimization that includes physical and or sexual abuse as well as mental health complications (U.S. Department of Justice, 1998). Criminal behavior by females has been commonly seen as a less important problem than male criminal behavior, as women were historically less likely to commit criminal offenses, and statistically made up of a small number of percentages. However, the rising rates have allowed for new development into the growing numbers (National Criminal Justice Reference Service).

In the state of Tennessee, the process of having juvenile records expunged can be extensive and time-consuming. The individual must be at least eighteen years of age and have exceeded at least one year from the most recent delinquency adjudication. Additionally, the individual must have never been convicted of a criminal offense as an adult or have never been convicted of an offense following the transfer from Juvenile court. Likewise, the offender must have never been convicted of a sexual offense either as a juvenile or adult and does not possess in his record any adjudication of delinquency for violent sexual offenses (2015 Tennessee Code, Title 37 - Juveniles, n. d.). Further, the offender must have maintained a pattern of conduct which

Juvenile offending is a concern in society today. Juveniles account for approximately 19% of the population but are responsible for 29% of criminal arrests (Cottle, Lee, & Heilbrun, 2001). Crime overall has been found to be decreasing throughout the last two decades. The issue is that the rate in which adult crime is decreasing is significantly greater than the rate in which juvenile crime is decreasing. Since the rate of juvenile crime is so high, juvenile delinquents are seen as predators and many believe they lack morals. The way in which media of today’s society constructs juvenile delinquency impacts the views of a community towards their youth and youth offenders. Media presents an inaccurate image of youth offenders as violent predators (Rhineberger-Dunn, 2013). This inaccurate image significantly promotes the myths that juvenile crime is rising, juveniles commit crimes that are primarily violent, and that juveniles are highly effected by recidivism and continue committing crimes into adulthood (Bohm, & Walker, 2013). It has already been stated though that crime rates have been decreasing over the last two decades so the first myth is refuted. The myth that juveniles primarily commit violent crimes is also very off. In most cases, juveniles are involved in property crimes and although there are some violent crime cases, they are very rare. When these rare violent crimes do occur, youth can be tried in adult court. The

Over the course of ten years or more, several youth offenders have been arrested and placed in the penitentiary with adult inmates. With that in mind, this is a huge problem within our criminal justice system today. Many states have implemented a plan to protect our juveniles who are maturing into adulthood through their juvenile justice systems, but their strategies have not been effective at all. However, juveniles who commits crimes are very different from adults who have committed crimes. For instance, juveniles should be placed in a different category when they violate a law(s) within our criminal justice system, not because they should be less responsible for their wrongful doing, but because they have a greater capacity for change compared to the adults who have committed crimes. In addition, juvenile’s brains are still in the development stages and they need adult’s protection and guidance to safeguard the rights to prevent injustice.

This assignment will illustrate that by understanding the fundamentals of combatting juvenile delinquency and applying the theories to command practice will enhance the overall knowledge of the material. This document will demonstrate the juvenile delinquency reduction efforts and programs currently in operation in the Tampa area community. In addition, I will propose ways to improve the Tampa area community’s juvenile delinquency prevention efforts. Next, this paper will attempt to apply the main sociological theories that underlie these interventions that shape the community’s public policy for delinquency prevention. Finally, this paper will identify an appropriate strategy geared toward preventing delinquency that in consistent with the Behavioral theory.

The juvenile delinquent or (JD) films, as which they have came to be better known as, started as a movie cycle and was very characteristic of hollywood in its prime. Looking back at another cycle which can be seen as similar and a precursor, both in the approach of the overall approach and the themes of the films would be the gangster films of the 1930s. These movies saw successful breakthrough in the box office and from this box office success saw a increase and spawn in countless