Juvenile Delinquency Essay

The correlation of mental health and substance use in adolescence is very problematic. Many believe that the relationship between the two are so strong that it plays a causative role in the development of adolescents. It places adolescents at risk for problems within their families, communities, and as an individual. This disease can be severe enough that it impairs the adolescent 's ability to function as a person. Both mental health and substance abuse are entangled within one another, that it makes it difficult to decipher which condition is causing each symptom. However, several research studies concluded that adolescents who suffer from mental illness may self-medicate their symptoms by using drugs. The juvenile justice systems suffer from adolescents with mental health disorders, substance abuse or even both.

The juvenile justice system faces a significant challenge in identifying and responding to the psychiatric disorders of detained youth because research has shown that it is difficult to define the best means to use and enhance the scarce mental health resources (Kessler & Kraus, 2007). According to Cocozza and Skowyra (2000) “Children’s and adolescents’ mental health needs have historically been addressed inadequately in policy, practice, and research and have only the number of youth with mental illness and their level of unmet needs recognized” (p 4). Furthermore, that the juvenile justice system has gone from treatment and rehabilitation to retribution and punishment, that the prevalence is

75% of youth in correctional facilities for delinquency are not in for a serious violent felony crime (Ross). Many minors in such facilities are held because their families cannot take care of them. Drug use, often stemming from the parents, is prevalent in teens detained in juvenile detention. Additionally, teen pregnancy and sexual abuse are common among the incarcerated young adults. Most of them have some level of a psychiatric disorder, however, a small percentage of them actually receive treatment. An unhealthy home environment, drug addiction, and mental trauma all contribute to the cycle of juvenile detention. In fact, 66% of youth who have been arrested will become repeat offenders within 24 months (“21 Juvenile Repeat Offenders

Incidents like abuse from family members, bullying, neglect, and sexual abuse are the most common. Repeated abuse can lead to psychological damage and emotional scarring. Not only are traumatic psychological experiences causing these juveniles to commit violent crimes. Situations, where children have poor education, a household without discipline, peer pressure, inadequate role models, low income, and substance abuse coupled with the wrong environment, can lead to a life of crime. These negative influences guide these juveniles on the wrong path towards crime. However, it does not mean these juveniles cannot succeed; it is however up to the juvenile to make the correct choices in their

At national, state, and local levels, there is increasing recognition of the importance of identifying and responding to the mental health needs of youths in the juvenile justice system, as policymakers and practitioners struggle to find ways to address causes and correlates of juvenile crime and delinquency. The proposed guidelines for mental health assessment provide explicit information about how, why, and when to obtain mental health information on justice youths at each important juncture in processing.

This study revealed that 32% of males and 22% of female juveniles reoffended within 12 months (Conrad, Tolou-Shams, Rizzo, Placella, & Brown, 2014). Besides rates of recidivism, there were also factors that separated the sexes. Males tended to have more issues with drugs or alcohol and prior offenses while females experienced more childhood sexual

Adolescence is a critical time of development. During this period there are significant changes in brain development, emotions, cognition, behavior, and personal relationships. It is during this time that most major mental health disorders appear, many of which carry over into adulthood. Behavior patterns such as substance abuse also often develop during this time and may continue throughout adulthood. Many adolescents struggling with mental health issues begin to exhibit symptoms such as acting out at home or in school, showing a decreased interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, or bringing home poor grades. Others ultimately are charged with offenses ranging from status

Facilities and workers in the juvenile justice system are not designed or trained to address these gender-specific problems. Not only does the juvenile justice system not address the root causes of the delinquent behavior, but many girls often feel re-traumatized from the status offender system, especially runaway girls (Godsoe, 2014).

Female youth, under the age of 18, encompass one of the fastest growing divisions in the juvenile justice system. In past years, female youth arrests accounted for 670,800 arrests, or a total of 27%, during 1999. During 1990 and 1999, their arrests increased over males in most offense categories and overall increased 83%. In 2006, the FBI statistics indicated that aggravated assaults decreased for both boys and girls, but in the category of simple assaults, boys again decreased but shockingly the girl’s

The results showed prevalence of substance abuse disorder at young adulthood in approximately 1/3 of males. Participants with severe incarceration history were shown likely to have Mood Disorders. Approximately ¼ of females had psychiatric disorders and 11% of females had Anxiety Disorder when studied at the baseline interview. Hence, Harrison’s study proved that psychiatric disorders exist within juveniles and the experience of incarceration influences mental disorders in youth. The youth may start experiencing suicidal ideation or may not receive substantial health or psychological care during the incarceration period. In short, experience during incarceration creates isolation from community and peers, lack of familial support, constant negative environment, and juveniles associate with other criminals on a daily basis. Mental disorders are perpetual in nature and result in difficulty for juveniles to adjust after a period of incarceration, have difficulty finding employment or access to educational

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 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

Juvenile delinquent behavior is believed to be under-represented due to the limited methods of collecting juvenile crime data. Juvenile arrests accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests (i.e. murder, rape,

Juvenile delinquency is a situation where a child (minor) in a given family tends to develop a habit of committing criminal acts or offenses as defined by Kelvin and Write (1993). These minors are always taken to detention centers after going through juvenile courts a situation that depends on the type of offense committed. Over the years, the number of youths under the age of 18 being arrested has increased drastically. This minor age differs according to the country in that in the United States of America the age is normally under 18( North Carolina, New York, Texas and New Hampshire the age is 17 ). Depending on the type of the crime committed, a minor who commits a serious crime is always treated as an adult.

In the article “ Childhood Psychiatric Disorders and Young Adult Crime: A Prospective, Population-Based Study” written by a group of psychiatric disorder experts came to the conclusion that “ Thirty-one percent of the sample had one or more adult criminal charges. Overall, 51.4% of male young adult offenders and 43.6% of female offenders had a child psychiatric history. The population-attributable risk of criminality from childhood disorders was 20.6% for young adult female participants and 15.3% for male participants”. The numbers stated are significantly low in