The Role Of The Juvenile Delinquent

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

The term juvenile delinquent was established so that young lawbreakers could avoid being classified in legal records as criminals. “The laws were designed to provide treatment, rather

Should convicted youth gang members be treated like other juvenile delinquents, including status offenders and why do you feel the way you do?

Juvenile Delinquents are being incarcerated at earlier ages as time progresses. The term delinquent speaks of two or more youths, typically amongst the ages of ten and seventeen years old, who are involved in doings well-defined as illegal. The study of juvenile delinquents in inner city Chicago have been studied for many years and the rates continue to sky rocket as juveniles are being locked down by the justice system. Cases of violence amongst juveniles has been increasing rapidly in the past 20 years, juveniles are now linked to severer crimes, and it can be speculated that regardless of efforts of rehabilitation that the recidivism of juveniles relapsing is very great. Thus leading to physiological and mental problems that can be damaging to the youth as

In the 1980s there was a peak in juvenile crime, and there was public outcry that juveniles were plaguing the society with their criminal behavior. Terms such as juvenile super predator and crime time bomb was used to describe the increase in youth crimes. These terms created extreme fear in the public and demanded action are taken against youth offenders. The climate at this time was vulnerable to crime for several reasons. The U.S economy was attempting to recover from a crisis and poor inner cities were faced with extreme poverty. The rise in media likewise played a pivotal role in depicting and exaggerating the growth of juvenile violent crime. This led to hysteria in different cities across the United States and societies called on politicians to get tough on juvenile crime. Therefore, politicians decided to get tough on juvenile crime, thus leading to harsher punishment and

The term juvenile delinquent was established so that young lawbreakers could avoid being classified in legal records as criminals. “The laws were designed to provide treatment, rather

Why did juvenile delinquency occur in the 1950s and what precautions were taken to prevent it? (Project Summary)

The juvenile justice system is similar to the criminal justice system. This system is where juveniles are processed, and may be arrested after referrals for juvenile delinquency. Juvenile justice is very different in every state and can be very similar as well because every system has limited jurisdiction and that most focus on the offenders and not their offenses. Therefore, there are 51 juvenile justice systems in the United States. The United States has the juvenile justice system because children are very different than adults – in that they can be better receptive for change and also being easier to rehabilitate. Moreover, the main goal of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation (Juvenile Law Center). The juvenile justice system is made up of police, courts, corrections, probation and parole services, as well as community-based programs to name a few (book).

2. Do you think status offenders should be treated the same as juvenile delinquents? Why or why not? I do believe status offenders should be treated the same as juvenile delinquents. “Status offense is formally defined as a minor’s violation of the juvenile code by doing some act that would not be considered illegal if an adult did it, but that indicates that the minor is beyond parental control” (Hess, Pg 167). “Delinquent is a youth who commits an act that would be a crime were committed by an adult” (Hess, Pg 176). Both delinquent and status offense defined youths who break the laws as minors. If the law views them both so closely I do believe status offenders and juvenile delinquents should have the same accountability.

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

Authorities set an age at which young people can be held criminally responsible for their actions and try to rehabilitate youthful offenders through a juvenile justice system to keep them from becoming habitual criminals as adults. Thai law sets the age of criminal responsibility at 10, but breaks youthful offenders into several age groups. Those aged 10 to 15 appear before a juvenile court judge but are not normally subject to legal punishment. They may be reprimanded but are usually returned to the care of parents or legal guardians on the condition that they do everything to prevent the child from further misbehaving. If the court feels it is inadvisable for the offender to remain at home, the youngster will be placed in the care of a court-appointed

“I’ve been struck by the upside-down priorities of the juvenile system. We are willing to spend the least amount of money to keep a kid at home, more to put him in a foster home and the most to institutionalize him.” (Marian Wright Edelman). Juvenile justice serves to be severely controversial and unique with so many different scenarios and come abouts. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life prison due to violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, spoke for the majority, stating that mandatory life without parole for a juvenile exiles the surrounding circumstances that could be the root of the dilemma. Opting not to take into account the family and home environment from which the juvenile cannot escape is unfair to ignore. The four justices, and Justice

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 first half of the twentieth century brought growing interest in the problem of juvenile delinquency. Investigation done by Dr. William Healy's Juvenile Psychopathic Institute led to the realization that the problem of delinquent children was not limited to the poorest classes. Further, delinquency was increasingly viewed as resulting from numerous factors, with the most prevalent being the lack of parental discipline resulting from the loss of one or both parents. Concurrently, it was becoming increasingly clear that efforts to punish offending youth did not deter future criminal action and that many of the youth who left institutions often returned. As a result, interest shifted to finding ways to treat troubled youth, rather than merely punish them, and led to the creation of the juvenile court system, which separated juvenile and adult offenders and focused on rehabilitation and cure. The first juvenile court law was enacted in Illinois in 1899, and by 1919 all but

A traumatic childhood may predispose a child to violence against themselves or against others, in adolescence or adulthood. This information is and has been off the records, but so far no known relationship between the magnitude of traumatic experiences and different forms of violence at puberty. A study published in Pediatrics, which involved 136,549 U.S. students between 12 and 17 has been commissioned to evaluate this relationship. The researchers sought to determine six adverse experiences for which they had passed the boys in childhood and physical and sexual abuse, witnessing abuse or problems at home by alcohol or drugs taken by a relative. Then he saw the violent behavior at puberty: crime, harassment, bullying, dating violence,