Trauma In The Juvenile Justice System

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

There has been an enormous amount of research, going back almost thirty years, about the relationship between childhood trauma, and juvenile delinquency. Many researches cannot say that there is a direct link between the two, but after much research, researches have found that childhood trauma can perhaps be a predictor for juveniles who later in life commit crimes. Trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury,” because the definition is broad and can range from a variety of different events, for the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on neglect trauma in juveniles (Trauma, 2016). Neglect according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is, “the failure of a parent or other person with the responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision such that the child’s health, safety and well-being are threatened with harm” (Kazemian, 2011).

Many juveniles who entered the juvenile justice system are victims themselves of parental mistreatment such as neglect, physical, and emotional abuse. Once children into the juvenile system and is labeled a juvenile similar to adults being labeled a felon. These young offenders are stigmatized as criminal with little distinction between adults and juvenile offenders entering the prison system for the first time. Bernstein (2014) paints a vivid picture of how incarcerated juveniles expose to a new set of challenges such as posttraumatic stress syndrome, curtailed education, gang affiliation, and a gladiator mentality. These challenges that can develop in juvenile facility has

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).

Although the prevalence of PTSD in the general population of youth ranges from 6.3 percent to 10.3 percent (Giaconia et al., 1995; Kessler et al., 1995), the estimated prevalence of PTSD among youth in the juvenile justice system vary considerably, but ranges from 4.8 to 48.9 percent (Wasserman et al., 2002; Steiner, Garcia, and Matthews, 1997; Burton et al., 1994; Cauffman et al., 1998; Duclos et al., 1998). Some of the estimates of PTSD are 2.3 percent among Native American male detainees (Duclos et al., 1998); 4.8 percent among male youth in residential facility (Wasserman et al., 2002); 24.2 percent among male juvenile felons in detention (Burton et al., 1994); and 32.3 percent among incarcerated male teens (Steiner, Garcia, and Matthews,

The research question for this article would be how is the justice system equipped to deal with sexual minority girls and their issues of trauma? Trauma happens to be a big risk factor for delinquency and other emotional and physical problems. This article reviews the very little amount of empirical research done to look at the trauma in the interpersonal form of the lesbian and bisexual girls in the juvenile justice system. Lesbians and bisexual girls may have an increased risk of harmful behavior and traumatic experiences due to parental rejection, school bullying, and violence. When a member of LGBTQ youth enter the justice system, there is a lack of programs and services that tend to their treatment needs. Another issue with having LGBTQ

Klein, M. (2012). Special Council on Criminal Justice turns its Attention to the Kids. Retrieved from http://www.mikekleinonline.com

The juvenile justice system faces a substantial task in diagnosing and answering of the mental disorders of the detained juveniles because investigations have demonstrated that it is complicated to distinguish the most effective methods to utilize and enhance the insufficient mental health resources. Mental health treatment among the youth is a matter that has been avoided by the public for significantly too long. Many times, juvenile defendants are frequently deprived of suitable assistance. Yet, we repeatedly disregard the element that although they are offenders, the individual is still young, and fact or not, it is a subject of compassion ought to take part from us to assist these juveniles to prevail over their cruel reality. Juvenile’s

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

While the field of juvenile delinquency stands as a monument to the criminal justice system, the service to juvenile victimization is comparatively neglected. Currently, you are able to find substantial research on specific child victimization topics like child abuse or child sexual assault, but the interest stops there. Why, is this area neglected, when children are among the most highly victimized segments of the population. They suffer from high rates of the same crimes and violence adults do, and they also suffer from victimization relatively particular to childhood. (Finkelhor, 2001) There is reason to suspect that children who suffer one type of victimization are also likely to experience other types. According to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), it’s survey measured the past year and lifetime exposure to violence for children age 17 and younger across several major categories;

One of the most challenging aspects of the juvenile justice system is recognizing the special needs of young offenders while trying to emphasize rehabilitation over punishment. Scott and Steinberg and Steinberg and Cauffman state that the intersection between childhood and criminality creates a dilemma that most people find difficult to resolve because age is not only a primary factor in adjudication for juvenile offenders. With that being said, they theorize that the psychological, emotional, and social development of adolescents play a major role in juvenile offending. Scott and Steinberg (2008) as well as Steinberg and Cauffman (2012) focus on the psychological and scientific approaches connected to adolescent offending. “The application of information about normative adolescent development to policy and practice in the justice system necessitates differentiating between cognitive and psychosocial development, which appear to follow different developmental

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

Many children become familiar with the Juvenile Justice System without knowledge of why they continue to commit crimes. Many of them suffered years of being abuses, which caused socialization changes that pushed them to withdraw or act out. This research is important because it shows the long terms effects child abuse has on children that become juvenile delinquents. Statistics show increasing numbers of children who are the victims of child abuse and neglect, although they decrease in delinquency may reflect a greater nation focus on the issue and the use of more effective programs to attack the problem. This research is important to me because the Criminal Justice System doesn’t address the causes of deviant behavior in juvenile delinquents to its full potential. They rather just focus on policing and tough sanctions. Hopefully with this paper and many others child abuse can be prevented along with the long-term effects of child abuse and better programs can be invented to treat child abuse victims. The Office of Justice Programs came up with a “Safe Kids Safe Streets” Program, which acknowledge the correlation between child abuse and juvenile delinquency and is aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood victimization and later delinquency (Safe

The contributions of psychology to the juvenile justice system are important and growing. In assembling this Handbook, however, our primary goal was not simply to overview most of these contributions. Rather, we approach this topic with the view that psychology’s most important contributions to juvenile justice are interdisciplinary and empirical. One cannot expect to make meaningful contributions to our legal system without recognizing the nature and structure of applicable law. Within that context, however, are questions about why and how frequently adolescents become involved in offending, how long they continue, what influences serve as risk and protective factors, how such adolescents might be assessed and rehabilitated in relevant and effective ways, and how important information about human development, assessment, and intervention might best be conveyed to juvenile justice professionals.