...Introduction The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) is the principal federal program through which the federal government sets standards for juvenile justice systems at the state and local levels. It provides direct funding for states, research, training, and technical assistance, and evaluation. The JJDPA was originally enacted in 1974 and even though the JJDPA has been revised several times over the past 30 years, its basic composition has remained the same. Since the act was passed in 1974, the JJDPA focused solitary on preventing juvenile delinquency and on rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Since the original enactment of the JJDPA in 1974, the periodic reauthorizations have been controversial, as the Act's opponents have sought to weaken its protections for youth, reduce prevention resources, and encourage the transfer of youth to the adult criminal justice system. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act follow a series of federal protections, known as the "core protections," on the care and treatment of youth in the justice system. The four "core protections" of the act are, the Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO), Sight and Sound separation, Jail Removal, and Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC). The "DSO" and "Sight and Sound" protections were part of the original law in 1974. The "Jail Removal" provision was added in 1980 in response to finding youth incarcerated in adult facilities resulted in "a high suicide...
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...Incarceration in the United States of America is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. There were 86,927 held in juvenile facilities as of the 2007 Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, conducted by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. There were only 70,792 juveniles in juvenile detention in 2010. The key difference between adult and juvenile incarceration is the focus on rehabilitation for underage offenders, as opposed to punishment for adult convicts. Facilities for juveniles are run very differently, and people in such jails and prisons have access to different kinds of services and support. Minors are not imprisoned with adults until after they reach the age of majority, and this isolation supports the mission of preventing future crimes and giving juveniles a second chance at successful social integration. People believe juvenile offenders need discipline and support to prevent a return to crime when they get out. Juvenile incarceration facilities share some qualities in common with adult prisons, but inmates have access to education, incentive programs, and more social services and support. Drug treatment in such facilities, for example, tends to be more readily available. Inmates in a juvenile incarceration facility usually have a very tight schedule, set to impose discipline. Like adult...
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...Juvenile courts have a wide range of sentencing options (usually called "disposition orders") that they can impose on juveniles or youth offenders who are found to be "delinquent" (that is, finding that the minor violated a criminal law). Typically, disposition options fall into two camps: incarceration and non-incarceration. One non-incarceration option in particular -- probation -- forms the backbone of the juvenile justice system. Read on to learn about the different kinds of sentencing options used in juvenile court, the ins and outs of probation, and whether a disposition order can be appealed or changed. (For more information on juvenile court cases, see Nolo's article Juvenile Court: An Overview.) Incarcerating Juvenile Delinquents After adjudicating a juvenile as delinquent, a juvenile court may order incarceration as a penalty. But methods used to confine juveniles are often very different from those used in cases involving adult offenders (when jail and prison are the fallback options). Here are some ways that judges can order confinement for a juvenile who has been found delinquent: Home confinement/house arrest. The judge can order the minor to remain at home, with exceptions (attend school, work, counseling, and so on). Placement with someone other than a parent or guardian. The judge can require that the minor live with a relative or in a group or foster home. Juvenile hall/juvenile detention facility. The judge can send the minor to a juvenile detention...
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...Juvenile Sentencing Alternatives to Incarceration David Schuster Oakland Community College Abstract There are many different ways to punish a juvenile for a crime that they have committed. The most common is incarceration, otherwise known as jail or prison. This option has many disadvantages. I will explore the different aspects of incarceration: how it affects the juveniles, and if, over all, it is an effective way to punish young criminals. I will then present several alternatives to incarceration, now being used, such as: community diversion, counseling, education, behavior management, probation, as well as other methods that not only punish the juvenile, but also provide an opportunity for rehabilitation. For this paper, when talking about incarceration and community alternatives as sentencing options, I intend for them to be applied to the not as serious juvenile crimes. Status offenses, minor in possession, breaking and entering, and minor burglary charges would fall into this category. However, I think for more serious, violent crimes there is less discretion as to punishment options, and therefore most community alternatives may not apply to them. Keywords: Incarceration, community alternatives, juvenile delinquents Juvenile Sentencing Alternatives to Incarceration Incarceration for juveniles in this country is largely based upon our criminal justice system for adults. As Jeffery Fagen (2010) states in his article, there are many similarities between...
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...Combating Juvenile Delinquency Inez Randall-Scott Professor Ryan Gallagher Juvenile Delinquency and Justice November 18, 2015 Combating Juvenile Delinquency Over the last several years, Texas juvenile incarceration and crime rates have substantially declined. In 2006, there were 4,800 juveniles at Texas Youth Commission facilities, (Marc Levin, 2010) nearly all of whom were housed in large institutions until an abuse scandal surfaced and redirected more youths into community-based juvenile probation programs. As of recently, and since redirecting to these programs, juvenile incarceration and crimes declined to 2,259 in 2014. (Marc Levin, 2010). Many people think of the juvenile justice system as a penal system similar to that of adults, but for children. While there are similarities between the two, there are also differences. The adult system focuses on public safety and punishment for criminal conduct. The juvenile correctional system places an emphasis on rehabilitation. Even when it is necessary to incarcerate youths, the setting is not punitive but rather is protective and designed to educate youths about discipline, values, and work ethics therefore guiding them towards becoming productive citizens. In the state of Texas, The Dallas County Juvenile Department believes that for certain youth’s, treatment rather than punishment alone is the most effective strategy in avoiding future involvement with the juvenile justice system. The decline in juvenile incarceration...
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... Overview The Internet Article that I have chosen is from the Virginia's Department of Juvenile Justice. In this article, the Director of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Mr. Andrew Block has proposed a $66 million plan to the Virginia legislators in the hope of building two new detention facilities that will focus more on rehabilitation, counseling, and various services. Mr. Block told legislative budget writers Monday that the new facilities that he plans to build will probably pay for themselves. Shortly, Mr. Block also stated that his $200 million operating budget will spare new annual cut which will help return shift resources to rebuild prevention and treatment program that has had substantial cut over the last ten years. In spite of some pushback from the legislative committee the vice chairman of the committee, Mr. Steve Landes admitted the plans sounded doable. Into furthermore better his case Mr. Brock bought statistic that showed why the DJJ wants to focus more on rehabilitation instead of the “Old sprawling and expensive” way like Bon Air and Beaumont detention center. According to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the statistic stated 59 percent of the children the States locks up reports physical abuse, 58 percent parent criminal activity, 46 percent parent incarceration and 31 percent parent substance abuse (Daily Press 2015). Reasons The reason I...
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...591 secure detention centers. Detention centers are intended to temporarily house youth who pose a high risk of re-offending before their trial, or who are deemed likely to not appear for their trial. But the nation’s use of detention is steadily rising, and facilities are packed with young people who do not meet those high-risk criteria—about 70 percent are detained for nonviolent offenses.2 “[F]airly viewed, pretrial detention of a juvenile gives rise to injuries comparable to those associated with the imprisonment of an adult. ” –Justice Marshall for the minority in Schall v. Martin, 1984. “Detention: A form of locked custody of youth pre-trial who are arrested— juvenile detention centers are the juvenile justice system’s version of “jail, in which most young people are being held before the court has ” judged them delinquent. Some youth in detention are there because they fail the conditions of their probation or parole, or they may be waiting in detention before their final disposition (i.e. sentence to a community program, or juvenile correctional facility). 3 ” The increased and unnecessary use of secure detention exposes troubled young people to an environment that more closely resembles adult prisons and jails than the kinds of community and family-based interventions proven to be...
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...The Racial Disparities and Incarceration of Juvenile Delinquents Mario M. Tate University of Memphis Abstract The criminal justice system has had to enact harsher treatment due to the erratic and unpredictable nature of juvenile delinquents who refuse to follow the law. The age ranges for juveniles that are being considered in this study are 12-18 years old. I want to address the ever growing problems of racial disparity and incarceration of juvenile delinquents, who tend to not have any other options, but being arrested and are preyed upon because of their racial make-up. Single parent households, lack of education, supervision, and economics are some of the contributing factors which have lead many juveniles down the road to their deviant behavior. Data has been collected to try and understand the reasons for the defiant behavior of juveniles, so advocates may assist them in remaining with their families; through constant monitoring and evaluations of behavior and actions of our children they may stand a significant chance of growing up to be prosperous and productive adults. Also increased funding through the Juvenile Justice Prevention Act will help local state and county municipalities’ kick-start programs to assist today’s youth. Keywords: juvenile delinquents, incarceration, racial disparity, juvenile justice, racial discrimination, jail, juvenile courts The history of juvenile delinquency and racial disparity has gone hand in hand for a very long time and...
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...Should juveniles be tried as adults? Does it depend on the crime committed? If so, what should be the determining factor(s) in deciding to transfer juveniles to adult courts? Case Assignment 4 September 5, 2011 Violent crimes committed by juveniles have fluctuated over the years. The children of today are subjected to violence in popular songs, television shows, and even computer games. Parents’ having guns accessible to children and the society the child lives in all play a part in the destruction of our youth. Juvenile offenders are now facing tougher punishment for their actions. When a child kills, does he instantly become an adult? Or does he maintain some trappings of childhood, despite the gravity of his or her actions? These are the questions plaguing the American legal system today, as the violent acts of juvenile offenders continue to make headlines. The Juvenile correction system is about one hundred years old. It was created in the 1800s on the philosophy that children are inherently different from adults and it is the state’s responsibility to protect and rehabilitate young offenders. Until the inception of the youth justice system, children were tried in criminal courts along with adults. Movement for juvenile justice reform was informed by the 16th century educational reform movement in England that perceived children to be different than miniature adults, with less than fully developed moral and cognitive capacities. As early as 1825, the Society for...
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...The problem of dealing with juvenile justice has plagued are country for years, since the establishment of the first juvenile court in 1899. Prior to that development, delinquent juveniles had to be processed through the adult justic3e system which gave much harsher penalties. By 1945, separate juvenile courts existed in every single state. Similar to the adult system, all through most of the 20th century, the juvenile justice system was based upon a medical/rehabilitative representation. The new challenges of the juvenile court were to examine, analyze, and recommend treatment for offenders, not to deliver judgment fault or fix responsibility. The court ran under the policy of “parens patriae” that intended that the state would step in and act as a parent on behalf of a disobedient juvenile. Actions were informal and a juvenile court judge had a vast sum of discretion in the nature of juvenile cases, much like the discretion afforded judges in adult unlawful settings until the 1970s. In line with the early juvenile court’s attitude of shielding youth, juvenile offenders’ position was often in reformatories or instruction schools that were intended, in speculation, to keep them away from the terrible influences of society and to encourage self-control through accurate structure and very unsympathetic discipline. Opposing to the fundamental theory, all through the first part of the century, the places that housed juveniles were frequently unsafe and unhealthy places where the state...
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...Theory, the threat of punishment does not deter juvenile delinquency. “Choice Theory holds that youths will engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions; delinquent behavior is a rational choice made by a motivated offender who perceives that the chances of gain outweigh any possible punishment or loss. Some experts believe that delinquent acts will not be committed if teenagers are punished severely. Crime prevention strategies include general deterrence, specific deterrence, and situational crime prevention. General deterrence is crime control policies that depend on the fear of the criminal penalties such as long prison sentences for violent crimes; this strategy is to convince teenagers that the pain of the punishment outweighs the benefits of the criminal act. Specific deterrence is the strategy that if convicted offenders are sent to jail or prison, the punishment is severe enough to deter them from committing another crime once released. Situational crime prevention sis the strategy that relies on reducing the opportunity to commit criminal acts by making them more difficult to perform, reducing their reward, and increasing their risks. Specific deterrence coincides with the general deterrence method. Specific deterrence focuses on the use of harsh punishments, such as extremely long incarceration terms in facilities that are unpleasant. In return, the experience juveniles are subjected to while incarcerated are suppose...
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...Theory, the threat of punishment does not deter juvenile delinquency. “Choice Theory holds that youths will engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions; delinquent behavior is a rational choice made by a motivated offender who perceives that the chances of gain outweigh any possible punishment or loss. Some experts believe that delinquent acts will not be committed if teenagers are punished severely. Crime prevention strategies include general deterrence, specific deterrence, and situational crime prevention. General deterrence is crime control policies that depend on the fear of the criminal penalties such as long prison sentences for violent crimes; this strategy is to convince teenagers that the pain of the punishment outweighs the benefits of the criminal act. Specific deterrence is the strategy that if convicted offenders are sent to jail or prison, the punishment is severe enough to deter them from committing another crime once released. Situational crime prevention sis the strategy that relies on reducing the opportunity to commit criminal acts by making them more difficult to perform, reducing their reward, and increasing their risks. Specific deterrence coincides with the general deterrence method. Specific deterrence focuses on the use of harsh punishments, such as extremely long incarceration terms in facilities that are unpleasant. In return, the experience juveniles are subjected to while incarcerated are suppose...
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...Juvenile delinquency has steadily increased over the years and does not look to be decreasing any time soon unless measures are taken. Juveniles are usually convicted and sentenced in juvenile court but some cases have also been tried in adult court. Status offenses are also controversial topics that need further research before any conclusions are drawn on them being an actual violation of the law. There are also a number of different variables and characteristics of each juvenile in detention, and these paint a broader picture of the environment and culture they come from. Juvenile delinquency is also known as juvenile offending or youth crime, which is the participation of juveniles in illegal behavior. A juvenile delinquent is usually a person under the age of 18 who commits an offense that would otherwise have been charged as a crime if they were an adult. It is also possible based upon the type and severity of the crime that an under-18 juvenile delinquent could be charged and tried as an adult. State policies vary as to the age at which a person legally becomes an adult, but if we refer to a juvenile as a person under the age of 18, the figures are shocking and disproportionate. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), reports that nearly 16 percent of all violent crimes and 26 percent of all property crimes are committed by under 18 year olds. What is even more worrying is that this age group only makes up 26 percent of the total population...
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...Involvement Increasing community capacity to work with youth at risk for incarceration is the key to sustaining systemic reform of the juvenile justice system (OJJDP, 2010). However, there still remains to have a disconnection between the juvenile justice system and the local community (OJJDP, 2010). Community justice seeks to engage citizens and community groups both as clients and as resources of juvenile justice systems, while promoting a more effective response to prevent crime and prompt restorative activities when a crime occurs (OJJDP, 2010). Its mission attempts to ensure that juvenile justice intervention is focused on basic community needs and expectations (OJJDP, 2010). Communities expect justice systems to improve public safety, sanction juvenile crime, and habilitate and reintegrate offenders (OJJDP, 2010). Juvenile justice professionals balance these needs and goals in each case and equally allocate its resources to meeting each need (OJJDP, 2010). Community justice can be described as a process that repairs harm, reduces risk, and empowers community. Its emphasis is on a mutually coordinated response through crime prevention, remediation of criminal activity, and determination of short- and long-term needs of community members affected by the consequences of a criminal act (OJJDP, 2010). Ultimately, community justice is realized when equal consideration and resources are provided to crime prevention, the reduced risk to public safety by providing appropriate consequences...
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...Final Final As we look at the juvenile justice system today, it is very different from what it once was. Juveniles today have more access to technology and other forms of electronic gadgets that have allowed them to become delinquents. Many more juveniles are committing the same type of crimes as before, but within gangs or with other juveniles. So instead of giving the juvenile some type of a “slap” on the wrist punishment that many have not learned from, the evidence has shown new ways of reinforcement approaches have worked. There are ways of dealing with young offenders that are more effective and less costly than prosecuting them as adults and imposing harsh sentences. With the "get tough" reforms from different states and legislation, many juveniles have spent a historic time in adult prisons. Now, widespread legislations are attempting to change the requirements for transferring young offenders from juvenile courts to adult criminal courts, where mandatory minimum sentences and other factors make incarceration more likely. Although many criminal juvenile courts dismiss and overlook the fact that these are juveniles, regardless of the crime committed, youth are not similar to adults in ways important to determining responsibility, such as having an under-developed ability to understand the consequences of their actions. Many juveniles are overlooked at the disabilities they may have, such as ADHD, slow learning abilities or other mental setbacks. ...
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