The False Promises of the Juvenile Justice System One of the most controversial topics in America concerns the justice system and its policies. Under this category is the juvenile justice system which deals with delinquent children and rare cases of serious juvenile offenders. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the justice system promises to make juvenile contact with the system “rare, fair, and beneficial.” It also states that its goal is to use “effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs.” The statement ends with a pledge to assist juveniles by providing the “necessary treatment and rehabilitative services.” Many people have their own sentiments regarding how the justice system …show more content…
It utilizes detention as a way of incapacitating juvenile offenders. Extreme cases of this can be seen in stories about Joe Sullivan and Terrance Graham who, according to Adam Liptak, were “sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole [for] sexually assaulting a 72-year-old woman and armed burglary [respectively] (Liptak).” The two boys’ initial contact with the juvenile justice system was far from fair. Although they are delinquent, the punishment was overtly cruel and unusual. Even if the imprisonment is for several years, the impact it has on juveniles is negative. As Gail Garinger states, “[juveniles] are less mature, more vulnerable to peer pressure, cannot escape from dangerous environments, and their characters are still in formation (Garinger).” Because they are impressionable, placing them for long period of time with other disobedient and unruly kids make juvenile facilities an incubator for adult criminals, and a laboratory for future criminal activity. If we wish to help juvenile offenders, perhaps there should be less emphasis on …show more content…
As I have said before, the justice system method actually does the exact opposite of what the department claims they are doing. A new study by economists Anna Aizer and Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. reveals that “the incarcerated youth were 13 percent less likely to graduate from high school. and 22 percent more likely to return to prison than those who were sentenced to alternative punishments such as home monitoring. These recidivism rates for adolescents are significantly higher than those for adult prisoners (Rempe).” The findings suggest that juvenile detention is not the deterrent desired by law enforcement officers, but instead boosts the tendency of convicted individuals to reoffend while immensely disorienting and damaging their education at schools. Steve Rempe, an author of Prison Fellowship, asserts, “The Justice Fellowship seeks to reform the justice system by promoting alternatives to incarceration when appropriate that will both reduce costs and help restore offenders as productive members of society (Rempe).” Imprisonment is effective to a certain extent, but it produces problems such as recidivism which is not beneficial for the offenders or the people within their communities. In that sense, the OJJDP did not fulfill its