...Juvenile Rehabilitation Shelly Stanko CJS/240 February 26, 2012 Farrell Binder Juvenile Rehabilitation In the previous few decades, the United States justice policy has become more punitive. In particular, in the 1990s legislatures all over the county passed laws under which an increasing number of young people can be charged in criminal courts and incarcerated in adult prisons. Certainly, in nearly every state today, youths between 13 and 14 can be prosecuted and penalized as adults for an array of crimes including non-violent offenses (Kristin, 2009). Punishments have become more severe even in the juvenile system. Generally, it is believed that the rising anxiety among citizens concerning the threat of juvenile crime has propelled this tendency and that members of the public favor this legislative tendency toward severe punishment. However, it is unclear whether this opinion about the right solutions to youth crime is precise. On the other hand, different surveys have found the public favors tougher policies regarding youth crime and punishing juveniles as severely as adults. However, a thorough review of sources of information about public views indicates that the perception that the public favors punishment for youths is largely based on either opinion surveys that pose few simplistic questions or publicized crimes like school shootings. It is possible that analysis of public views...
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...Juvenile Rehabilitation is Worth the Effort When looking at the world today, it is amazing how many people are out there committing crimes. It seems every time the news is on, there is another story of an individual committing terrible acts that are against the law. The most terrifying fact of all is that these criminals are not just adults, but young juvenile kids that can be younger than 15 years of age. Unavoidably, people start to think that the justice system and rehabilitation is not working, and that is why there is so much crime being committed. However, if society would just look closer, they would see a world of good being done and a countless amount of juveniles being rehabilitated for good. Getting informed on how the Juvenile System works, hearing testimony from the people on the inside of the justice system, as well as specific citing from a former criminal and learning about the “scared straight” program will make it evident that rehabilitation works. It is important to know as much as possible about the Juvenile System. In order to make a decision on if the system is effective, it is imperative to know how the system works and what the goals of the system are. Following the arrest of a juvenile offender, a law enforcement officer has the discretion to release the juvenile to his or her parents, or take the offender to juvenile hall.(LAO) The county probation department has the discretion to accept the offender or not, in which case, the disposition of the...
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...Juvenile Justice and Rehabilitation When discussing rehabilitation or punishment for juvenile delinquents, I believe there should be rehabilitation over punishment. Granted there are numerous cases that completely warrant punishment, but punishment isn’t always the answer. Adults are usually given second, third and fourth chances to change their lives. And sometimes rehabilitation isn’t involved. I believe since adolescents still have plenty of time to get counseling or learn about themselves and why they acted the way they did, there is always an opportunity for them to change. Adolescents don’t have the same thought process as adults. They tend to react emotionally, so if their emotions are flying high, adolescents aren’t always able to stop themselves from doing something foolish or harmful to others. This is also the point in their life when they are becoming curious about how their bodies are changing. Also add in drug or alcohol experimentation and that’s a recipe for trouble. There are numerous supporters for rehabilitation, just like there are individuals against it. As long as there is a juvenile justice system, there will always be a debate. One person that agrees with rehabilitation is Kurt Kumli, a supervising deputy district attorney for the Santa Clara County’s Juvenile Division in California. Mr. Kumli (2001) stated that there are different methods that work on different kids. But the one thing that is constant, is the need to get to the kids “sooner, than...
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...maintain the juvenile justice system as a separate entity from the adult court systems. It must stay separate in both the way cases are disposed and in the way sentence is carried out. Namely, punishment as in the adult system must be avoided and continued to be replaced by rehabilitation. In recent years, there has been intensive debate about whether the juvenile justice system should focus its limited resources on rehabilitation or punishment to curtail the rising statistics in juvenile delinquency. It is my belief that the juvenile justice system should primarily focus on the process of juvenile rehabilitation as opposed to strictly punishment. This paper will include an assessment of law enforcement, court processes, probation corrections, and community services as well as the intervention programs currently available to increase the incidents of juvenile delinquency. In this paper the subject to examine is both sides of the spectrum and try to show that the process of rehabilitation, rather than just straight punishment will provide a more effective solution to the problem of juvenile delinquency. I will be examining some of the arguments that oppose the views of rehabilitation over punishment and attempt to prove that the arguments for punishment are not as valid as those for rehabilitation. This paper will also provide evidence to support the claims that rehabilitation is a more effective way to resolve some of the issues which that are apparent in the juvenile justice system...
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...crime, the aim of the juvenile justice system is to apply rehabilitation or mentoring to juvenile offenders in order to prevent further crimes and to change their delinquent behavior. The core motivating principle of the juvenile system is rehabilitation. This is because juveniles are not fully mentally or physically developed; they cannot be accountable for their actions in the same way as adults. Additionally, many juvenile offenders come from broken homes or bad neighborhoods and many have been abused. They need a second chance because many have not received even a first chance. Additionally, rehabilitation is by far the best option for them because of the way they would almost certainly be exploited and turned into hardened criminals if sent to prison. This paper will provide further background to the issue of rehabilitating juvenile offenders, and strongly argue that it is the right approach. The justice system fulfills an important symbolic function by establishing standards of conduct. It formally defines right and wrong for citizens and frees them from the responsibility of taking vengeance, thus preventing the escalation of feuds within communities. The system protects the rights of free citizens by honoring the principle that individual freedom should not be denied without good reason. Rehabilitation has as its objective the return of offenders to the community as cured and viable members of society. The rehabilitation efforts of the 1980s...
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...Rehabilitation Reduces Incarceration Christina Le CJS/240 05/10/2013 The debate as to how to properly handle juvenile delinquency has caused quite the predicament amongst society. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether the best ways to handle deterrence against juvenile delinquency were to be punishment or rehabilitation. As the time changes, the views have switched their focus going from believing in the value of punishment to seeking the importance of rehabilitation. Without taking away punishment altogether, I believe that society should have a stronger focus on rehabilitation. Contributing factors such as psychiatric evaluation, therapy, work options, community volunteering, and education can help the dynamics of handling juvenile delinquency. Without those things, our society would not be deterring crime for the future but rather we are focused on just the simple solution for the ‘right now’. The cost that is needed to incarcerate anyone is expensive enough as it is. Why would we make society pay more to keep juveniles incarcerated rather than just use that money to help them become the normal outstanding citizens that can in turn help society? Not to mention the overcrowded problem that we have within the jails and the prisons. The proper program given to the appropriate youth can help cut the cost that is spent on incarceration. An article that has mention the proper using of rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents stated, “Developmental issues...
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...Should Juvenile Be Charged as Adults in Criminal Cases? Robert Horn Post University The purpose of the Adult Criminal Justice system is to punish offenders according to the severity of the crime committed. The juvenile justice system’s aim is to rehabilitate or mentor the juvenile offenders, in the hope that they can prevent further crimes, and to change their behavior. The motivating principle of the juvenile system is rehab. The reason for this is because juveniles are not fully developed, mentally or physically. Many Juvenile offenders come from broken homes, been abused, or come from bad neighborhoods. Juvenile offenders need a second chance, because they have not even received a first chance. Rehabilitation is the best option for them because of the way they would be exploited and turned into criminals if they were sent directly to prison. If given the chance, the Juvenile Justice System can aid in successfully rehabilitating youthful offenders so they are not inclined to commit future crimes. With this reasoning, juveniles cannot be blamed or accountable for their actions the same way adults are. The Justice System fulfills and important function by establishing standards of conduct. It defines what is right and wrong for people and removes them from the responsibility of taking vengeance out on those who wronged them, which deters the escalation of feuds in the community. The Justice System also...
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...Justice System Position Paper Justice System Position Paper The purpose of this paper is to convince you through information and evidence my belief of what needs to happen in the juvenile justice system in order to make a difference in our children’s lives. My belief’s is that we need to make comprehensive plans for the juvenile offenders including both rehabilitation and punishment efforts. I do not believe rehabilitation nor punishment will work on their own and need to be used together to ensure the correct message is being sent to our youth. In my opinion there has to be education at a young age, rehabilitation and punishment in each individual’s plan. Juvenile Court Juvenile courts were first introduced into the United States court system in 1899. In 1899, the first juvenile court was finally established in Cook County, Illinois, and by 1925, all but two states had followed (Center On Juvenile & Criminal Justice, n.d.). The main purpose of juvenile courts was to make sure that adolescents were not treated and punished like adults and rehabilitation was thought to be the main way helping the youth. Why is juvenile court so important? The juvenile court system is very important to the youth of our country. This court not only ensures there will be consequences for illegal activity done by minors, but also helps to protect adolescents from being treated like adults. These courts take into consideration that minors do not have the same thought processes...
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...issue of cruel and unusual punishment towards juvenile life without parole is one that needs to be addressed. The facts stated earlier in this paper have given more than enough reason to abolish life without parole sentences for juveniles. It has been argued in Graham v. Florida that because juveniles have a weak capacity to comprehend their behavior and actions, the punishment of life without parole might not be an effective deterrent from engaging in criminal conduct. Some states have already abolished juvenile mandatory life without parole as they have all found it to be cruel and unusual punishment. Many groups and advocates against life without parole for juveniles have seen this as a step in the right direction,...
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... In today's society, there are more and more juveniles getting involved in criminal activity. Low self-esteem, poor decision-making and communication skills, association with a negative peer group, and a dysfunctional family unit are some characteristics of delinquent youth creations (Extension Journal, Inc. 1993). With this being said, there are also many different types of juvenile diversion, intervention and prevention programs and resources available for these juvenile to help with rehabilitation. These programs are created to help the youth with criminal activity issues and help reduce to eliminate the rate of re-commitment of these crimes. Within this paper, the author will choose two programs from within the State of Ohio, explain how these programs work and the goals to help reduce juvenile crime and increase the rehabilitation rate. Also discussed will be the objectives and core beliefs of these programs as well as whom the key participants involved. Also discussed will be the services these programs provide for the youth as well as family. And lastly, the comparison of these programs will be discussed and identification will be made on which may be more effective at the reduction of juvenile crime and how that may be true. The two Juvenile Programs that will be discussed will be the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and Ohio Cooperative Extension/Extension Service Juvenile Diversion program. Each program provided is great...
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... In today's society, there are more and more juveniles getting involved in criminal activity. Low self-esteem, poor decision-making and communication skills, association with a negative peer group, and a dysfunctional family unit are some characteristics of delinquent youth creations (Extension Journal, Inc. 1993). With this being said, there are also many different types of juvenile diversion, intervention and prevention programs and resources available for these juvenile to help with rehabilitation. These programs are created to help the youth with criminal activity issues and help reduce to eliminate the rate of re-commitment of these crimes. Within this paper, the author will choose two programs from within the State of Ohio, explain how these programs work and the goals to help reduce juvenile crime and increase the rehabilitation rate. Also discussed will be the objectives and core beliefs of these programs as well as whom the key participants involved. Also discussed will be the services these programs provide for the youth as well as family. And lastly, the comparison of these programs will be discussed and identification will be made on which may be more effective at the reduction of juvenile crime and how that may be true. The two Juvenile Programs that will be discussed will be the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and Ohio Cooperative Extension/Extension Service Juvenile Diversion program. Each program provided is great programs...
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...“pendulum” of the juvenile justice system will continue to swing towards rehabilitation. The juvenile court's main focus was to use a more rehabilitation approach instead of restoring to incarceration since juveniles are just kids. With this approach, the juvenile court puts an emphasis on the whole child instead of the offense, used parens patriae as its foundation, discretion of the juvenile's behaviors, and has the judge be the sole determining factor of the juvenile's faith (Cauffman, 2018). Throughout history, it is evident that the pendulum tends to swing back and forth between rehabilitation and punishment, especially within the past century. In fact, cases such as In re Gault and in re Winship, have...
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...likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities and face increased risk of suicide.” Throughout this paper the dangers present for a teenager in prison, why they should be in a rehabilitation center, and talking about the expenses if every teenager were to go to prison will be explored and detailed. Although juveniles commit similar or in the some cases the same crimes as adults they should not be incarcerated in the same facilities as adults. In fact depending on the crime teens should have multiple options for rehabilitation. Teenagers do stupid things growing up. In many cases prison is seen as the first and most convenient option. Rehabilitation should be an option because at adolescence the brain is not fully developed. Rehabilitation can help these teenagers with the choices they make. If teenagers want to keep making the same mistakes then rehabilitation is not going to change the choices they make and maybe they should go to prison and realize rehabilitation was better and trying to help them. Rehabilitation is encouraging in making adolescents go to school and better their education and life choices. “If the rehabilitation is done in the early years of a child offending then there is a greater chance that he will not do wrong again, if the rehabilitation works. Likewise the cases of juveniles as well as adult criminals will be decreased” (Palmerin 1). This is stating if juveniles are stopped and learn the rights from wrong at a young...
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...When an adolescent commits a crime, should that make them an adult in the eyes of the law? Or should their age be considered and acknowledged as a shortcoming of a undeveloped mind, impacting their capacity for not fully comprehending their actions? These questions have plagued the juvenile justice system both in our current time and its history. The choice between harsh punishment or attentive rehabilitation as convictions for youth offenders I think the best choice is rehabilitation because it gives juveniles to another shot. Youth offenders are different from adult offenders biologically and this should pose a greater impact in the sentencing made on the adolescents in the juvenile justice system . Punitive punishment have...
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...will address my findings for this article and what recommendation I believe should happen. 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)...
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