Juvenile Justice and Correction

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Juvenile Justice and Correction

Justice has always been the goal of our court system, but it is not always served, especially in cases involving juveniles. The judiciary process has evolved from a system that did not initially consider juveniles, to one where juveniles have their own court proceedings, facilities, and even rules or laws. The juvenile justice system has come a long way, and people have worked very hard in its creation. A juvenile is considered to be an individual, under the age of 18, resembling an adult. However, resembling an adult does not always mean that juveniles will have an adult mindset. Thus, juveniles may need extra attention to help get their lives on track. This paper will analyze various ways involving juveniles and correction facilities and programs.

One of the major differences between juvenile and adult corrections is the large number of private facilities in the juvenile system. Private facilities have the luxury of being able to "cherry-pick" their clients, and they can also sometimes do things and perform treatments that public facilities cannot do. One of the big problems in public juvenile justice is how long it takes to get an arrested juvenile tried and adjudicated as a delinquent. Only after they have been so adjudicated can they technically be placed in a "rehabilitation" program, and obviously, this kind of delay exacerbates the problem of delivering psychological services in a timely fashion. Juveniles who are still in detention status can only receive substance abuse treatment, sex education, remedial education, and crisis intervention services.

There are short-term facilities (detention centers), as well as shelters and reception and diagnostic centers. Long-term facilities include training schools, ranches, forestry camps, boot camps, farms, halfway houses, and group homes. In addition, there are numerous private institutions and a number of psychiatric hospitals and treatment centers. The correctional landscape of juvenile justice is quite different from the correctional system in the adult world. While most facilities are small, the United States does have about 70 large facilities for juveniles. The average length of time served in all types of facilities is six to seven months (Champion 2003).

It is common for juveniles in need of rehabilitation to have multiple problems. Sometimes, the ...

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...be 100% behind their thoughts. Although it never hurts to try to help a young adult out to get them back on their feet and in the right direction it also hurts to see your time wasted and everything that you put into that person be through back into a jail cell but it does not hurt to try.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

Works Cited:

Bartol, C. & Bartol, A. (2004). Introduction to Forensic Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

Champion, D. (2003). The Juvenile Justice System, 4e. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Goldstein, A. & Glick, B. (1987). Aggression Replacement Training. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

Phillips, E. (1968). "Achievement Place: Token Reinforcement Procedures in a Home-style Rehabilitation Setting." Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 1: 213-223.

Ulzen, T. & Hamilton, H. (1998). "The Nature and Characteristics of Psychiatric Comorbidity in Incarcerated Adolescents." Canadian Journal of Research 43: 57-63.

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