Breaking the Cycle

1147 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Structure of youth gangs

Crimes committed by youthful offenders in our nation have gone from a troubling statistic that would have been barely noticed even 25 years ago to a problem of pandemic proportions. The responsibility for this falls on every citizen and we must all bite the bullet and agree to properly fund programs that can help to prevent crime, properly rehabilitate prisoners, and save the youth of our nation at the same time.

Youth gangs have existed in various forms since at least the 19th century, although the nature and extent of their activity has evolved over time. Over the past 25 years in particular, gangs have expanded rapidly both in size and their areas of operation. Gangs today are more violent, their activities are more widespread and pervasive, and they are more entrenched within the community. (Cahill, & Hayeslip, 2010)

Some people may be inclined to say “I don’t have any children so this doesn’t affect me” but they would be drastically wrong. As taxpayers we all share the cost of housing youthful and adult offenders. The sooner we are able to stop the cycle of youth crime, the sooner we can work towards helping to rehabilitate these youthful offenders and keep them from going back to prison. Rehabilitation helps reduce the number of repeat offenders who return to jail after being unable to adapt to life outside of jail. The numbers vary from state to state, but the national average shows that almost 65% of the adult prison population is made up of repeat offenders. Over 47% of repeat offenders in prison today committed their first misdemeanor crime before the age of 16, and over 52% committed their first felony offense before the age of 21. ( Stephan, 2004)

Many readers are probably thinking that this is simply a part of eve...

... middle of paper ...

.... Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2010).

Highlights of the 2008 national youth gang survey (NCJ 229249).

Washington DC: U.S.Government Printing Office.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/229249.pdf

Cahill, M, & Hayeslip, D. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2010).

Findings from the evaluation of ojjdp’s gang reduction program (NCJ 230106).

Washington DC: U.S.Government Printing Office.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/230106.pdf

Wright, M. (2008, March 09). Criminal rehabilitation - working towards a better

life for inmates and their families. EZine Articles, Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Criminal-Rehabilitation---Working-Towards-A-Better-Life-For-Inmates-And-Their-Families&id=455250

Show More
Related

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Adult Criminal Justice System

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    The adult system’s shifts leaked into the juvenile system, causing an increase in incarcerations even when delinquency rates were declining at the time. Juvenile reform legislations prompted more compulsory sentencing and more determinate sentences for juveniles, lowering of the upper age of juvenile jurisdiction, considerable ease in obtaining waivers to adult court for juvenile prosecution, and made it easier to gain access to juvenile records as well. Furthermore, it led to greater preoccupation with chronic, violent offenders, which in turn led to a redirection of resources for their confinement. Thereby, the absence of reliable criteria for identifying such offenders tends to stereotype all delinquents and is more likely to raise the level of precautionary confinements. These three major shifts in juvenile justice policy demonstrate the power and depth of traditional beliefs about the causes and cures of crimes in U.S. society. It also shows how the system can bend for a time in the direction of new approaches to prevention and control. Today, we are presently in a time of conservative responses where the prevailing views about crime express beliefs about prevention, retribution, and incapacitation that are profoundly rooted in our

    Read More

  • Summary : ' Scared Straight Programs '

    2047 Words  | 5 Pages

    Today not only do we have adults committing crimes, but millions of adolescents are committing the same crimes as adults. “Statistics show more than 1.1 million youths being arrested on a daily basis, and more than 800,000 youths belonging to different gangs (Siegel &Welsh, 2014).” It is the state juvenile authorities to deal with these children and the cost is massive. So states came up with programs to put a stop to kids becoming delinquents. With doing so they hope to save money and help kids.

    Read More

  • The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) To Youth Offenders In Canada

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    The inappropriate or unnecessary use of incarceration is “expensive, ineffective, and inhumane,” and initiates a “cycle of juvenile reoffending” (Bala et. al, 2009). A study conducted by Mann (2014) exemplifies this cycle of youth reoffending. The youth interviewed demonstrated that despite a stay in sentenced custody, the threat of future punishment was not enough to deter from future offences. Cook and Roesch (2012) demonstrate that youth have developmental limitations that can impair their involvement in the justice system; for example, not understanding their sentencing options properly or their competence to stand trial. Therefore, deterrence as a justification for youth incarceration is ineffective, as incarceration proves to be not a strong enough deterrent. Alternative methods such as extrajudicial measures and community-based sanctions were considered more effective (Cook & Roesch,

    Read More

  • Gangs and Injunctions

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...

    Read More

  • Street Gangs: Removing them from the community

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Street Gangs are becoming popular in many cities across the country. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members (Grabianowski). Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crimes and drive out businesses. When you have gangs in a community, it affects everyone in the community. An alarming amount of young adults are joining gangs and becoming involved in illegal activity. Most gangs have a rule that when you join the gang you are a member of the gang for life. Gangs can be removed from our communities with more community involvement and education.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Crime In Chicago

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Crime rates across the U.S. for juveniles is at all time high. Juveniles across all demographic have been punished more severely than those of the past. Contributing factors including lower socioeconomic areas such as the Detroit Metropolitan Areas & Chicago. This paper will discuss the apparent issue within the system focusing on juveniles in urban areas.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Mass Incarceration

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, half of state prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes. Over half of federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes. Mass incarceration seems to be extremely expensive and a waste of money. It is believed to be a massive failure. Increased punishments and jailing have been declining in effectiveness for more than thirty years. Violent crime rates fell by more than fifty percent between 1991 and 2013, while property crime declined by forty-six percent, according to FBI statistics. Yet between 1990 and 2009, the prison population in the U.S. more than doubled, jumping from 771,243 to over 1.6 million (Nadia Prupis, 2015). While jailing may have at first had a positive result on the crime rate, it has reached a point of being less and less worth all the effort. Income growth and an aging population each had a greater effect on the decline in national crime rates than jailing. Mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies have had huge social and money-related consequences--from its eighty billion dollars per-year price tag to its many societal costs, including an increased risk of recidivism due to barbarous conditions in prison and a lack of after-release reintegration opportunities. The government needs to rethink their strategy and their policies that are bad

    Read More

  • Juvenile Courts

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Several studies conducted to determine impacts of transfers of cases from juvenile courts to adult criminal courts for trial and potential sentencing indicate higher recidivism rates among the offenders. This is because of the notion the youth possess on the strictness on the adult courts. They believe trials on these courts end up in harsh punishment for offenders. In a way, adult punishments scare youth away from committing major crimes. However, studies show that short term punishments imposed on young offenders in adult courts propagates the offenders to commit even more crimes that are serious after their sentence terminates. This results from interactions with other crimes bearer behind bars who are convicted for far much worse crimes than they are. In addition the young offenders continued to commit crimes at a higher rate and more often than earlier on (Shari, page 1).

    Read More

  • Alternatives to Incarceration

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is undeniable that mass incarceration devastates families, and disproportionately affects those which are poor. When examining the crimes that bring individuals into the prison system, it is clear that there is often a pre-existing pattern of hardship, addiction, or mental illness in offenders’ lives. The children of the incarcerated are then victimized by the removal of those who care for them and a system which plants more obstacles than imaginable on the path to responsible rehabilitation. Sometimes, those returned to the community are “worse off” after a period of confinement than when they entered. For county jails, the problem of cost and recidivism are exacerbated by budgetary constraints and various state mandates. Due to the inability of incarceration to satisfy long-term criminal justice objectives and the very high expenditures associated with the sanction, policy makers at various levels of government have sought to identify appropriate alternatives(Luna-Firebaugh, 2003, p.51-66).

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Incarceration And Rehabilitation

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are better ways to punish criminals and protect society than mass incarceration. The state and local governments should be tough on crime, but “in ways that emphasize personal responsibility, promote rehabilitation and treatment, and allow for the provision of victim restitution where applicable” (Alec, 2014). The government also succeeds in overseeing punishment but fails to “…take into account the needs of offenders, victims, and their communities.” (Morris, 2002: Pg. 1 and 2). Alternatives to incarceration, such as sentencing circles, victim offender mediation, and family conferences, can successfully hold criminals responsible while allowing them a chance to get “back on their feet”. Research has proven that rehabilitation has lowered the rate of re-offenders, reducing the crime rate, protecting communities and also saves a lot of

    Read More

  • Canadian Gangs

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hornick. J, Macrae, L., Mellor. B., Pauls. M.,(2005). Youth Gangs in Canada: Preliminary Review of Programs and Services. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2053/lib/mtroyal/docDetail.action?docID=10111707

    Read More

  • Juvenile Recidivism

    3195 Words  | 7 Pages

    Introduction: Recidivism or, habitual relapses into crime, has time and time again proven to be an issue among delinquents, which thereby increases the overall juvenile prison population. This issue has become more prevalent than what we realize. Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile delinquency? Simply put, we must create a means of measuring juvenile’s level of risk and in turn, form an effective rehabilitation program that will decrease their risk level for future recidivism.

    Read More

  • Gangs Around the World

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gangs originated in the mid 1800’s in the cardinal direction using it as a method to defend themselves against outsiders.The idea of gangs became populous, powerful, and a broad influence. But like all powers, they tend to corrupt and recognizes violence as a way of getting what they want faster than other methods.They turn violence into fun, profit, and control.Creating a situation that affects youth in today’s society.

    Read More

  • The Issue Of Youth Gangs

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction Crime rates are on the rise in the world today, particularly in the urban centers but even more in other places. The issue of youth mobs is increasingly emerging to be of serious concern in many nations, specifically for law enforcers. Many of these crimes such as theft, robbery, rape and terrorism are just but a few of the crimes conducted by youths. Many of the youths are led into crime by unemployment, poverty and the need for a sense of belonging. It is the duty of every state to ensure that enough opportunities are created for youth for them to earn a living through employment.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Delinquency Essay

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... even willing to die for money, so in order to truly address this juvenile delinquency problem we cannot just address the surface level social issues,but must also, and perhaps more importantly, focus on the economic foundation that motivates juveniles to continue a path of crime. Economic problems are the only factors that contribute to social issues, but the resources being wasted on these corrections facilities and other ineffective socially addressing programs should be better spent on improving the economic situation of communities. About one-quarter of juveniles who offended at ages 16-17 also offended as adults at ages 18-19, therefore the growing urgency and importance to address juvenile justice is undeniable, because by addressing juvenile delinquency you are addressing crime in general (“Child Maltreatment & Juvenile Delinquency: Facts and Figures").

    Read More

More about Breaking the Cycle

Open Document