American Juvenile Justice System
explanatory Essay
2023 words
The American criminal justice system is comprised of criminal courts, correctional facilities, and law enforcement officials. Each of these components also make up the juvenile justice system but the operations of each differs with juveniles than with adults who are suspected of committing criminal acts. A juvenile offender is an individual under a certain age who is suspected of having committed a crime or a status offense. A status offense is an offense that if committed by an adult, would be legal or acceptable. Examples of status offenses are truancy, under aged consumption of alcoholic beverages, and running away from home. Law enforcement officials use their discretion when determining how to pursue status offenses involving juveniles, but when it comes to more serious offenses, they must ensure the safety of society, while also maintaining compliance with the United States Constitution. In this way they are able to stand firm on the fact that they have not violated the rights of the offender.
Young people under the age of 18 account for approximately 16 percent of all arrests in the United States (Kendall, 2010). Law enforcement officials and judicial officers differ in the way that they investigate and process cases involving juveniles and adults. Juveniles who are suspected of criminal activity are processed by the juvenile justice system and their cases are held in a separate court from adult criminal cases. Juvenile cases are processed under the basic assumption that young offenders can be rehabilitated and reformed. Recidivism is acceptable more with the youthful offender and society often allows them more chances to improve their criminal behavior outside of the correctional institution.
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...n offer America the opportunity to take a giant step forward in our fight to control adolescent crime. Unfortunately, most citizens in our nation - and most policymakers as well - remain unaware of the potential for progress. Funding for replication of model programs and for policy reforms based on research-proven, principles are moving at a snail’s pace.
Works Cited
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/missouris-juvenile-justice-system/story?id=8511600
Hansen, Mark. Untrue Confessions. http://www.truthinjustice.org/untrueconfession.htm
Kendall, D. (2010). Social Problems in a Diverse Society (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon
Mendel, Richard A. Less Hype, More Help: Reducing Juvenile Crime, What Works-and What Doesn’t. Washington DC: American Youth Policy Forum, 2000.
Schmalleger, F. (2009). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century (10thed.).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the american criminal justice system is comprised of criminal courts, correctional facilities, and law enforcement officials, but the operations of each differs with juveniles than with adults who are suspected of committing criminal acts.
- Explains that young people under the age of 18 account for approximately 16 percent of all arrests in the united states. law enforcement officials and judicial officers differ in how they investigate and process cases involving juveniles and adults.
- Explains that the fourth amendment to the united states constitution ensures that individuals are protected from illegal search and seizure.
- Explains that juvenile cases are adjudication hearings and do not involve a jury. an adult offender may be placed on bail.
- Explains the difference between adult and juvenile processes: miranda warnings must be given to an adult prior to questioning or interrogation. youthful offenders under the age of 14 must have parents or guardians present.
- Explains that the juvenile justice system differs in how juvenile cases are investigated and processed, but the ultimate goal is to intervene on the behalf of the youthful offender, and to reduce recidivism rates. community leaders and law enforcement personnel work alongside juvenile agencies to develop strategies to prevent juvenile delinquency.
- Explains the causes of juvenile delinquency vary among researchers and those who work with rehabilitating offenders.
- Explains that gabriel tarde founded one of the earliest attempts to explain crime as a learned behavior, based on three laws of imitation.
- Explains that media exposure to crime and violence may have an effect on the increase of juvenile involvement in criminal activity. media industries and technology provide many youth with their primary source of entertainment and new.
- Explains that parents are responsible for regulating behavior and providing emotional support and financial resources. criminal sentencing follows conviction of adult offenders and juvenile disposition.
- Explains how zebulon brockway implemented the parole system to the united states in the 1880s in efforts to foster offender reformation.
- Explains that individualized treatment is the forefront of treatment rational in the missouri juvenile justice system.
- Explains philadelphia employs youth aid panels where ten panelists work with the court system and law enforcement jurisdictions to hear the cases of juveniles who have admitted guilt to crimes.
- Explains that north carolina juvenile justice programs have begun to have teen courts in which other youth within the community take on roles of attorneys, court counselors, jury, reporter, bailiff, etc.
- Explains that each of the examples above employs the restorative justice model and provides the opportunity for youth to examine the causes of their behavior while allowing them to accept responsibility for their actions and offer amends to the victim(s).
- Explains that most efforts to reduce juvenile crime in the united states rely on law enforcement officials and the political system. there are as many suggestions for solutions to crime as there are theories on the causation of crime.
- Opines that advancements in theory and practice in juvenile crime prevention offer america the opportunity to take a giant step forward in our fight to control adolescents' crime, but most citizens and policymakers remain unaware of the potential for progress.
- Cites hansen, mark, and mendel, richard a. less hype, more help: reducing juvenile crime, what works-andwhat doesn’t
Related
- analytical
- explanatory
- opinion
- argumentative
- The Criminal Justice: The Challenges Of Juvenile Justiceanalytical essayWhen discussing juvenile offenders, there seems to be a distinct divide between how they should be treated. Some believe such young citizens should be treated with leniency in court while others completely disagree. This raises the question, “Should minors be treated with more leniency than their adult counterparts due to their youth?” Despite that the judicial system has flaws, treating juvenile offenders as adults in a court of law proves to be disadvantageous.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the judicial system has flaws but treating juvenile offenders as adults in a court of law proves to be disadvantageous.
- Explains that the juvenile justice system was created to specialize in aiding the youth of today.
- Explains that the adult court system focuses on punishment and juveniles typically receive stiffer sentences when incarcerated as adults.
- Opines that treating juveniles as adults does not help reduce crime. the documentary news television program frontline found that they re-offended sooner and more often than those treated in the juvenile system.
- Explains that placing kids in the same environments as adult convicts has been shown to produce unwanted effects.
- Analyzes the psychological challenges that jail presents for teens. they are often denied educational opportunities, and lack of schooling will complicate re-entering society in productive ways.
- Argues that it is unfair to treat juveniles as adults in regards to crime when they are not fully equipped to cope with prison.
- Explains that while criminal court records are generally available to the public, juvenile records may not always be.
- Opines that youth should be held accountable for their actions. juvenile burglars are sent straight home on probation while adults who commit the same offense get a mandatory prison sentence.
- Argues that it is disadvantageous to try juvenile offenders as adults despite the flaws of the judicial system.
1189 wordsRead More - Juvenile Delinquency in the Statesexplanatory essayJuvenile Delinquency in the States Presently, juvenile justice is widely acknowledged as being in a state of flux in the United States. The early 1990s saw the most substantial rise in violent crime committed by juveniles ever experienced in this country. On the heels of decades of skepticism about the effectiveness of parens patriae (the state as parent), this rise was the "proof" for many "experts" who believe that the juvenile justice system should be abolished. These skeptics reason that one criminal court could still have some latitude when sentencing younger offenders, but that kids are now committing adult crimes, so it is time to treat them as adults.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that juvenile justice is in a state of flux in the united states. the early 1990s saw the most substantial rise in violent crime committed by juveniles.
- Explains that many "experts" think the juvenile justice system simply needs renovations. different states treat offenders differently, and some states are role models in the way they are managed and executed.
- Opines that juvenile justice is a worthwhile topic because of its relevance to every member of american society.
- Explains that researching juvenile justice is difficult because juvenile court records are sealed, and juveniles only become media-accessible when transferred to adult criminal court, which may explain the rise in violent juvenile crime today.
- Explains that crime statistics are divided into many different categories, which makes compilation difficult. correctional facilities are the sole exception to this rule, as they keep data on the state level.
- Explains that the literature on juvenile justice is cyclical. it becomes a "hot topic" for some years, then dwindles and another hot topic comes to the forefront.
- Explains that they decided to analyze ten state characteristics with dr. renner's assistance. they chose population, income, and percent white because they are common control variables.
- Explains that head start enrollment is a wild-card variable in cd's state fact finder. its supporters claim it can influence the rest of the child’s life by stressing the importance of education early-on.
- Explains that the violent crime index measures the number of arrests per 100,000 juveniles, including murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
- Opines that the correlation between head start and dependent variables was indirect, and that states with a high percentage of children enrolled in the program stress education more than those with lower percentages.
- Opines that head start enrollment is statistically significant for the violent crime index. the question is whether this significance is caused strictly by the programs or by states doing something else.
- Explains that head start is more popular in the cities than in rural areas, and that it may also have possible links to crime.
- Opines that research can be extremely difficult and time-consuming, and that a researcher must be flexible and willing to modify their opinions to fit the previous research.
- Analyzes the violent crime indexanalysis of variancedfr square.66247 regression 10standard error 131.2801 residual 39f = 7.65438 significant f =.0000variable b beta t sig
- Describes the demographics of the population, including head start, ch. pov, and fem hh.
- Describes the books by martin forst, susan guarino-ghezzi, and edward j. loughran, balancing juvenile justice.
- Cites renner, tari, snyder, howard n., and melissa sickmund. juvenile offenders and victims: a national report.
1783 wordsRead More - Juvenile Delinquencyanalytical essayJuvenile delinquency is a problem that affects society as a whole. Understanding Juvenile delinquency is important because it is part of trying to figure out how people in American society should react to it; specifically, in terms of law enforcement officers, their agencies, and State legislators. When deviant behavior becomes "continuous, chronic and widespread it gets perceived as a significant part of the population as threatening to the general well-being of society" (Thompson and Bynum, 2010, p. 44). This is a societal problem that requires attention from various forms of social control. However, a lot of the burden is absorbed by an imperfect Juvenile Justice System. As time has passed, argument has ensued over what should be done with the Juvenile Court System. Should the court system be reformed or simply abolished? Barry C. Feld believes that there are enough factors to support the abolishment of the Juvenile Court System and supports an integrated approach (Hickey, 2010). Others, like Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg, believe that the transfer of kids "into adult court is unnecessary, harmful and racist" (Kelly, 2010, Lecture Unit 3). While reforming the system may seem like the best idea, there are certain factors that inhibit proper changes from being made. Creating a separate court system for juveniles has caused a number of consequences for youth.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that juvenile delinquency affects society as a whole. it requires attention from various forms of social control, but an imperfect juvenile justice system absorbs the burden.
- Explains that the original concept behind the juvenile court system was an emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment. the dichotomies of "treatment-punishment" and "child-adult" have been skewed.
- Argues that juvenile courts lack resources to provide social welfare for children because the responsibility of providing child welfare does not rest solely on the juvenile court.
- Analyzes how gerald gault challenged the juvenile code of arizona for lack of constitutionality. the supreme court granted some changes in rights but not all.
- Opines that juvenile courts lack conception and combine social welfare with state coercion, resulting in mediocre functionality at best.
- Asks whether feld is correct in his belief that the creation of a separate juvenile court system has led to unanticipated negative consequences for both children and justice.
- Explains thompson, w. e., and bynum, j.e. juvenile delinquency: a sociological approach.
- Cites fortas' opinion of the court supreme court of the united states: 387 u.s.
1498 wordsRead More - Juvenile Crimesanalytical essayJuvenile Crime is a major problem through out the world. If juveniles are to be prosecuted as adults, juvenile’s legal capacities should be comparable to adults, and weather individuals perceive juvenile who commit adult crimes with adult consequences to do better able to assist in their own defense or understand the charges against them in comparison to adolescents who do not commit these crimes is currently unknown. If parents would monitor their children more, and get involved with their social lives crime rate may possibly go down. Juvenile crime is a growing problem that endangers virtually every American. Every year crime rate goes up because some parent may not be playing their role as a parent.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the causes of juvenile crime and violence, including genetic predisposition, environmental influence, violent images in the media, poverty, and single parent families.
- Opines that parents should spend more time with their child and be more controlling to prevent juvenile delinquency.
- Explains that when a juvenile enters the juvenile justice center special rules govern their case. parents have to pay the state the costs associated with their child's prosecution and rehabilitation.
- States that juvenile delinquency is a growing problem that endangers virtually every american.
- Explains that the total number of delinquents in the nation is far greater than is revealed in court statistics and police records.
1256 wordsRead More - Juvenile Prison Systemanalytical essayThe Juvenile Prison System in America One of the most debated topics in our country is our American prison system, and where juvenile justice fits into the equation. For centuries, philosophers, law makers, court systems, child advocates, and critics have struggled to define justice for juveniles, they are constantly seeking to improve the concept but still have no clear cut or definite answer to justify their punishment. What is justice (punishment) for juvenile who violates the law? How should a just society judge young offenders in America? When is it proper to punish a child as a criminal?
In this essay, the author
- Opines that our ethical consensus needs to ponder whether placing juveniles in adult prison be beneficial to our nation's future or are we creating more criminal behavior for our future.
- Analyzes how states passed legislation making it easier to move youth under the age of 18 into the adult criminal justice system for numerous crimes. this sparked the rise in youth serving time in adult correctional facilities.
- Argues that juveniles confined in adult facilities are more likely to recidivate with more severe crimes upon release after serving their current sentence.
- Argues that the proposal is not to excuse the wrong doings of juveniles, but to suggest a different structuring for juvenile offenders.
1019 wordsRead More - Juvenile Justiceexplanatory essayPortfolio on Juvenile Status Offenders A juvenile status offender is a youth charged with an offense that is not consider a crime if committed by an adult; this would include but not limited to running away from home, curfew violations, underage drinking, skipping school, or beyond a parents control. Status offenders are usually not incarcerated on their first offense, but violating a court order can find them as delinquent who can result in being place in a correction or detention facility. Juvenile crime statistics are gathered from local law enforcement agencies by the FBI in order to better understand the nature and extent of juvenile crimes in the United States. Juvenile crime statistics reflect arrest information and do not account for unreported juvenile crime rates. Juvenile crime statistics rates have steadily dropped since 1994 when crimes involving juveniles reached a record high.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that juvenile status offender is charged with an offense that is not considered a crime if committed by an adult. juvenile crime statistics reflect arrest information and do not account for unreported juvenile crime rates.
- Explains that juvenile offenses include domestic violence, neglect, gangs, peer pressure, financial problems, adhd, low intelligence or brain damage. correction programs guide juveniles in the right direction through community interaction, family counseling, recreational and proctor programs, alternative schools, foster homes, employment training and treatment for delinquent behavior
- Explains that juvenile justice is an area of criminal law applicable to someone who is not old enough to be held accountable for a criminal act. each state creates juvenile courts that provide methods for dealing with juvenile delinquency.
- Explains that prevention programs are set up to address the needs of juvenile status offenders and their families. parent and teacher training is the number one key to help the development of children with antisocial skills.
- Explains that juvenile justice programs can help children develop intellectual, emotional, and social skills through activities and counseling. guiding principles are designed as a treatment program to assist communities to reduce juvenile delinquency.
- Cites axia college of university of phoenix's persuasive messages from the department of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.
1512 wordsRead More - America's Juvenile Justice Systemanalytical essayThe Juvenile Justice system, since its conception over a century ago, has been one at conflict with itself. Originally conceived as a fatherly entity intervening into the lives of the troubled urban youths, it has since been transformed into a rigid and adversarial arena restrained by the demands of personal liberty and due process. The nature of a juvenile's experience within the juvenile justice system has come almost full circle from being treated as an adult, then as an unaccountable child, now almost as an adult once more.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the juvenile justice system, since its conception over a century ago, has been one at conflict with itself.
- Opines that our modern approach is ill-equipped to reduce crime or deal with chronic delinquents while at the same time protecting their due liberties.
- Analyzes the different theoretical issues pertaining to the modern juvenile court, determines their origin, and suggests a course of action for resolving these issues.
- Explains that colonial american children were perceived to be small adults, able to interact with grown-ups and participate in mature society. they were placed in the homes of others or, as technology enabled the industrial revolution, in factories and other locations of modern industry.
- Analyzes how the 'child saving' movement worked to segregate children from society both directly and indirectly based on middle class, protestant, white, rural idealists who viewed childhood as a stage of moral immaturity and impressionability.
- Analyzes how the progressives formed the first juvenile court in chicago in 1899, creating a formal age-based distinction between juvenile and adult offenders and their institutional separation.
- Explains that the progressives' concept, known as parens patriae, gave the court broad authority to substitute its own control over children for that of the natural parents when the latter appeared unable or unwilling to meet their responsibilities.
- Explains that hearings were closed and juvenile records were sealed. euphemisms are used for every step of the process, such as juvenile offenders being referred to as 'delinquents'
- Explains that early juvenile court, by its very nature, was a highly informal system of paternal justice. due process was unnecessary because the interests of the child and the judge were seen as mutual.
- Explains that a lack of due process made some punishments wildly inappropriate. in re gault, the supreme court mandated that all juveniles have the right to most forms
- Analyzes how gault, along with a series of related decisions, formed the warren court revolution that afforded numerous protections and forms of due process to juveniles.
- Analyzes humes' book on the need for an adversarial system. both the defense and the prosecution are obliged to take extreme positions.
- Analyzes how judge dorn is presented with a kid who hit the school bully over the head for tormenting him repeatedly. the child's public defender refuses to let him plead guilty.
- Analyzes how the situation is exacerbated when lawyers are lazy or incompetent or the juvenile decides to waive counsel altogether — something that is possible even without parental consent.
- Explains that in mckeiver v. pennsylvania, the rehabilitative nature of courts allowed this portion of a juvenile's due process to be waived because children were not subject to punishment for their offenses but rather treatment.
- Analyzes how judges, as feld demonstrates, are more likely to find suspects guilty, whereas substantive criminal guilt represents a complex social assessment of moral culpability and legal guilt.
- Explains that two short years after the creation of the first juvenile court, its jurisdiction was expanded to include youth who were?incorrigible? or growing up in 'idleness.
- Argues that allowing for status offense statutes creates numerous problems, including inconsistencies and discrimination.
- Explains that three post-gault reforms changed status offenses in america during the 1970?s. diversion conserved valuable resources and skirted the due process problem by allowing nuisance cases to be handled informally through alternative means.
- Analyzes how judge dorn terrorizes the public defender's office by opening his court to parents of status offender youth. he calls these meetings the juvenile system?s best chance to help families.
- Analyzes how the court operated on a pretense of rehabilitation that rationalized its lack of due process in the gault decision.
- Explains that many states have changed their juvenile codes' statement of legislative purpose from suggestions of rehabilitation to those of accountability and punishment. this overt change stems from a complex?get tough? social movement that has been at work since the 1980s.
- Explains that in order to mollify public fears of older, dangerous juveniles, policy makers brought retributive, adult punishment into the purview of the juvenile court. mandatory sentencing laws are one such manifestation.
- Opines that stricter sentencing guidelines lead to racial and class-based discrimination. rehabilitation is difficult without considering the structural condition of a juvenile's situation.
- Explains that juvenile justice waiver laws were changed to decrease judges' discretion and pull more youth into the adult criminal system based on retribution and tough sentencing.
- Analyzes humes' case of john sloan before judge dorn, where a good middle-class kid with no prior criminal record is caught in an inept attempt to rob the man at gunpoint
- Analyzes how george trevino, abandoned at age six by his parents, commits crime after crime without serious punishment until he is caught in a botched home robbery attempt where the only person hurt is an accomplice.
- Argues that stopping juvenile crime early through preventative programming is important when reforming the juvenile justice system.
- Proposes that individual communities develop concise statutes to identify chronic truancy or curfew violators as?at-risk? youth.
- Opines that if a judge determines youth to be at-risk, he could place them into programs similar to the children at risk program to encourage school attendance, provide familial crisis relief and other services.
- Argues that the approach based on objective measurements related to the risk youth pose to a community would pass the strict scrutiny found in other areas such as curfew regulations.
- Analyzes hirschi and gottfredson's ridiculous assertion that if people can be excused from the penalties of the law because they have low self-control, we would be forced by the same logic to excuse adult offenders.
- Suggests that the focus should shift from rehabilitation and preventative programming to deterrence and retribution after growing up as a chronic offender.
- Analyzes dawson's argument that a wholesale merger of the adult and juvenile systems would result in net decrease in the resources now devoted to the two systems combined.
- Opines that removing older youth from the system would further concentrate our thin resources and focus them on those who may still be malleable to reformation.
- Argues that if only 1% of older offenders are waived, this problem will be mitigated.
- Argues that drawing one line is the only way to avoid the problems associated with waiver laws that provide too much discretion that lends itself to discrimination and to provide consistency.
3741 wordsRead More - Restorative Justice Approach Essayopinion essayNot only has there been debates about what approach should be used when punishing juvenile offenders, but there has also been debates about the need for two separate justice systems. Some individuals believe that juveniles need to be punished for their delinquency by being sentenced to jail just as an adult offender would be. According to Urban, Cyr, and Decker (2003), The Violent Crime Control Act of 1995 allows juveniles who are 13 years old and up to be sentenced as an adult if they have committed a violent crime with a fire arm on federal property. Advocates of such acts believe the juvenile justice system has failed at “rehabilitating” offenders by placing more focus on rehabilitation and treatment practices. Because of this these advocates
In this essay, the author
- Argues that juveniles should be punished for their delinquency by being sentenced to jail just as an adult offender would be.
- Opines that a restorative justice approach to punishment is the best method to take when dealing with offenders as opposed to the "just desert" method.
- Concludes that juvenile delinquency has an extensive history which has helped push researchers, law enforcement agencies, and society as a whole closer to the goal of eliminating or at least decreasing the problem.
- Opines that judges, probation officers, victim advocates, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and even juveniles are necessary assets in the process of rehabilitation.
930 wordsRead More - The Juvenile Justice Systemargumentative essayThe Juvenile Justices System: How Does It Really Work For Our Girls? Girls become delinquent for many different reasons then boys based on biological, social and cultural differences in each gender. From hormones and brain development, to the child’s upbringing by families, to the way girls are expected to act in public compared to boys; a different set of circumstances exists for the reasons why girls become delinquent compared to boys. Siegel, (2007, p.174) explains this by stating.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that girls become delinquent based on biological, social and cultural differences in each gender.
- Explains that girls react differently to most situations, so it's important to take gender into consideration when evaluating a youth’s past.
- Compares how boys and girls are socialized by parents, communities and society in different ways. boys are taught to be independent, more aggressive in obtaining goals, and act out in more angry and retributive fashion than girls.
- Compares the psychological development differences between boys and girls. boys develop methodical and strategic abilities while females have more verbal acuity and self-awareness.
- Analyzes the cultural differences between males and females in the "gender roles" they are attributed to early in life. boys are taught that physical play, peer orientation, and leadership is essential in filling the roles set out by american culture.
- Explains that the biggest differences in how males and females act, think and respond to the environment have to do with hormones. males are driven off of testosterone which fuels aggression, muscle formation, and reactions.
- Analyzes how socialization, cultural, biological, and psychological factors lead to deviant behavior, poor peer selection, lack of family involvement, low economic conditions and poor authority figures. boys tend to be involved in more aggressive and strategic oriented crimes.
- Explains that there is evidence that female instances of gang involvement, violent crimes and more aggressive crimes are on the rise in america.
- Advises parents to pay close attention to the things their children learn and are active in, as well as their peers, and monitor online social networking and information exchange to limit extreme aspects of the internet.
- Opines that parents and society need to help reduce the number of racers in the sprint towards juvenile hall and eventually adult prison.
1115 wordsRead More - Juvenile Justice Systemargumentative essayThis paper describes the various legislations and movements that were established in 19th century to address the issue of juvenile justice system. It outlines the challenges faced by the legislation and movements and their implications in addressing the issues of the juvenile justice system.
In this essay, the author
- Describes the various legislations and movements that were established in 19th century to address the issue of juvenile justice system.
- Explains that the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century created a difference in the way delinquents were handled.
- Explains that the early reforms contributed to the juvenile justice system as it is today. the juvenile justice and delinquency prevention act was amended to state that for weapon violations and crimes that involved violence, juveniles were tried as adults.
- Explains that the current juvenile courts divert from the historical idea of the first juvenile court, which was to treat the child offender as one who needed rehabilitation. stier (2009) of america accused two judges of receiving 2.6 million dollars in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to detention centers owned by private individuals.
- Argues that courts should try as much as possible to reduce the number of juvenile offenders who are moved to the criminal justice system.
- Concludes that developing countries do not have a specific juvenile system. however, juvenile courts have been accepted wholly in the criminal justice system thanks to legislation and movements.
- Cites einstein law (2008), lawyershop.com, and hill, d.e., (2008). juvenile justice.
567 wordsRead More