The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization was founded in the United States in 1904 by Ernest Coulter, who worked as a court clerk and noticed a trend of increasing numbers of male youth passing through the courtroom, and decided he would attempt to affect change. That year he formed what would be the beginnings of Big Brothers of America by gathering thirty nine adults, and challenging them to pair up with a child and become their mentor in order to help foster that child’s growth and development (Big Brothers Big Sisters America [BBBSA], “Who We Are,” n.d.). Since its founding, the Big Brothers organization has combined with Big Sisters International to form Big Brothers Big Sisters America, and is currently in twelve other nations, including Canada. Since 1913, Big Brothers Big Sisters has existed in Canada and currently serves “150 member agencies [who serve] over 1,000 communities across Canada. [Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada] provides support, services, training, and program development to [their] member agencies” (“Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada [BBBSC] Registered Charity Information Return”, 2007.) This national office emphasizes funding and support of its member agencies, who will in turn utilize funds primarily for programs matching children with a mentor, with the aspiration of keeping youth out of the court system through a preventative measure of role-model influence. In America, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been accredited through the Better Business Bureau as a top charity to donate money towards, based on specific criteria which range from the non-compensation status of Board members to maintaining Program Service expenditures above 65% of agency revenue or keeping marketing at or below 35% of revenues from ... ... middle of paper ... ...January, 2007.) 2007 Registered Charity Information Return. Retrieved February 21, 2009 from: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip/srch/sec/SrchInput05Render-e?bn=118808740RR0001&fpe=2007-12-31&formId=19&name=BIG+BROTHERS+BIG+SISTERS+OF+CANADA-LES+GRANDS+FRERES+GRANDS+SOEURS+DU+CANADA Grossman, J.B. & Garry, E.M. (1997). Mentoring – A Proven Delinquency Prevention Strategy. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin (April), p. 1-7. Madia, B.P. & Lutz, C.J. (2004). Perceived Similarity, Expectation – Reality Discrepancies, and Mentors’ Expressed Intention to Remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters Programs. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34-3, pp. 598-623. Mihalic, S., Irwin, K., Elliot, D., Fagan, A., & Hansen, D. (2001). Blueprints for Violence Prevention. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin (April), p. 1-14.
...(2004). Applying the principles of effective intervention to juvenile correctional programs. Corrections Today, 66(7), 26-29. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4bd9d7f2-8ac5-42c6-a100-a2443eda9cbf@sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4213
Siegel, L., & Welsh, B. (2011). Juvenile delinquency the core. (Fourth ed., p. 54). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Jenson, Jeffrey and Howard, Matthew. "Youth Crime, Public Policy, and Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Trends and Needed Reforms." Social Work 43 (1998): 324-32
Hinton, W., Sheperis, C., & Sims, P. (2000). Family based approaches to juvenile delinquency. The Family Journal, 11(2), 167-173.
Howell, J. & Lipsey, M. (2012). Delinquency prevention: A broader view of evidence-based programs reveals more options for state juvenile justice systems. Criminology & Public Policy 11(3), 515-523
Students that have been labeled “delinquent” need help in beating the odds to become successful adults. As C. Ogletree discusses article, Total Reform for a Broken System, a program needs to be created that includes family involvement and support to create concrete goals and means for students to achieve them, in the aim of becoming successful students throughout each school until graduation. It is a great goal for school institutions to strive in changing students’ behavior for the better, giving them a fair opportunity in education. Not to single out those of low-income homes, race, or learning disabilities. It should be the goal to get to the heart of misbehavior that is introducing so many students into the juvenile justice system. School institutions need to be place of supportive and structured learning from day one. Students enter school as young children, for the first time away from parents, relying on educators to guide them throughout their day. School Institutions should look for a positive approach that emphasizes on individual strengths to promote learning. The restorative circles program is having been introduced into school systems as an alternative to the zero tolerance policies. It creates an involvement of communication between all parties in any issue. Whether it be good or bad, it offers support for students to discuss issues and ideas, opening a line of communication between parents, teachers, and students, which will be key a student’s
Henggeler, S. & Schoenwald, S. J. (2011). Evidence-based interventions for juvenile offenders and juvenile justice policies that support them. Social policy report, 25 (1), pp. 1--20.
Tarolla, S. M., Wagner, E. F., Rabinowitz, J., & Tubman, J. G. (2002). Understanding and treating juvenile offenders: A review of current knowledge and future directions. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 7 (2), 125 - 143
"Publications." UC Davis Health System – Violence Prevention Research Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.
Youth and juvenile crime is a common and serious issue in current society, and people, especially parents and educators, are pretty worried about the trend of this problem. According to Bala and Roberts, around 17% of criminals were youths, compared to 8% of Canadian population ranging between 12 to 18 years of age between 2003 and 2004 (2006, p37). As a big federal country, Canada has taken a series of actions since 1908. So far, there are three justice acts in the history of Canadian juvenile justice system, the 1908 Juvenile Delinquents Act, the 1982 Young Offenders Act, and the 2003 Youth Criminal Justice Act. In Canada, the judicial system and the principle of these laws have been debated for a long time. This paper will discuss how these three laws were defined and why one was replaced by another.
Smith, Douglas C., and Daya S. Sandhu. "Toward a Positive Perspective on Violence Prevention in Schools: Building Connections." Journal of Counseling & Development 82.3 (2004): 287-293. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 Aug. 2011.
Approaches to crime prevention have emerged over time and are demonstrated in different solutions, practices, and policies executed by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community. Some of the dominant approaches to crime prevention currently used by law enforcement, courts, corrections, family, and community are: situational crime prevention, crime prevention through social development, crime prevention through environmental design, community crime prevention, reduction of recidivism, and policing. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the dominant approaches used for crime prevention and analyze which approaches are most effective. I will identify and apply at least four approaches used in law enforcement, legislation, courts, corrections, family, and community within the crime prevention programs.
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007
In order to lower the juvenile crime rate the legal system needs to focus on helping offenders once they have entered into the system while under incarceration and beyond. This is the turn the juvenile justice system started to make in the 1970s. It is also important that school systems become more proactive in helping prevent juvenile crimes by offering programs for students to report bullying as well as offering programs about why one student shouldn’t bully other students. Reports show that a lot of juvenile offenders start out as bullies.
Goodman, G.S. (2007). Reducing hate crimes and violence among american teens. New York, NY: Peter Lang.