What Is Juvenile Delinquency?

Juvenile delinquency is a term used to describe the criminal behavior of individuals under the age of 18. Alternative names for these individuals under the age of eighteen who commit a crime they are sometimes refer to as people who haven’t reached adulthood or the age of majority. “With 2 million youth arrested annually in the United States and 60,000 detained, justice-involved youth represent a large, high-risk, vulnerable population largely hidden from public view” Delinquency is defined as broad range of crimes ranging from disorderly conduct, dui, assault with many more to list. The courts in the sentencing process attempt to proceed with caution when it comes to first time offenders and children at risk. With this caution it allows for

In Modern times the process of sentencing begins with an arraignment, where the accused individual is brought before a judge and have their alleged crimes stated. After deferring the crime amongst them, a verdict is then passed. If the seriousness of the crime isn’t egregious then a probation officer may file a petition with the court for an alternative punishment besides incarceration. This decision is made based off of likelihood that the individual will reform and what kind of environment will the accuse return to. If probation is chosen, it will be under conditional means. Along those lines, juvenile probation is the same sentencing procedure in which convicted juveniles get the chance to stay out of jail or a correctional institution. For us to understand the significance of juvenile probation, we must first understand what regular probation is to a relative degree. The system of probation that we know today hasn’t been around forever. For the United States it all began in 19th century Massachusetts, where John Augustus, who

With these mixed results it has led to much controversy in the field. One side of the coin state that probation is the key to reform for troubled youth. They claim that prison is a negative environment and would be a bad influence on the rehabilitating juveniles. “Violence exposure and injury also contribute to the health disparities seen in this population. Further, juvenile incarceration itself is an important determinant of health. Juvenile incarceration likely correlates with worse health and social functioning across the life course”. Those who are arrested for minor crimes such as petty theft or vandalism will now be associated with “real” criminals. Also prisons are hubs for violence not just amongst fellow inmates but also between guards. Not to mention the sexual abuse that takes place in prison. On the other side of the coin, probation is seen as a grace period for some individuals on their way to hardened criminals. There has been an increase in crime amongst youth and tax paying citizens want protection. They are pointing to the disparaging amount of juveniles that come from inner-city areas such as parts of Chicago or even Newark. These children but not including all of them, come from environments that involve rampant drug usage and abundant crime. If children return to these environments they are likely to relapse to