| Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults | | | Michelle Rogers | 10/5/2014 | | The whole purpose of the juvenile court system is to guide and rehabilitate adolescents/children by providing direction to those convicted of crime. The courts should be focusing on rehabilitation, while the state should act as a parental figure rather than a prosecutor or judge. Taking a parental approach would help channel youth in appropriate directions instead of simply punishing them for their mistakes. States deliberately give harsher sentences to teach adolescents/children a lesson. President Mark Soler of the Washington, D.C., Youth Law Center points out that adolescents/children are required by law to be incarcerated separately from adults.
Through the correction function of juvenile court system, young offenders are influenced to realize their potential by helping them to build acceptable vocational and interpersonal skills. Over the years, the juvenile justice system in the United States have been facing a major challenge trying to balance between punishments and transforming the behavior of young offenders (Heiss, 2006). The juvenile justice system has two divergent philosophies the conservative and liberal philosophies. The conservative philosophy is based on the premise of retribution. Retribution helps to remove offenders from the society through incarceration.
Why do Adolescents Become Involved in Gangs Kim Nay Psychology 231 December 10 2011 Abstract I will begin this paper with a brief introduction to what is means to be a gang or a gang member. Sadly, with gang membership on the rise across the globe we must gain a better understanding of what causes children to choose this life style. Although, one particular reason cannot be pinpointed as to why children become involved, I
Gender and Family Influences in Delinquency In today’s society, more and more adolescents are committing delinquent crimes. The juvenile justice system’s officials constantly are trying to establish what provokes an adolescent to become a delinquent and descend into this lifestyle. Adolescents are more likely to become juvenile delinquents if there is too little structure provided for them in their families or loss of inner feelings and pride in their particular gender. This paper explores how an adolescent’s gender and family life influences delinquency. Several different variables focus on leading adolescents into delinquency such as gender differentials, masculinity hypothesis, family function, impact of family disorders, and two parent households.
The Youth Justice Board, one of the major bodies involved in working with youth offenders, state that they are “working to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18” (Justice, 2012). So for the purpose of this essay, ‘youth offending’ will be used to refer to the criminal behaviours of those people under the age of eighteen. Risk factors are used to predict a likelihood of a young person offending and therefore identifying opportunities for intervention. In order to successfully do this, all aspects of a young person’s life can be examined for potential risk factors. For this reason, risk factors often fall into one of several key
Along with the lifestyle up bring that a juvenile is surrounded by, the neighborhood and the company they keep can lead them down the path of destruction. “Conformity to peer group behavior and pressure may promote deviance. This is particularly likely among young people, where peer pressure may encourage them to adopt forms of deviant behavior (such as truancy and underage drinking) (Explanations for Patterns of Crime, n.d., p. 2). Because of the peer pressure that most teenagers face, committing these acts is a way to gain social
A vulnerable child seeks love, protection and the acceptance of his or her peers. Youth who lack parental guidance and support, or opportunities for positive involvement with their peers, often turn to a gang to meet those
Rosemary Johnson CJA/374 Criminal Procedure Instructor Glenda Rohrbach April 13, 2013 According to the Juvenile Justice Bulletin, past research explains there are common reasons for juvenile delinquency behavior. These factors could include a birth trauma, child abuse and neglect, poor parenting skills, lack of age-appropriate discipline, mental health issues, unduly peer influences, bad housing conditions, dysfunctional family life, and living in a high-crime neighborhood. These research studies are hoping to improve juvenile delinquency violence and juvenile delinquency drug use. These studies demonstrate that family environment, poor school associations, bad peer pressures, and what
Youth crime can be a result of fear, peer pressure, boredom, exclusion from the community, a sense of anomie, socialisation and anti-social behaviour, these just being a few reasons for youth crime being committed. Parents or guardians working long hours offers more of an opportunity for children to be involved in crime without anybody watching over them. Anti-social behaviour can be seen as the gateway into criminal activity that is why institutions such as schools have rules of conduct and uniform which students must conform to and if not they are punished. Some children admit that stealing is “…part of their normal behaviour,” which relates to norms and values, what is right and wrong, part of
“As envisioned by the founders of the juvenile justice system, delinquent youth should receive sanctions that both hold them accountable and rehabilitate them” (Journal of Criminal Justice, 2011). Many aspects of the juvenile justice system work together to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Partnerships formed by law professionals, families, communities, and juvenile courts are very important in helping juvenile offenders turn their lives around. Also, I believe that the role community involvement, law enforcement, courts, and corrections play in the Juvenile justice system is extremely essential in maintaining a successful deterrence rate. Juvenile corrections often faces challenges due to funding, state budgets, and the commitment