Courts are challenged with an array of factors in establishing an effective system of justice for juveniles that holds juveniles accountable as well as prepares them for reintegration into society as productive citizens. Currently the nation is swept with controversy over Juvenile offenders. Of the many components of Juvenile Delinquency; the main issues raised reflects society’s views on Crime Control versus Due Process and how this pertains to juveniles. Are we incarcerating children into a system that does not hold them accountable? My paper will be an analysis of the juvenile justice system, recidivism rates, and how this process affects the outcome of children and administration in the Juvenile Justice System.
The Wayward Ways of the American Judicial System Candace Thompson ENG 122: English Composition II Instructor: Michael O’Donnell February 11, 2013 The Wayward Ways of the American Judicial System America’s prisons have been overflowing for the past few years. And a majority of these inmates are minorities. So, it leads one to believe that minorities are more prone to commit criminal acts. However, recent revelations including statistics and personal accounts have led some to believe that this is not true. That instead it is due to an unfair judicial system that is targeting minorities.
Jehad Saleh September 12, 2012 Prof. Hakim English 102 Racial Bias in the Juvenile Justice System In the Criminal Justice System, people are taken into custody and normally they are of minority background. This is also true for the Juvenile Justice System in the United States. Most juveniles that are in these detention centers come from poverty backgrounds and areas where they seen violence everyday. The reason for this may be caused by the fact that most of these kids don’t have a father figure in their lives to keep them off the streets. Most people though don’t realize this and automatically think because of the color of their skin that they are a lost cost.
Sociology research paper 11/15/2011 Crime and Deviance Crime and Deviance affects our society in a variety of ways positively and negatively. In society today crime and deviance is looked upon as bad people with no sense of caring or following the norms in our society. Gangs are the most relevant forms of deviance and crime. They are looked upon as worthless, dangerous, and uncaring people. Most of the time people do not understand gang members but look at them automatically as corrupt people.
Despite the life-altering consequences of incarceration in an adult jail, relatively little attention have been given to these youth (Berlatsky, 2010). On the other hand, the few police departments that have realized the agony youths undergo separate the young offenders from adults. The problem with this mode is, isolation causes the youths to suffer from emotional and physiological problems. On the other hand, another group of people argue that regardless of the offenders age, violent and habitual offenders need to be locked in to protect the public safety and provide appropriate level of punishment(Andrea & Nakaya, 2005.). it is also argued that it right to use the space available in local county jail and state prisons as needed.
Juvenile delinquents are defined as trouble makers, thugs, gangsters etc. But what people don’t know is why they are like this. Juvenile delinquents don’t always act out just because; they may have things in their past or present that they are trying to avoid. The things in the past or present they are trying to avoid may be more traumatic than us as adults see it. No matter how bad or good their life is kids or teens still have problems they face.
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. However, the overwhelmed juvenile justice system lets the adult criminal justice system handle many youth offenders. This causes numerous negative effects for convicted juveniles. The law recognizes that adolescents/children are less equipped to make important decisions than adults are. Yet the law fails to distinguish between adolescents/children and adults when it comes to spending the rest of their lives in prison for crimes they have committed before their 18th birthday.
It also talks about how the different community organization factors that affect children within the community. It says that one of the most important factors is the ability of the community to supervise and control the teenage peer groups. Sampson believes that origins of many gangs are the failure of supervision of these teenage playgroups. In section III Sampson talks about the way the community is organized culturally and how that affects the normal behavior of the member of the community and how this relates to violence. In this section he also talks about the community’s social isolation and how that is related to crime in the community.
In her essay, Why Juvenile Detention makes Teens Worse, Maia Szalavitz claims that those adolescent who entered the Juvenile justice system even briefly are more likely to be arrested later on in their adult life than those who have never been in the Juvenile system. Jennifer Gonnerman agrees. In her essay entitled, “The lost Boys of Tyron” she confirms the problem and suggests a solution. They both feel that that the Juvenile system is poor, but Szalavitz further believes that it has to do with the lack of positive direction in peer groups that cause kids to be worst. “By having them together, they form relationships.” When they are among so many different criminal associations with different behaviors this is more likely to increase the problem plus group experience tends to glamorize delinquency and drug use.
The Effect of the Family Membership in a street gang has an extremely detrimental effect on the lives of the young males who join them. Gang members “engage in more violent crimes and have more police contact than non-gang members” (Craig et al. 54) and are also more likely to engage in binge drinking and the use and sale of other drugs (Hawkins, Hill and Lui 1). Gang members also have a negative impact on their communities because of their proclivity towards crime. There are a lot of factors that can push someone towards gang membership, but the extremely young age of many gang members asks us what role does the young boy’s family play in his path to gang membership?