John Black: Juvenile Offenders

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There will be many instances in life where we are faced with great adversity, and to get through it, you must be a very strong person, both for yourself and for others that may look to you. Despite being a juvenile, John Black is such an individual, only at the age of sixteen, he has decided to turn his life around, and will help to work with some of the first time offenders, as a way to deter and rehabilitate them from a long walk down a wrong path. He has courageously faced and endured some of the horrible situations that life can throw at as a misguided youth. Now four years into a five year probation program, he is now up for release, and decided to help out with the mentoring program. John can be used as a success case with first time…show more content…
Being a little more mature than when he first entered the program, he has realized the era of his ways and knows full well the type of life that accompanies some of the decisions he made as an unguided juvenile. We know this from when he states “I also cannot believe what a pain I was, thanks for not giving up on me... I really would like to talk to some of your younger offenders... Maybe if I did, they would not make the same mistakes I did." As it stands, it is results like this that will help to secure and stabilize the future of the juvenile justice system. In order for juveniles to get the treatment that best suits them, it will take considerable, and combined efforts from both families and communities of the individual, and from the prevention programs established for this purpose. The issues that arise when concerning the programs that need to be established are usually financial in nature, and over the last decade there have been some drastic changes in the amount of money allocated to the states of the nation by the federal government. According to the coalition for juvenile justice states "Despite a universally recognized the need to further reduce delinquency and improve juvenile justice systems, federal appropriations for key federal juvenile justice grant-making programs have suffered in the last decade." The future if the juvenile…show more content…
It is a serious issue that affects all nations and their future, and if not addressed seriously enough, there can be increases in cases which can lead to the destruction of a nations own future. There are many efforts being made by the international community to combat juvenile delinquency and prevent juvenile crimes. John's case is one of success, which can be used as an example of how timely intervention can prevent an adolescent from ignorant self-destruction. However, there are others that were not as determined to change, or that did not receive the proper opportunity to do so. In Europe, an effort to further diminish and prevent acts of delinquency, and juvenile crimes, according to the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, "programs to prevent offending behavior should be developed with a view to bringing national law and policy into line with international and European standards. They should be periodically monitored, evaluated and adjusted in light of reliable scientific research findings"(Thomas Hammarberg 2009). Not unlike how things are done here in the states, there is a sense of utmost urgency around making sure that children receive the proper care they deserve no matter what the
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