Benjamin Franklin And The Juvenile Justice System

Benjamin Franklin, who in 1736 was a founder of the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia, once famously said that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Of course, Franklin was seeking to allay the problem of fires that was prevalent at the time. Franklin’s words of wisdom may be rightly applied in the arena of the Juvenile Justice System. One would be hard pressed to find someone who would argue against the idea that the best way to remedy the social problem of juvenile criminal behavior is to stop it before it starts. Likewise, if a youth should commit a crime, then the goal of the Juvenile Justice System ought to be to avoid recidivism. This essay reviews five recent studies that explore some of the variables that can affect

impulsiveness and depression) as well as drug use and the likelihood of violent behavior and the mistreatment of one’s peers. (Source 4) Juvenile offenders are at risk for involvement in both fighting behavior and peer victimization. Understanding the potential causal mechanisms leading to these outcomes is important to address the needs of this population. Considerable research has shown that exposure to violent circumstances places juvenile offenders at greater risk than adolescents in the general population for being perpetrators or violence and being victimized by tears. In the National Youth survey (NYS), a large scale longitudinal study of 1,725 youth,delinquent youth were nearly four times as likely to be assaulted as their non delinquent counterparts. Increases in delinquent behavior over time, including violence, were associated with increased risk of victimization. The present study tested four mediator models of violent perpetration and peer victimization in a sample of 112 incarcerated youth. In the models, the relationship between child physical and emotional abuse and fighting and victimization was expected to be mediated by impulsiveness, depression and drug use. Multiple needy either models were tested according to Preacher and Hayes (2008). Depression fully mediated the relation between child emotional abuse and victimization partially mediated through relation between child and physical abuse and victimization. Drug use fully mediated the relation between child emotional abuse and fighting. These results suggest that treatment of depressive systems and drug use among juvenile offenders with a history of child physical or emotional abuse may limit violent perpetration and Peer victimization in this population. Child abuse may set a young person onto a non-normative developmental pathway toward a range of psychosocial, emotional,and behavioral