Examples Of Challenges Facing Law Enforcement In The US

Law Enforcement and Juvenile Justice

Challenges Facing Law Enforcement in the United States Law enforcement especially at the level of policing has faced a lot of challenges all over the world. While the police officers rationalize their acts as ways of protecting the community, the community members in many states sometimes think that there are exaggerations in the way the police officers handle them. Law enforcement has undergone changes in response to the worries raised by community members. Nonetheless, it is during such transformation that it has faced even more challenges. Some of the challenges faced in the US are discussed below. Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is basically the mentality of harboring an intrinsic sense of suspicion

First of all, although the regulations on arresting or summoning juvenile offenders are quite similar in juveniles and adults, law enforcers are required to think more critically on the side of juveniles (Bartollas, & Miller, 2011). They ought to ask themselves whether it is necessary for the juvenile to be summoned or escorted to the police departments. Secondly, the police officers are responsible for the referral of juvenile offenders to juvenile courts. In fact, many juvenile offenders are referred to the courts by the

One example is when a teen has important information but is unwilling to disclose it because he/she does not trust the law enforcement officer. This can also be seen in interviews between the officers and juveniles. Because, the juvenile is not fully developed mentally, they have the tendency to be swayed by the direction of questions of the officers. Thus, they may lie just to give the officer what he wants to hear. This is perhaps because of fear (Bartollas, & Miller, 2011).

Community Oriented Policing (COP) versus Problem Oriented Policing (POP) The rise of criminal activities in the US in the early 80’s challenged the law enforcement departments to act responsively. As a result, two approaches to curbing the crime rate were developed, namely community oriented policing and problem oriented policing. When comparing the two approaches on the perspective of juvenile crimes, COP is more effective. This is because COP focuses on preventing the crimes. Community oriented policing works hand in hand with community members and therefore it is easier to reach out to the juveniles. The continued contact with the juveniles makes it easier to build trust with them. This will in turn make it easier to influence the juveniles against committing juvenile