Incarceration And Juvenile Delinquency

A theory that is brought about many times is that if one is under aged and violates the law then one is automatically a juvenile. Behind every delinquent lies a story, why or how they became this way? The goal for these people from what most would say is incarceration. Juvenile Delinquency is the name of a certain level of social existence and relations with others. They are positioned as delinquent by activities directed at the attempt to control juvenile behavior. In Heilbruns book Juvenile Delinquency, he states that juvenile offenders and other adolescent behaviors have become a great concern in today’s society (2005). He then goes on to mention that this concern is made in many different ways, whether it be through law, legal terms, or

One of the harshest ways a juvenile can be punished is by serving a term of life in prison. Most do not know a lot about the factors that help the court make this decision. In Carmichael’s article, he states that throughout the most recent decades, laws controlling transfer provisions, and sentencing legislation have made movement towards making sanctions for adolescent offenders more reformatory (2012). These approaches have led to an expanding number of juveniles being adjudicated in an adult criminal court and the youth’s that are sentenced are serving longer sentences than planned (602). In 2012, almost seven thousand inmates were serving life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles (603). Sentencing and correctional facilities were not insusceptible to the confusion of the times, but also faced additional inconvenience. Sentencing research uncovered major discretion and something unlike anything they have ever seen before, resulting in negative punishments for minorities. The conditions in prisons led to fights and the death/injury of inmates and staff. Crime rates rising, social disobedience, and drug use increasing has alarmed many people (Mackenzie 2013 4). Incarceration may be a form of corporal punishment but there are many other forms of treatment for

Seeing the way juveniles are different from adults when it comes to offending is how the first juvenile justice system was created in 1899. In the state of Illinois the very first psychiatry clinic was created in Chicago shortly after in 1909. The clinic was established to specifically assist families in their adjudication of delinquent adolescents (May 2014 296). One of the newer treatments adolescents are offered is the Scared Straight program. May says that Scared Straight speaks to a particular complexity compared to other intervention programs (2014). Unlike similar projects, that endeavor to prevent the delinquent from re-offending through other treatments such as therapy, and support from peers/family, Scared Straight tries to pull youths away from becoming a juvenile delinquent by showing them the harsh reality of what it is like to be incarcerated. The delinquent is shown the adult prison and given a tour, in which they receive direct exposure and an experience with convicted felons on a very personal level. The program speculated that these young people will be frightened into living a life with no future criminal activity