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Juvenile rehabilitation in prisons
Juvenile rehabilitation in prisons
Rehabilitation in prison education
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There are indication that most criminals have a juvenile records in the US, indicating that crime manifests from a tender age. Therefore, to reverse the incidence of crime, it follows that the best strategy is to reduce the criminal orientation in the juvenile offenders as opposed to hardening them and preparing them for criminal careers. The case of the Crossroads Juvenile Center demonstrates the willingness of the juvenile justice systems to make these changes on the children. References Day, S. (2014). Runaway Man: A Journey Back to Hope.
Collier appears to have good intentions when she argues her case for changing the juvenile system; however, her argument seems to be limited to her own experiences and a handful of statistics to support her cause. Collier’s argument seems to balance on the belief that juvenile criminals will be deterred by harsher punishment, a notion that has been shown not to be true. When provided with the appropriate measures, juveniles have been shown to avoid recidivism at a rate that is significantly higher than juveniles sentenced through adult court. Collier is right when she argues for updating the juvenile justice system; however, her solution is far from correct when one considers the moral implications of sentencing, young, still developing minds
Juveniles that go through the rehabilitation process will be able to have a clean record after they reach 18, whereas the exact opposite if they went through the adult justice system. Stevenson feels that, “We’ve become so fearful and vengeful that we’ve thrown away children, discarded the disabled, and sanctioned the imprisonment of the sick and the weak—not because they are a threat to public safety or beyond rehabilitation but because we think it makes us seem tough, less broken.” (289) This quote represents the treatment towards juveniles in prison and how the potential of these children is wasted. The goal of rehabilitation is to help the youth understand the consequences of their actions and learn how to make better choices in the
In 1830 a law passed that determined that youth should be separated from adults. “An Act to Establish a House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents” was also passed by legislature which allowed the states to provide delinquent youth with homes, education, and job training. (Department of Juvenile Service,
In the early 1800s the punishment of juveniles altered to the notion to rehabilitate juvenile offenders among with separate juveniles from adults in the system, and to keep the juvenile recidivism rate low, therefore the creation of the New York House of Refuge began (ABA Dialogue Program, n.d., p.5). The House of Refuge was the first prison to separate juveniles from adults and “were supposed to provide a home for unruly and troubled children, where they would be reformed, educated, and disciplined (Roberts, 1998, p. 96).” The program did not concentrate on punishment or pain, but on life skills that the juveniles could utilized once released. According to Roberts (1998), “Order, discipline, and moral teachings were emphasized (p.97).” The
The juvenile system was designed a long time ago to try and rehabilitate also to reform juveniles that committed crimes. In some cases, juveniles today have evolved to many more adult crimes. Many of these crimes have come on the form of raping’s and murders. The original
The juvenile justice system of the 1800’s is much improved in today’s society and still undergoing changes to improve the system. Henceforth, it can be noticed that the juvenile justice system of the 1800’s until today has undergone drastic changes in such a way that offenders be it youth or minor are tried differently from the adults in all states These changes can be seen when the Juvenile Justice System was under the English Common Law, the colonial era, the industrial revolution era, and the Victorian era. There are more programs developed in today’s Juvenile Justice System, as well as young offenders with regards to age are processed separately, and are not necessarily referred to as chattel due to how profound the juvenile system has
The Juvenile Justice System was developed in the mid-1800’s. Before the 1800’s there was no clear legal status defined for youthful offenders. From birth to age five or six, children were identified as property, and from ages five or six until death, children were identified as an adult. Because children identified as an adult, they were subjected to the same rules and standards that adults where held too. Such standards include dealing with social and economic problems.
The theme presented within both articles is a trend that has lead the juvenile justice system away from harsh punishments for juvenile offenders in recent years. The first article titled, Trends in Juvenile Justice State Legislation, addresses the recent shifts in juvenile justice policies from 2011–2015. After a dramatic increase in serious juvenile crime in the 1980s and early 1990s, legislature in nearly every state passed laws that would hold more juvenile offenders accountable through adult sentencing. Yet by 2015, it has been said that states continue to re–examine it’s policies to produce more effective response to juvenile crime and improve the overall system experience. According to the article, several factors can be attributed to
Discussion 1: Juvenile justice court vs. adult criminal court During the early 19th century, the United States government sought a solution to prevent mixing young and child offenders from adults and hardened criminals, thus introducing the juvenile delinquency system (Redlich &Bonventre, 2015). Juvenile courts are specifically designed to deal with offences involving minors aged between 10 and 18 years, whereas adult criminal courts prosecute adults who have attained the minimum age of 18. The system varies in different states because some allow 16 and 17 year old juveniles to be tried as adults depending on the nature of the act or crime committed. The two courts are similar on the account of rights provided to the offenders.
At the beginning of the 1800s juveniles were tried in the same courts as adults and when to adult prisons(Nurse 5). With all the abuse that happened in adult prisons a few judges became less willing to send juveniles that had committed minor crimes there therefore 1825 the first refuge house was founded in New York called “The New York House of Refuge”(Nurse 5). However most of the juveniles sent here were not accused of a crime, but were poor(Nurse 5). Although these refuge houses didn’t last long, in fact by the mid century, they had fallen out of favor and reform schools took their place and unlike refuge house they had more juveniles that had committed crimes (Nurse 6). In 1899 the first juvenile court was founded in “Cook County, Illinois(Nurse 6).
Young people should be given the opportunity of rehabilitation and redemption. The theory of deterrence is “predicated on the assumption that individuals weigh the costs and rewards associated with alternative actions, and select behaviors that maximize gains and minimize the cost” (Vago). The judgment and the ability to weigh the risks of a crime are not of an adult stage; therefore, there is an injustice present in the way the justice system prosecutes the youth of America. There is no reform proposed as “incarceration is used as the primary response to social problems” (NAACP). Instead of being offered treatment, “some of 10,000 children are housed in adult jails and prisons on any given day in America” (Children).
The juvenile justice system has made numerous of ethical issues when managing juvenile offenders. The issue with the juvenile justice system is the laws and rules that govern it. It has led to years of controversial debate over the ethical dilemmas of the juvenile corrections system, and how they work with youth offenders. The number of minors entering the juvenile justice system is increasing every month. The reasons why the juvenile justice system faces ethical dilemmas is important and needs to be addressed: (1) a vast proportion of juveniles are being tried and prosecuted as adults; (2) the psychological maturation of the juvenile to fully comprehend the justice system; and (3) the factors that contribute to minorities being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system are more likely than White offenders.
Juveniles being waived to the adult criminal justice system has been a widespread issue across the United States. More than half the states allow juveniles the age of 12 and older to be prosecuted as adults, along with 22 states that allow juveniles as young as 7 to be prosecuted as adults (Deitch, 2014). However, the juvenile justice system and the adult criminal justice system, was not designed to work with kids this age, regardless of the crime they committed. The juvenile justice system was created and designed to provide age appropriate interventions due to the fact that the teenage brain is still forming along with their character (Deitch, 2014). Kids can still be held accountable in juvenile court but the focus is on rehabilitation
In conclusion several attempts had been made in attempts to reduce the number of juveniles serving time in adult correctional facilities however thus far efforts have failed. When it becomes brutally evident that the current plan is not working than its time to implement a different plan or revise the current ones. As of today juveniles are being incarcerated at nearly double the rate of juveniles back in 2010, thus emphasizing the need for change. There are multiple efforts that could be made in attempts to reform the current juvenile justice system. The current system does not consider the psychosocial issues surrounding juveniles prior to committing any crime.