Crime Causation and Diversion: The Major Goal of Restorative Justice Programs (Essay Sample)

Crime Causation and Diversion
Name
Institution


Crime Causation and Diversion
The juvenile justice system in the state of Virginia is a special agency that manages a number of prevention and rehabilitation programs for young offenders. The system has a well-defined set of laws and procedures that govern the treatment of young offenders. Some of the programs specifically dedicated for juvenileoffenders in Virginia include diversion, intervention, and prevention programs (Commonwealth of Virginia, 2012). The state has a vested interest in promoting policies aimed at alleviating and reducing the rate off juvenile delinquency. Most of these policies are implemented through programs aimed at reducing recidivism through the implementation of diversion programs. Diversion programs offer juvenile offenders an alternative for of secure detention. The two diversion programs implemented in the state of Virginiainclude restorative justice services and community service initiatives.
Both restorative justice services and community service programs work distinctively to reduce juvenile crime. The restorative justice service program ushers juvenile offenders, and subsequently enrolls them into different programs for reform. Guided by the values of restorative justice, the goal of the program help juvenile offenders reform by helping the minors to rebuild their relationship with families, neighbors, and the society at large (Singer, 2014). The program premise is placed on the needs of the victim, and the necessity to restore connection of the offender with the community. This is achieved by engaging them in constructive ways and averting the causes of crime. On the other hand, community service initiatives reduce juvenile crime by engaging the youth in a range of community services with the goal of reducing recidivism. Community service programs’ premise is to make youths more responsible, by engaging them in community-based initiatives (Henderson et al., 2016). The program helps the youths to reform,and be reintegrated into the community as responsible reformed individuals who no longer engage in crime.
The major goal of restorative justice programs is to engage multiple agencies such as schools, and community-based institutions to jointly correspond in averting juvenile crime and wrongdoing (Commonwealth of Virginia, 2016). Juveniles who commit select crime incidents are enrolled into restorative justice conferences so that they do not automatically enter the criminal justice system. The objective of the program is to respond to juvenile crime and wrongdoing by placing emphasis on the victim’s needsin order to alleviate the harm caused by the incident. The core belief in the implementation of restorative justice programs is that the platform offers a voice to the offender in the outcome, as well as reducing probability of the offense recurrence. On the contrary, community service programs are implemented with the major goal of engaging the juvenile offender in a constructive manner. The objective of the program is to assign community service hours to the youths who have broken the law, to enable them to learn key lessons about responsibility and accountability, as well as nurture positive relationships between the young offender and their adult supervisors (Singer, 2014). The core belief of the program is that by engaging juvenile offenders in community service, they learn valuable life and work skills while volunteering.
The implementation of both restorative justice and community service programs is overseen by the state of Virginia in collaboration with key partners (Commonwealth of Virginia, 2016). The key participants in restorative justice programs include the juvenile offender, resource officers, and country agencies. The youth offender undertakes the program, whose implementation is overseen by the supervisors and officers. On the other hand, the key partners in the implementation of community service programs in Virginia include the court service unit, probation officers, and parole supervisors. The court service unit is dedicated to the implementation of a program that reduces youthful offender recidivism, whereas probation and parole officers offer cognitive behavior interventions for the young offenders, by engaging them in work and life skills programs.
Diversion programs have district services aimed at assisting young offenders to reform. The services provided to the youth under the restorative justice system include home-based counseling, substance abuse rehabilitation, as well as community attention programs (Henderson et al., 2014). On the other hand, community service programs incorporate work service programs through the assignment of community service hours, and lessons on life skills to build a sense of responsibility and accountability among the juvenile of...