Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence (Term Paper Sample)

Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence
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Abstract
Wrongdoers within the community are subject to the law regardless of their age and socio-economic status. Those who are considered as under-age are detained in the detention centers as ordinary hoary criminals. It helps in promoting justice practices among the youths. The main objective of having juvenile centers is to rehabilitate the wayward youths to become responsible citizens rather than punishing them for their wrong deeds (Wright, 2011). In this chapter the legal and the ethical issues of the children who end up in prison, the individual characteristics of high risk youth, the family problems of high risk youth, the school and the institutional issues that impacts of high risk youth, the intervention, treatment and the prevention options of high risk youth will be discussed.
Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence
It can be very difficult making a child change his or her behaviors. The child may be influenced by the community he or she lives in to become a very disturbing criminal. Some of the children who end up in juvenile courts are witnessed by the community to have done many evil things. Some of them even killed people either at school or home. As it is known now, the children of these days can be beaten unlike the times of our forefathers. Some of the children turned out so bad that the government chose to hold them hostage to protect them from the actions of an angry community (Davila, 2005). An example of such an extreme situation is children who take drugs and, eventually, rape their relatives.
Legal and Ethical Issues
Children in the community may lose their focus at any time they are not well-taken care of. Some of the children do not introduce themselves to bad behaviors. Most of them are always led by their majors to do the unexpected. For instance, many children nowadays are getting introduced to the business of selling and smuggling drugs, stealing, murder and even rape cases (Iannacchione, 2006). The society is obligated to take care of the children for they represent the future leaders. With good guidelines, the society can use its power to help and protect the children from the things that happen in the outside world.
The parents are the persons who are expected to instill good morals to their children. It is believed that intense care and a lot of love is what the children need to keep them off wayward behavior. If parents eliminate the distance between their children and themselves, their children can have many opportunities to open towards them and inform them of every action that happens to their life (Johansson, 2007). The parents need to tell their children categorically the things that are a taboo to the community and other things that the community does not allow. For instance, many communities do not tolerate stealing and also use of drugs. For example, if you dwell in such a community, it becomes your responsibility as a parent to inform your children about such ethics.
The law of the land is responsible for making sure that the young generation is perfectly growing to maturity. In an extension of the duties of the state-owned constabularies, the courts have a mandate to enable the police to practice their powers by ensuring the children are safe, and well in the society. Certain doctrines were introduced to promote the welfare of the children. The principles help in maintaining the welfare of the children both under the custody of the state police and those in the custody of their guardians (Leiber, 2010). Whether a child is in the custody of the police or not, their welfare is regularly checked by the help and the rulings of the court.
Any obscurity in dealing with the youths may result into child abuse. Abuse of the minors is a criminal offence that can be convicted in a court of law. Correction of the young generation is always encouraged to be performed through rehabilitation measures rather than any punishment towards the wrongdoer. Juvenile courts were introduced to facilitate the rehabilitation of the younger generation through a court of law for a fair and pronounced jurisdiction.
Juvenile courts Act was passed in 1968 and later revised, in 1972. After the revision of the Act, it was called Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act which was a change from the previous name. Through the amplification of the Act, the court was able to provide quality and standardized jurisdictions among the convicted younger generation in the communities. The Juvenile Act evidently describes juvenile criminal case or, otherwise, the crimes committed by persons below the maturity age of 18 years in most countries (Morgen, 2008).
Individual Characteristics of High Risk Youth
Some parents may want to use all means to change their children behaviors to the best but, instead, the law prohibits them to some extent. Some of the children may be born with individual traits that may make them look different from the other children. At some age, for instance, age the age of twelve years, the children may appear to be involved with things that are above their knowledge levels. Some of the students are seen to be involved in things, such as use of hard drugs, absolute disrespect to the majors or even engagement in sex with adults. In the latter case, even if the adult should be convicted for child abuse, it is very important also for the child to be investigated for moral decadence (Ousey, 2005).
When children refuse to attend school, they get extra time that gives them space to try things that are very dangerous or even the bad things that happen within the community. For instance, in the year 2010, in California State, sixth-grade pupils were caught engaging in bestiality acts with a goat. It is such kinds of behavior that, in the future, may lead the students to become rape criminals.
Family Problems Related to At-risk Youth
In a research that was conducted in the United States, it was concluded that about fifty-five percent of the American couples do not experience good relationships, and it was also concluded that most of them only live together because of their children. It can be observed that havoc, insults, and parents’ fights have been the order of the day in so many families (Sullivan, 2006). Such kind of lifestyle led many children to indulge in abuse of drugs so as to reduce the stress that they go through at home.
Such children experience many instances where their parents fight in their presence. In one way or another, the children adopt such behavior and they end up fighting with other children in school or in other social places. It is a big problem that may turn out even uglier where the children even kill their fellow students after engaging in fights.
In homes where a single or both parents abuse drugs, the children of that family are likely to engage themselves in drug abuse at their early ages. Some of the children are not the ones to blame because some of them may even become addicted to passive smoking.
School Issues That May Impact At-risk Youth
The education system in America developed in a very high rate in the last couple of years (Webb, 2007). Through the new system, the children are neither beaten nor given any punishments when they commit wrongs. The students indulged in so many risky behaviors because they know that they cannot be punished. Many of the minors get engaged in consuming and selling of the substances in their schools.
In some institutions, there may be students who are doers of criminal acts. These children can easily recruit and teach the good kids bad behaviors and this may have a snowballing effect that affects many students in the school. In many schools in the United States, impurity of the students’ morals was mainly affected by bad influence and peer pressure. This is a situation where the students commit wrongful acts due to the motive and the influence of the groups in which they are involved (Lee, 2013). Some of these issues that are taught through such manner include; strikes; rapes and abuse of drugs.
Prevention, Intervention and Treatment Options
The juvenile justice discourages the punishment of the minors. Such corrective measures even seem to be ineffective. Punishments to the minor would not help in changing and correcting their mistakes. Rehabilitation is highly recommended as it effectively promotes the correction of the minors from their mistakes. Rehabilitation is of more effective to them as it opens their minds to their deeds and moulds them to correct their negative ways. Certain measures are usually taken to make the rehabilitation process much easier.
There is a signed covenant for the child to facilitate the changes in the behavioral conduct. A probation officer is always involved in ensuring the compatibility and the adoption of changes as required. The officer screens each and every move made by the individual to ensure that the requirements and the expectations of the changes have been attained. Some of the expected conditions are individual counseling, family counseling, community services, restitution, curfew or attending school detention programs.
Counseling is the act of giving advice to a particular person in regard life situations. An advice offered helps the individuals in making pronounced decisions. It also helps in improving their personal perception about things and their interrelation with others. A healthy relationship promotes the smooth and efficient law and order maintenance in the country. Once a minor was advised on various issues affecting their day to date life situations, they are well-equipped with life tactics in tackling different issues to enhance and discourage disagreements.
Skilled personnel are usually liable for the counseling of those who were recommended to undergo counseling sessions w...