Juvenile Delinquency There Are Many Juvenile Cases Essay

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Juvenile Delinquency

There are many juvenile cases in the justice system of USA, like that of Josh and Terry, where teens from broken families commit crimes. These juveniles lack a supportive environment thus the crimes often become a habit rather than occasional incidences. The juvenile crimes normally start with a prolonged absenteeism from the school after which students develop bad habits and may learn to steal and to commit assaults. It is not always for fun but sometimes the teenagers are habitual in crimes. Once these are caught and put into jail at such a young age, they have a tough life. Juvenile are counseled and held under supervision. They are released later depending upon the nature of crime but the juvenile record is often a hurdle in their career. The paper discusses the legal and social issues related to juvenile records, funding programs, system and controlling felony in questions and answers manner.

What would be the options for these two young men under your new juvenile justice system? Explain in detail their punishments, their supervision, and the expected outcomes.

Stealing and weapon assault are crimes that might not have ended in killing someone yet these actions indicate a behavior that can grow and become a greater security concern. Different countries differently handle juveniles. The juveniles are normally not given death penalty but different American and European countries have different laws (Jehle, Lewis and Sobota, 2008). These two young men will be most probably kept in prison for a few months and will be supervised. The prison for the juvenile is not like that for the adults. Rather the juvenile are kept under custody of parents or the supervisor that will ensure that the juvenile is not let to freely move about like a normal citizen. Rather the punishment for the juvenile includes detention and withholding many facilities. Then the court may decide to suspend the licenses of the juvenile, they can be fined, put into custody in a detention center and can be offered counseling (Michon, 2013).

Status offenders and juvenile delinquents

Based upon the nature of crime, the youth are presented in front of different juries and in different courts. The crimes are often as minor as using services that was not for them by mistake or as grave as the weapon assault. There are different punishments for these behaviors too.

What will be the criteria for placing a juvenile into one of these courts?

The criteria for placing the juvenile into court are the age and the nature of crime. Sometimes, the act is a crime but the juvenile cannot be charged due to his age. And many other times, the act is crime because of the gender, age or other orientation of the person. The intention is often a criteria because sometimes it is too evident that the person did something by mistake than he is not presented in the court but often the intentions of person support his deviating behavior thus he is presented into the court.

Who will handle the supervision of the status offenders?

The status offense court is for the young ones that commit a crime that is allowed for one class but not for the other like the men cannot use the toilets for the women. This court deals with minors that have committee such crimes. The juvenile can be detained in detention centers for committing such crimes. But since the Josh has not committed status offense, he will go to juvenile delinquents because the juvenile delinquent court is one that deals cases that are considered and charged as crimes if the committer was adult. Terry has however not stolen nor is he involved in weapon assault thus he may be sent to a status offender court. The custody of Terry can be given to parents after giving them necessary guidelines but Josh will be held by the court in detention center.

Will this go on a juvenile record?

Josh and Terry's crimes are juvenile crimes and Michon (2013) says that many states in USA allow erasing crimes from juvenile reports after five years but many states do not allow erasing crimes that could be charged if the person was adult. The crimes of absenteeism as well as the curfew breaking and weapon assault will go into the record. Everything that the juvenile is accused of can be written in the record but it is not necessary that every detail stays in the record. Sometimes the record is deleted once the juvenile becomes adult but this is not a universal practice.
A too much prolonged truancy, extensive use of drugs, habitual stealing and weapon assault are the crimes that are mentioned in the record as well as these records are kept after five years too.

Who will hold the power over a status offender if he or she does not complete the required punishment?

The young individuals showing illegal activities are not always from settled families rather they are stressed individuals committing illegal activities as a display of deviance (The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2013). Their behavior may or may not be controlled by their parents alone. Normally the court requires the parents, relatives or fosters to cake control of the juvenile. However, if the truancy is prolonged and the child is not completing required punishment, he or she can be held in a detention center and parents will be offered counseling to help them control their child. The parents are offered assistance from the administration so that they can control the behavior of child.

Will parents have any input in this?

Yes! Despite that the young ones that commit crime are often not under control of their parents, the state facilitates the parents to control their children using various ways. Thus although limited, the parents have input in the juvenile handling. However, when the situation becomes out of control and the child starts escaping house or when the parents are found not to be supportive to the justice system, the court can give the custody of child to someone else thus trying to offer alternative environment where the juvenile can show disciplined behavior.

Juvenile probation:

The security and law enforcement agencies are tasked to build a healthy relationship between family and child to ensure a behavior that abides by law. Juvenile probation takes care of juvenile offenders that are below 18 years of age and that are referred by the court. The juvenile probation involves screening juvenile records, conducting his medical tests and offering them assessment and future planning services (Probation (Juvenile Supervision), 2013).

What programs will be offered?

The juvenile probation can include counseling and education of parents as well as the child. There is a generation gap between the parents and the family and the justice system is assisted by programs that are designed on sociological and psychological parameters to help the family and the child. Communication sessions, listening skills development, and sharing experiences can be a part of juvenile program after which they are offered suggestions to help them adopt a lawful behavior. The children are often kept in detention center but in China, the juvenile that are rural immigrant are kept in prison but the city peers are kept with the parents (Hard Times, 2013).

Sports are considered as a very productive activity that engages the mind and well as physical energies of people. Thus the programs often include physical and computer games so that the energies of the child used in productive ways. The programs may include sport activities that team building to the youth. Sports also develop a sense of achievement in the humans that is what the juvenile criminals often seek the most.

How will they be funded?

The state and federal administration normally offer funds for the juvenile programs. However, there are also community funded and family funded juvenile probation programs. Based on the funds, different programs are offered. In different areas, different centers have small or big population of juveniles under supervision. Thus the facilities and the funds of each area depend on the number of juveniles. The state also funds the programs based on the number of people programs is serving.

Detention:

Some youth are detained under the court orders. When under custody, the aim of the system is rehabilitation and not damaging the life and social relations of the youth (A Better Way to Handle Juvenile Offenders, 2001). These detentions make the youth more disciplined and help them abide by law.

Will you have to close some facilities?

The juvenile that are detained under court orders will be deprived of a few facilities. These facilities are not the basic rights of the human beings like food, health, shelter and education. Rather the juvenile will be allowed to live with parents, if the behavior is not too violent, to get education (can be school-based or home schooling) and he can meet with the friends too. Yet some facilities will be detained like the juvenile will not be allowed to….....

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