Juvenile Delinquency: Michigan Early Offender Programs

When a child unfortunately gets involved in the juvenile justice system for whatever reason, we need to make sure that rehabilitation is the main focus at getting that child back on track. We need to find out the root causes for the behaviors that brought him to this point and work diligently to try and change them. Incarceration with out treatment is merely storing bodies. If you don’t treat a problem it festers and becomes an even bigger problem. Delinquency must be handled so as to avoid the adult judicial system.

(oxford dictionaries) so being assertive with the children who act this way to try to make them refrain from the behavior, that may result in earlier curfews, or making these offenders go to boot camp.

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

Most prisons offer programs that will help the offender to rehabilitate, such programs can help the offender with anger management, domestic violence, drink & driving, alcohol abuse, and drug rehabilitation. Personally I believe that we should work hard on rehabilitating all offenders but especially the juveniles because they are not as competent as adults and there is a greater likelihood that they will change, although the main focus should be on rehabilitation of all offenders therefore making our communities safer.

Juvenile institutions and programs have changed over time. There are also juvenile programs that necessarily do not punish juvenile’s delinquents but instead help modify their behavior to avoid recidivism. Certain treatments and methods regarding how to deal with these dangerous young offenders were fixed and improved to make these institutions and programs more effective in changing the lives of these young

To examine current treatments, firstly, seeing the re-offenders rate is helpful. Although the re-offenders rate of juvenile offenders are not calculated nationally, according to 2010 Juvenile justice Outcome Evaluation Report (2010) by California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in California, State-level incarceration recidivism rate of minors released in fiscal year 2004 to 2005 is 56.5 percent. 56.5 percent of released juvenile offenders returned to incarceration within 3 years. Also 81.1 percent of minors leased in fiscal 2004 to 2005 were rearrested. 2012 Outcome Evaluation Report (2012) by CDCR shows 25.4 percent of juvenile offenders who released from Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) in 2007 to 2008 returned to Division of Adult institutions (DAI). From 2010 to 2012, the rate had decreased more than half. However, in 2010 to 2012, still one of every four juvenile offenders commit a crime again. The expectable recidivism rate can be considered as a large number. The higher

According to Ruddell and Thomas (2009), in 2006 it was estimated that there was 93,000 juveniles in either a detention center or juvenile correctional facility; however, the arrest rates have decreased at least by 2,000 since 1993. Many juveniles on release are reoffending quickly since most of them have been locked up throughout their developmental years and their brain did not get the right cognitive development it needed to help make the right decision. Many different states and correctional institutions have started their own different programs to help decrease recidivism rate in juveniles. Two programs that will be examined further are the Capital Offender Group that was implemented by Giddings State School in Texas, and the Juvenile Cognitive Intervention Program that was implemented by the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Juvenile delinquency is very important to understand. Juvenile delinquents are children who commit crimes, but to their age are unable to be judged in criminal law. The long term of criminal acts make the person a juvenile delinquent. The age of what is considered a juvenile varies depending on the state. The range can extend to the age of 21. The importance of understanding juvenile delinquents equips one to examine persistent problems that cause a child to be delinquent. The problems could include drug use, problems in school, and mental health problems. If you get to the bottom of the root of a issue necessary measures can be taken by involved parents such as if a student is having issues at school the parent could attend the

The underlying rationales of the juvenile court system are that youth are developmentally different from adults and that their behavior is impressionable and able to be fixed. Rehabilitation and treatment, in addition to community protection, are considered to be primary and viable goals. If we can

The goals of juvenile corrections are too deter, rehabilitate and reintegrate, prevent, punish and reattribute, as well as isolate and control youth offenders and offenses. Each different goal comes with its own challenges. The goal of deterrence has its limits; because rules and former sanctions, as well anti-criminal modeling and reinforcement are met with young rebellious minds. Traditional counseling and diversion which are integral aspects of community corrections can sometimes be ineffective, and studies have shown that sometimes a natural self intervention can take place as the youth grows older; resulting in the youth outgrowing delinquency.

A child’s ability to function and comply with society’s rules and regulations rely on a healthy early childhood attachment. Attachment is the biological instinct for infant to seek closeness to their caregiver. A secure attachment develops through consistent and positive, interactions between the caregiver and the child. A child’s physical development, mental development, social development, and ability to form daily living skills, all begin to develop through that secure development but continues to develop through continued nurture throughout that child’s life. Children who fail to receive a secure attachment will most likely struggle with self-regulation making it hard to control behaviors and impulses.

In the past several years researchers have found intervention strategies and program models that hope to prevent juvenile delinquency and promote good social attitudes and development (Greenwood, 2008). More than 1,000,000 adolescents go through the American Criminal court system every year and of those approximately 160,000 juvenile offenders are sent to juvenile placement centers (Henggeler & Schoenwald, 2011). The U.S. criminal justice system has been wise enough to realize that treatment programs need to be implemented in order to lessen recidivism in these young offenders and help ensure that they go on to live healthy productive lives.

Currently to deal with juvenile offenders involved in the youth crime, there are two options available. The first option that prevails to a larger extent is known to us as incarceration while the second option that is slowly gaining trends is known to us as rehabilitation programs. This paper focuses on thorough analysis of both these options and the impact that they have on the offenders as well as the society as a whole. The paper also assesses the viability of these options in order to determine which of these will prove to be more effective and beneficial.

Therefore, numerous interventions have been designed to address and redirect specific behaviors of delinquent youth who are at-risk for recidivism or who have been incarcerated and are facing greater involvement within the juvenile justice system (Youth.Gov, 2017). More importantly, not every intervention works with every youth offender. The key is to focus on each youth as an individual and not as a population.

This assignment will illustrate that by understanding the fundamentals of combatting juvenile delinquency and applying the theories to command practice will enhance the overall knowledge of the material. This document will demonstrate the juvenile delinquency reduction efforts and programs currently in operation in the Tampa area community. In addition, I will propose ways to improve the Tampa area community’s juvenile delinquency prevention efforts. Next, this paper will attempt to apply the main sociological theories that underlie these interventions that shape the community’s public policy for delinquency prevention. Finally, this paper will identify an appropriate strategy geared toward preventing delinquency that in consistent with the Behavioral theory.