Juvenile Justice System
Juvenile justice system is a separate system set up for young offenders, complete with juvenile police officers, and juvenile courts. Although any police can arrest juvenile for illegal activities, once they are put into custody they are transferred to juvenile officers who then proceed with their case. There is a difference between juvenile justice system and that of adults. The juvenile courts are more informal as compared to adult courts.
There has been a lot of debate over whether punishment or rehabilitation should be the focus of the juvenile justice system. In the past years, the focus has changed from punishment to rehabilitation and then back to punishment. The change in focus is attributed to the communitys reaction to juvenile delinquents instead of how well the adopted strategies help young offenders change. Rehabilitation should be the main aim of juvenile justice system, although punishment should not be abandoned either. The paper will discuss why rehabilitation should be the focus of juvenile justice system (American Civil Liberties Union, 1996).
Rehabilitation can be described as programs or therapies that enable juvenile delinquents to be accepted back into the society as a contributing member to the community. Such programs include behavior modification therapies, education, work programs, and counseling. Each and every program is directed at correcting an area that needs to be improved or corrected in a young offender (The League of Young Voters, 2009).
Reasons for rehabilitation
The juvenile justice system should adopt rehabilitation because it reduces the time spent in prison, able to tackle more of the delinquent needs it gives delinquents an opportunity to become productive members of the society, and also lowers the cost associated with imprisonment of youths (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004). According to the article juvenile justice system, criminal justice system should focus on rehabilitation for the juveniles because focusing on punishment at the expense of rehabilitation results in more repeat offenders and rob the society and the offenders the potential of change. The logic behind this reason is that the offenders are being punished for their deviant actions but are not taught how to reenter the society as contributing members. The initial intention of designing juvenile courts was to be flexible, informal, and to rehabilitate (Mellen, 2008).
The second reason why juvenile justice system should focus in rehabilitation is because it offers the offenders with the opportunity to learn about their behavior, how it affects the society, and the steps they can take to stop the behavior. After the delinquents have learned their behavior, its effects and how to avoid it, they are able to reenter the society as productive members. When they finally go back to the society they have trust in themselves that they can be successful and can contribute positively towards nation building. Without rehabilitation, there are high chances that many offenders will continue with their behavior in adulthood (Shepard, 2009).
Most studies carried out across the world in juvenile justice system shows that youths who are exposed to the criminal justice agencies have several problems and require high levels of need across all areas of functioning. An interview was conducted on May 1, 2009, with Michael who was once accused of theft, drug abuse, and assault. During the interview it came out that Michael was raised by single parent therefore lacked supervision, he was also exposed to alcohol and drug abuse, and was also subjected to abuse. In addition to the above problems, he had mental difficulties which had not been diagnosed and contributed to his delinquent problems. He was convicted as a juvenile offender for theft, drug use, and assault. He was released later on but ended up again in prison because of the same offences (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004).
When Michael was asked about his views on juvenile rehabilitation, he responded that he wished he would have been rehabilitated during the time he was in prison. It is not conclusive whether rehabilitation would have helped Michael or not, but according to his family history, he had more underlying problems which really required counseling therefore he was a perfect candidate for rehabilitation. He was a repeat offender, he had social and mental problems that could have been solved through rehabilitation, and he is supporting the idea of rehabilitation in juvenile justice system (Mellen, 2008).
There is a common wrong belief that people want the juvenile justice system to be focused on punishment. Most people believe that it is only punishment which can deter youths from engaging in delinquent behaviors. To address the public view on whether rehabilitation or punishment should be the focus of juvenile justice system, several studies were conducted to get the public view on rehabilitation. The studies indicated that the public prefer rehabilitation with very few reforms in the juvenile justice system (Mellen, 2008). Getting the public view is very important on the matter of rehabilitation versus punishment. It is not true that the public believes that punishment is better in deterring the young offenders from engaging in delinquent behaviors. Majority believe that many youths can be very productive to the society if they are given the chance to change (American Civil Liberties Union, 1996).
How rehabilitation impacts other programs
It is very important to understand why rehabilitation should be the focus of juvenile justice system. It is also very crucial to understand how it impacts law enforcement, court proceedings, probation, corrections, community services, and finally intervention programs. Successful rehabilitation process can affect the areas listed above by reducing the workload of these programs (Shepard, 2009).
Through proper rehabilitation, the successful candidates are likely to be good people and the law enforcement can focus on the new issues and offenders. Those offenders put under rehabilitation programs or those who have completed are likely to lower the case load in the courts. Juveniles who have been rehabilitated may or may not be taken on probation, while those on probation may have their probation decreased upon completion of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation can reduce the burden which the correctional facilities are facing by decreasing the number of youths being imprisoned (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004).
Community services and intervention programs may be faced with increase in number of juvenile enrolled in their programs because juveniles will abide by their rehabilitation programs. Although all these areas are impacted in different ways, the result is positive since the number of juvenile offenders is likely to go down (Mellen, 2008).
Reasons why punishment should not be the focus
In the process of endorsing rehabilitation as the focus of juvenile justice system, it is also important to understand why punishment should not be the focus. Punishment is always a consequence for inappropriate behavior. When used, it will imply that the juvenile has indulged in an unacceptable behavior or act. Punishment should also be unpleasant and it is hoped that it will discourage the unacceptable act committed. Punishment should not be adopted because it fails to tackle social and mental problems which may be the cause of delinquent behavior. It also fails to know the reason for involvement in unacceptable act. Rehabilitation can and tackles these issues (Shepard, 2009).
Surveys have indicated that most youths re offends after being incarcerated because the reason why they committed the offence is not tackled. Those who are taken for rehabilitation have lower rates of recidivism. Punishment comes with a huge cost tied to it. The correctional facilities must provide for the inmates in terms of food, clothing, and education to all the youths incarcerated. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the cost of detaining a child for one year amounts to 35,000 and 64,000 while the cost involved in rehabilitation is much less. Punishment does not reduce the rate of juvenile offence and in some situation the rate can even increase slightly. Application of punishment alone does not work (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004).
Reasons against rehabilitation in juvenile justice system
Opponents of rehabilitation as the focus of juvenile justice system argue that most children from all walks of life are aware of the principle of cause and effect therefore breaking rules should be followed with punishment. Punishments which are accorded by the state are aimed at gratifying the publics demands for safety as well as protection and justice.
The aim of punishment is to have offenders pay for their offences and to demonstrate to other people what is likely to happen when they also break the law. It should be taken that breaking the law either in the form of property crime, physical crime, or murder, the punishment which will be accorded will equal the crime committed and the aim of correction is to rehabilitate with the aim of making them stable enough to enable them to get back to the society and contribute positively to community building. This is very possible with young offenders because they are still flexible and have the view of their future life ahead of them. Once the youths are allowed to start breaking law and go unpunished or rehabilitated, there are high chances that they cannot be productive to the society and even to themselves (American Civil Liberties Union, 1996).
There are some crimes which require punishment but not rehabilitation. The circumstances which led to the offence should also be considered when deciding on what strategy to use. If the crime committed is related to sex, then such offender should be punished. The same should be applied to violent crimes involving the use of guns. Lesser offences such as stealing, drug abuse, and break and enter rehabilitation can be adopted (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004).
According to the theory of general deterrence, the rate of crime is likely to go down when the punishment is increased. Studies were conducted on crime rate among the youths before and after changes in law which made it possible to transfer juveniles to adult courts. The studies which were conducted before the change in the law did not show any considerable reduction in the rate of crime among the youths while that conducted after the change in the low showed some significant reduction. It was found that increasing the probability of punishment among the juvenile offenders lowers the level of crime (American Civil Liberties Union, 1996).
Advantages and disadvantages of rehabilitation
As anything else, rehabilitation has both positive and negative sides. Among its positive effects are it tackles the needs of the offender and can customize according to the needs of the offender. Juveniles who require more rehabilitative services can get and the same applies to those who require less services. It costs less as compared to imprisonment which requires about 35,000 to 60,000 per child per year. Rehabilitation costs averages less than 10,000 for every child rehabilitated in a year (American Civil Liberties Union, 1996).
The negative sides of rehabilitation are that the services must be of good quality to produce good results. It requires proper funding and staffing and these can sometimes be lacking. Although there are disadvantages to this strategy, its advantages are more. Reducing the number of youths engaging in delinquent behaviors and at the same time providing them with the help they need will always be superior to the listed disadvantages (The League of Young Voters, 2009).
Rehabilitation must b the aim of juvenile justice system because failure to provide these services affects both the offender and the community at large. By holding to the belief that there is no hope in rehabilitating the youths, the society sends a strong message that they have lost hope in their youths. Through rehabilitation, the community demonstrates their belief that there is always opportunity to change. Rehabilitation also reduces recidivism and overall costs associated with incarceration of the offenders (Day, Howells, Rickwood, 2004). A good quality rehabilitation program is likely to reduce the work load in several programs such as court processes, probation, and law enforcement among other programs by reducing the number of juvenile offenders. For these reason and those not discussed, rehabilitation should be the focus of juvenile justice system (Mellen, 2008).
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