Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Treatment - Assignment Example

?Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Treatment INTRODUCTION The term ‘juvenile delinquency’ is defined as a crime or any other anti-social activitiesthat are committed by children or young people under statutory age. The crime committed by juvenile delinquent or a person less than 18 years of age has emerged as a vital challenge for many societies in the recent times. The common acts of delinquency are often categorized as stealing, sexual offences, school dropout, loitering, pick-pocketing, drug offences and murder among others. There persist enormous causes for the amplification of juvenile delinquency in the present era such as negligence of parents, friend circle, neighborhood, educational curriculum, poverty and democracy among others (United Nations, “Juvenile Delinquency”). Correspondingly, this paper intends to critically describe the notions of delinquency prevention and delinquency treatment along with explaining the respective fundamental principles. Furthermore, the paper conducts a critical analysis of effectiveness, underlying the similarity and the differentiation in between delinquency prevention and delinquency treatment along with identifying the importance of juvenile justice system with respect to juvenile delinquency. DELINQUENCY PREVENTION Recent analysis of American society has revealed that America as a nation faces a significant risk of juvenile delinquency. Concerning the youth’s anti-social activities, the US Federal law has incorporated several state policies with the juvenile court system in order to prevent the act of delinquency. Based on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, the US government provides a lot of funds to the states for focusing on an assortment of delinquency protection principles and Acts. The core protection principles as well as Acts are especially focused on four parameters which include Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO), Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC), sight and sound as well as jail removal. The DSO along with sight and sound protection Acts are included with the original Federal law 1974. However, owing to the increasing rate of physical, mental and sexual assaults, suicides and drug addictions, the government of the US had to add ‘Jail Removal’ Act in 1980. Furthermore, federal system of the US also added DMC Act with the constitution in 1992 for effectively restraining rising issues related with the youth crime within the American society (United States Legal Inc, “Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Law & Legal Definition”). FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES The prevention of juvenile delinquency is ascertained to be utmost important for attaining all-round socio-economic development of a country. Furthermore, a culturally sound society seeks for immediate focus on the prevention measures of juvenile delinquency. Accordingly, it has been ascertained that several factors are responsible for the emergence of juvenile crime such as economic and social factors, urbanization and impact of media among others. In this context, an assortment of principles is required to be followed for the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Correspondingly, a few important principles are represented below: The government should emphasize and promote humanistic orientation programs to reduce criminal activities among the juveniles The entire society should duly involve in developing harmony among the adolescents The parents should take initiatives to guide their children properly In accordance with national legal system, various preventive programs should be implemented in the society such as DMC and gang reduction program among others (United States Legal Inc, “Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Law & Legal Definition”) EXAMPLES OF THE TYPES OF PREVENTION STRATEGIES AND AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR EFFECTIVENESS In order to restrain the adverse consequences of juvenile delinquency, several prevention strategies and programs are implemented in the American communities. Contextually, the two most important strategies in relation to the prevention of juvenile delinquency include Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and Families and Schools Together (FAST). These prevention strategies have paramount effect on restraining various acts of juvenile delinquency. Accordingly, a few major implications of these two strategies are highlighted below: Firstly, the strategy of strengthening family capability to provide appropriate direction and support to children has helped them to foster and develop their behaviors which have significantly deterred their involvement in any kind of delinquent act Secondly, the strategy of increasing friendly relationship with the family members, adults and peers has also helped to reduce the involvement of juvenile in anti-social activities. Rendering proper guidance and support regarding moral development among juveniles has also been effective in reducing several misconducts such as sexual offences, school dropouts and drug addictions among others Thirdly, the program of developing social and mental health through various social institutions i.e. schools, churches, recreation centers and civic groups among others has been ascertained as an effective measure for enhancing the capabilities and skills of the children These programs have undoubtedly been able to deliver promising results in mitigating or preventing the juvenile delinquency acts within the society (Moeser, “Prevention Strategies Related to Delinquency and Youth Violence”). DELINQUENCY TREATMENT Juvenile delinquency treatment related strategies are implemented in order eliminate any adverse effect on children and society arising from the adulthood behavior of these children. It is thus essential to mitigate the possibility of future crimes and develop a healthy society thereon. In the course of attaining a healthy society, there is requirement of formulating and implementing certain programs such as rehabilitation programs. Besides, there is another important program i.e. therapeutic treatment which has a significant implication that enables children to abstain from many anti-social activities such as drug addictions. The rehabilitation model especially focuses on the treatment of the offenders through work readiness, cognitive skills training, behavior therapy and training among others. The therapeutic treatment is especially focused on group therapy, family therapy along with group housing (Darbouze, “Rehabilitative Methods and the Affect on Juvenile Delinquents”). FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES The basic principles of the rehabilitation strategy are to reduce the acts of delinquency from the society and to facilitate the juvenile individuals to re-enter into the mainstream of sound cultural society. It helps juveniles to overcome many unhealthy social practices and lead a healthy lifestyle in the community. The fundamental principles involve group therapy which is concerned with changing the behavior of the whole group. This process is highly successful than the individual therapy because it assists juveniles already involved in delinquency to abstain from anti-social activities and return back to mainstream of the society. Secondly, another most important therapy process is group housing because it helps to provide better environment for rehabilitation of the mental behaviors which further contributes in inculcating positive behaviors among the juveniles (Darbouze, “Rehabilitative Methods and the Affect on Juvenile Delinquents”). EXAMPLES OF THE TYPES OF TREATMENT STRATEGIES AND AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR EFFECTIVENESS The strategies of delinquency treatment highlight the rehabilitation model and therapeutic treatment concentrating on meta-analysis process. The effectiveness of delinquency treatments is strongly benefited by the meta-analysis, because it undertakes the analysis among various groups. The identification of the effectiveness of delinquency treatments requires creating evidence-based practice related list which provides information regarding ‘what does’ and ‘what does not’ work for reducing youth crime and violence. Accordingly, it can be affirmed that the core principle of these strategies is primarily associated with internally changing the behavior of the offenders. It has been argued that behavioral change of the juveniles not only helps to change the present society but also it is highly fruitful to change the future of America (Darbouze, “Rehabilitative Methods and the Affect on Juvenile Delinquents”). SIMILARITY AMID PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Concerning the similarities between the juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment, it can be admitted that the fundamental objective of these two processes is same i.e. to promote healthy society by eliminating crime performed by children and youth under statutory age. The juvenile delinquency prevention concept especially focuses on various rules and regulations for curbing the involvement of juveniles in any kind of criminal acts. Accordingly, these rules and regulations are designed for reducing different kinds of delinquency that embrace stealing, sexual offences, school dropouts, loitering, pick-pocketing, drug offences and murder among others. It helps to create a sound cultural society through implementing laws and various educational programs along with ensuring effective guidance by parents. On the other hand, the basic principles of the juvenile delinquency treatment are same as the basic principles of juvenile delinquency prevention. Similarly, this concept also emphasizes a few strategies and programs such as rehabilitation model and therapeutic treatment concentrating on meta-analysis process for reducing the juveniles’ involvement in criminal activities (Greenwood, “Preventing and Reducing Youth Crime and Violence”). DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN PREVENTION AND TREATMENT DELINQUENCY It is worth mentioning that both the concepts of juvenile delinquency prevention and juvenile delinquency treatment have the same objectives to meet. However, there exist marginal differences in the course of attaining their basic objectives. Correspondingly, the concept of juvenile delinquency prevention entails the formulation and implementation of certain measures and strategies prior to the involvement of juveniles in criminal activities while on the other hand, juvenile delinquency treatment is the process which involves formulation and implementation of certain measures and programs for bringing young and child offenders back to the mainstream of healthy society. These strategies usually encompass promoting effective education, enhancing with moral development and encouraging parental guidance through the implementation various laws intended towards protecting youth from involving in anti-social activities. Contextually, the family background, social culture, friend circle as well as education among others play a vital role for the appropriate development of children and their behaviors. Conversely, the strategies related with juvenile delinquency treatment are especially concerned about how to avert and discourage offenders from being involved again in criminal activities in order to attain a sound society. The strategies related with juvenile delinquency treatment focus on meta-analysis for clearly underlying the types of crime, reason of involvement, individual and peer-group behavior and activities among others. This analytical stage helps to identify the problems and sort out them through implementing proper strategies (Greenwood, “Preventing and Reducing Youth Crime and Violence”). OVERALL IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTION AND TREATMENT REGARDING JUVENILE DELINQUENCY The prevention of juvenile delinquency and successful implementation of various strategies are essential for the prevention of crime in the society. The societies struggling with juvenile delinquency can be radically benefitted by these strategies if the concerned jurisdiction successfully implements the laws related with juvenile delinquency. In addition, the success of these strategies can also be firmly related with the effectiveness of socio-cultural activities initiated by various government and non-government bodies and approaches of humanistic orientation towards society in developing harmonious environment among adolescents and selecting appropriate channels of education among others. As a result, educational involvement and proper guidance among the youth and children have steadily facilitated in developing their skills and encouraging them to participate in the professional life rather than involving any kind of anti-social activities. Therefore, it can be strongly admitted that the prevention strategy renders towards the development of the society from different aspects such as financial, cultural and educational (Greenwood, “Preventing and Reducing Youth Crime and Violence”). Conversely, the importance of treatment regarding juvenile delinquency can be firmly associated with motivating juveniles to abstain from the practice of any kind of anti-social activities and thereby motivating these juveniles to lead a healthy life. These strategies related to treatment are predominately intended towards promoting a sound and healthy society. Contextually, juvenile delinquency treatment strategies involve various processes of rehabilitation model and therapeutic treatment based on meta-analysis model. Furthermore, the provision of rehabilitation helps to create a gap between juvenile and adult criminals as well as anti-social groups. In addition, the community based programs and the therapeutic treatment strongly facilitate to improve the mental health and behavior of the youth. Based on this context, the research report of Snyder (2000) revealed that the arrest rate regarding juvenile crime is lowest in the decade in spite of the growth of 8 per cent in juvenile population from 1993-1999 in America (Snyder, “Juvenile Justice Bulletin”). The functional activity of the juvenile justice system is to provide security towards the society by implementing various rules and regulations. Therefore, this system predominately involves analyses of social crimes and anti-social activities to develop the allied laws and modify the existing laws in accordance with the requirements of the society. Moreover, it can propagate that various social programs designed to reduce the crimes are also firmly inter-related with the function of juvenile justice system (Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “Key Principles of the Community Prevention Grants Program”). CONCLUSION The analysis of juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment strategies has offered valuable understandings and insights about the evolving needs of young offenders in the present socio-economic environment. Additionally, it has been identified that the outcomes of these strategies have immensely benefitted in mitigating adolescent crime and developing a culturally sound society. The various programs associated with juvenile delinquency have facilitated in increasing educational knowledge, mental health and technical skills of the youth which in turn have widely aided in eliminating and reducing the acts of juvenile delinquency within societies. It has further been ascertained that juvenile justice system plays a vital role in promoting a healthy society and reducing the scenario of juvenile delinquency. Works Cited Darbouze, Kelie. “Rehabilitative Methods and the Affect on Juvenile Delinquents.” University of Maryland (n.d.): 104-117. Greenwood, Peter. Preventing and Reducing Youth Crime and Violence. Nurse Family Partnership, 2010. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. . Moeser, James. “Prevention Strategies Related to Delinquency and Youth Violence.” WPN-Wisconsin Prevention Network (n.d.): 1-5. “Key Principles of the Community Prevention Grants Program.” A National Strategy for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention. Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2007. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. . Snyder, H. N. “Juvenile Justice Bulletin.” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2000): 1-12. “Juvenile Delinquency.” Delinquent and Criminal Behaviour. United Nations, 2013. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. . “Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Law & Legal Definition.” Legal Definitions Home. United States Legal Inc, 2013. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. . Read More