Criminal Justice and Juvenile Delinquency - Case Study Example

Criminal justice Individual project There are a lot of organizations which promote community involvement to the prevention of juvenile delinquency. The main purpose of such involvement is to prevent youth from negative environment influence, to realize the aims and purposes of juvenile development and to involve family, peers and schools to the development and education process and the prevention of youth delinquency. The paper will consider two appropriate organizations websites which show the policy and main principals of the organizations. These organizations are: the United Nations, which has the guidelines for the prevention of juvenile delinquency (1), and Juvenile Justice Planning Committee, whose mission is “to provide resources for youth who are at-risk of becoming delinquent due to individual, school, family, peer or community factors. These resources will also provide services for youth who are delinquent, undisciplined or involved in the juvenile court process from intake through aftercare” (2). The United Nations Guidelines consists of some chapters: Fundamental Principals of the Guidelines, Scope of the Guidelines, General Prevention, Socialization Processes (in turn it consists of the following sections: Family, Education, Community, Mass media), Social Policy, Legislation and Juvenile Justice Administration, and Research, Policy Development and Co-ordination. The purpose of the United Nations programme is to underline the key-point factors of the juvenile delinquency prevention and the main issues to be researched and studied in this topic. The programme underlines that the prevention of juvenile delinquency is one of the main purposes of our society. A child must be in the center of the Guidelines orientation. All the means of community should be attracted to develop the processes of socialization and juvenile delinquency prevention: “Community-based services and programmes should be developed for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, particularly where no agencies have yet been established. Formal agencies of social control should only be utilized as a means of last resort” (1). The document also indicates the necessity of the international rights and covenants observance in the process of juvenile delinquency prevention. The United Nations Guidelines appals to the work with youth and has the description of appropriate means concerning namely juvenile delinquency prevention. But in addition to that, it appals for adults – adult family members, teachers, other community subjects and mass media officials should be reliable for the youth development and their successful adaptation and socialization in our society. The programme links to school and other educational institutions responsible for juvenile delinquency prevention: “Schools should serve as resource and referral centres for the provision of medical, counselling and other services to young persons, particularly those with special needs and suffering from abuse, neglect, victimization and exploitation” (1). The programme also underlines that educational institutions should pay appropriate attention to the juveniles of high-risk behavior and develop special programmes for deal with youth. As it is mentioned in the programme, government should play a very important role in juvenile delinquency prevention. Under the governmental guiding appropriate programmes, strategies and methods on youth delinquency prevention should be developed: “Government should begin or continue to explore, develop and implement policies, measures and strategies within and outside the criminal justice system to prevent domestic violence against and affecting young persons and to ensure fair treatment to these victims of domestic violence” (1). The United Nations Guidelines has no separate programmes for males and females, abused children, children in gangs and drugs abusers, but there are some mentions about these youth categories. Nevertheless the document should have some sections linked to them. Delinquency prevention approach on males and females should be rather different, as males are more inclined to overestimate their self-affirmation than females. As a result, unstable mentality of some males leads to violation growth. The United Nations Guidelines document should reflect these differences: there must be appropriate issues concerning gender differences, such as determined educational and family approach to males and females juvenile delinquency prevention. The document has a separate mention for alcohol and drugs abusers. Teachers and other school officials should deal with this problem and let children know about all alcohol and drugs use after-effects: “Special attention should be given to comprehensive policies and strategies for the prevention of alcohol, drug and other substance abuse by young persons. Teachers and other professionals should be equipped and trained to prevent and deal with these problems. Information on the use and abuse of drugs, including alcohol, should be made available to the student body” (1). The document also underlines that there must be appropriate services dealing with medical and mental problems of drug and alcohol abusers: “Such services should include special programmes for young drug abusers which emphasize care, counselling, assistance and therapy-oriented interventions” (1). There is also a mention concerning abused children in the United Nations programme. Schools and other educational institutions should have appropriate services dealing with these children for further juvenile delinquency prevention: “Schools should serve as resource and referral centres for the provision of medical, counselling and other services to young persons, particularly those with special needs and suffering from abuse, neglect, victimization and exploitation” (1). There is no special mention about children in gangs. Nevertheless it should be underlined that there must be appropriate services and methods dealing with these children, and special programmes, approaches and tools must be developed. Government and educational institutions should play an active role in this process for further juvenile delinquency prevention. The Juvenile Justice Planning Committee programme also consists of some sections. These are: Targeted services for youth at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system; Targeted intervention services for court-involved youth; Improve transition services from out-of-home placement; Services to address Disproportionate Minority Confinement & Involvement; Improve systems response to child abuse and neglect; Targeted improvement and development of computerized data collection for all juvenile court records through the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) (2). The purpose of the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee programme is “to provide resources for youth who are at-risk of becoming delinquent due to individual, school, family, peer or community factors. These resources will also provide services for youth who are delinquent, undisciplined or involved in the juvenile court process from intake through aftercare” (2). The programme has appropriate links to school – it has determined statistics of youth delinquency situation in schools: “Nationally, fifty-seven percent (57%) of violent juvenile crime occurred on school days between the hours of 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM. Winston-Salem Police Department noted a similar finding. Fifty-three percent of juvenile suspects made contact with officers during the hours of 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM and 78% of all juvenile contact occurred outside of school hours” (2). The programme document underline that schools should have certain programmes of high risk youth delinquency measures which can help this juvenile category in socialization and adaptation in our society: “Focus curriculum on academic skills of language development, literacy, math and science. Additionally, curriculum should include emotional and social skills of problem solving, cooperative play, self-control and working well with others” (2). The programme doesn’t neglect the aspect of juvenile delinquency prevention. It proposes a great deal of juvenile delinquency measures, such as different services means and family and professional therapy. The document proposes that children development programmes must include such important issue as “Prevention of further child abuse and neglect” (2). So, school staff must pay appropriate attention to the juvenile delinquency prevention. The document appals to youth, but adults should pay a very active role in further juvenile delinquency prevention: so, the programme described “empowers parents with the skills and resources to combat their child’s delinquency” (2). As was shown in the document, teachers and other officials are reliable for further juvenile delinquency prevention. The Juvenile Justice Planning Committee programme has no separate programs for males and females. But it is obvious that there are some differences in male and female approaches to the problem. There must be determined programmes reflecting the gender differences in juvenile delinquency prevention. The programme also has a mention about abused children. It underlines that juvenile delinquency programmes should “Improve services that promote extended family involvement and support for abused and neglected children” (2). The organization has no separate programmes for abused children, children in gangs and drugs abusers. But the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee should pay appropriate attention to these youth categories. It must be reflected in educational approach, as well as family and government must do their best to prevent further juvenile delinquency in our society. But in general, the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee programmes are rather effective in case of appropriate measures and activities. Discussion Board One of the most important causes of delinquency gender differences is a family. Females are more tightly connected with their families than males. So, a family approach can be very effective in case of positive psychological climate in the family and all the family members desire to deal with the situation. But it cannot be ignored and overlooked that many of juveniles are easily swayed by peer pressure. This pressure should be minimized by a family and positive educational environment. Schools and other educational institutions must have a range of appropriate measures which are able to help these juveniles in their positive attitude creation to the social environment. These measures should help a family, schools, as well as peers in further juvenile delinquency prevention. With the qualified help of a family, school and peers it is possible to influence a juvenile in a positive way. References 1. United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines), G.A. res. 45/112, annex, 45 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49A) at 201, U.N. Doc. A/45/49 (1990) (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/j2ungpjd.htm) 2. Juvenile Justice Planning Committee. 2003 Funding Priorities. North Carolina Crime Commission. Updated March 14, 2003 (http://www.gcc.state.nc.us/ForPreApp/jjdpre.htm). Read More