Youth and Juvenile Justice - Essay Example

The surveys and opinion polls conducted by the government, academic, or private institutions has a great impact over juvenile justice in the sense that the gathered information from public opinions can be use in future planning regarding the necessary improvements on the existing policies and programs related to youth and juvenile justice (Strutin, 2009). Since there are a lot of people who choose to reject the use of purely punitive approach in criminal justice, long prison sentences among the juvenile criminals have been constantly decreasing over time (Hart, 2002).

Nowadays, more people agree that punishing the youth is not the best solution in terms of fighting crimes especially among the non-violent offenders. Since juvenile crime prevention through education and youth programs is the best solution to address this type of social problem, more people are supporting the need to provide job and vocational training, family counseling, and increase the number of neighborhood activity centers for the young adults instead of focusing on punishment and enforcement (Hart, The impact of public opinion on juvenile justice and trend over time is great since there is a significant decrease in the number of juveniles held in residential placement in 2006 as compared to the number of juveniles in 1997.

(See Table I – Washington State Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement below) The prevalent risk and protective factors for child delinquency includes: (1) the child as an individual; (2) the child’s group of friends; (3) the child’s family background such as cases of poor child-rearing, divorce, or family violence; (4) the school where the child is studying; (5) child’s neighborhood; and (6) influence of the media (Wasserman, et al., 2003). In relation to the prevalent risk and protective factors for child delinquency, a child should have a good behavioral foundation at home.

Good parenting and guidance will decrease the chance that a