Juvenile Justice System - Essay Example

A detention hearing is required if a formal charge is filed. It is in this hearing where it will be decided whether the accused is to be released or detained until the preliminary hearing is held, and then the adjudicatory hearing in which guilt will either be established or not. And the next action will be taken, which is dispositional hearing if found to have committed an offense, during which the penalty will be handed down. In the case of diversion, the matter is diverted out of the system alternative programs which according to Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice include community service, counseling, restitution to victims, and academic programs (OJJDP, n.d.).

Based on a personal view, the process shown in the flowchart is fair, and there is the assurance that a juvenile is given due process. But in my opinion, diversion or informal action should be removed and incorporated after the dispositional hearing. This program would be incorporated with probation supervision. Three programs would still exist; however, Diversion would take the lead and would incorporate probation as one of its output programs. A juvenile is either guilty or innocent of the offense.

The severity of the offense is the important consideration in meting out the punishment. There are just two directions to which the process points after the dispositional hearing: correctional facility and residential and non-residential services. The changes in the process would eliminate redundancy and incorporate punishment only after the full process of the law is completed (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, n.d.).