The High Incarceration Rate Of Juveniles - 1748 Words

The high incarceration rate of juveniles is a significant social problem that affects society as a whole as well as the youth’s individual welfare and developmental trajectory. Adolescents who are incarcerated in the juvenile justice system face a multitude of negative lifelong implications. The history of incarcerating youth in residential facilities such as juvenile halls, camps, ranches or group homes as a consequence for committing crimes has a deep-rooted history in the United States. â€Å"For more than a century, the predominant strategy for treatment and punishments of serious and sometimes not-so-serious juveniles offenders in the US has been placement into large juvenile corrections institutions† (Mendel, 2013, p.4). During the 18th and early 19th century, the judicial system harshly reprimanded youth and confined them in overcrowded penitentiary institutions with populations of adult offenders and the severely mentally ill (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Jus tice, 2014). Federal level policy protection of juveniles, who committed crimes and were sentenced to punishment by confinement, was not recognized until the Juveniles Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act was passed in 1974. The JJDP Act required that â€Å"(1) youth offenders were to have â€Å"sight and sound separation from adult offenders to prevent any contact between the two groups; (2) youth who have committed status offenses (i.e. curfew, truancy, alcohol possession, etc.) could not be placed in aShow MoreRelatedRacism: Incarceration of a Household Member and Hispanic Health Disparities1344 Words   |  6 Pagesof racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history p oints out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due toRead MoreSynthesis Essay- Juvenile Incarceration Into Adult Prisons1414 Words   |  6 PagesBoettcher 10/21/15 Pd.3 Synthesis Essay- Juvenile Incarceration into Adult Prisons Childhood is a time in which memories are created, adventures are explored and social awareness begins to develop. The events that occur during childhood are pivotal in the development of a healthy and substantial life. However, what if those experiences were taken from a child? What would the outcome be if a child could not experience what it is like to be young? Juvenile incarceration strips a person of their childhoodRead MoreThe Total Effects Of Boot Camps That House Juveniles847 Words   |  4 PagesThe Total Effects of Boot Camps That House Juveniles: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. In the 1980s the first shock incarceration programs or boot camp was introduced for the adult’s correctional system. Since than it have rapidly grown, and widely adopted across the fields of corrections and juvenile justice. The attraction towards the shock incarceration program originated from the instinctive belief that military methods promote honorable behavior. However, for others, it is the effectRead MoreIncarceration Of Youth And Its Effects On Reducing Crime Essay1750 Words   |  7 PagesIncarceration of Youth The United States leads the world in the incarceration of young people, there are over 100,000 youth placed in jail each year. Locking up youth has shown very little positive impact on reducing crime. Incarcerating youth have posed greater problems such as expenses, limited education, lack of employment, and effect on juveniles’ mental and physical well-being. In today’s society there has been an increase in the crimes committed by juveniles. Most juveniles have underliningRead MoreThe Incarceration Of The United States1044 Words   |  5 Pages2016), of whom many are juveniles. It is well documented that youths who enter this system are more likely to suffer a host of negative health and lifestyle outcomes, such as alcohol/drug abuse, high school dropout, and mental health problems. Such phenomena occur in stark contrast with the aims of the US juvenile justice system, which supposedly intends to help offending youths re-assimilate back into society as productive citizens. As previously mentioned, incarceration often leads to poor mentalRead MoreJuvenile Delinquency And Urban Areas1557 Words   |  7 PagesIn 1942, Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay produced Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas, which aimed to explain crime in urban communities using social disorganization theory. Elliot and Merrill (1934) define social disorganiz ation as â€Å"a breakdown in the equilibrium of forces, a decay in the social structure, so that old habits and forms of social control no longer function effectively† (p.20). Using this definition and the ecological approach, Shaw and McKay argue that low economic status, ethnicRead MoreAnalysis Of Juvenile Justice Programs893 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Juvenile crimes in North Carolina are at an eight year high. Instead of funding more detention facilities across North Carolina, the  state should provide the funding for implementing effective treatments and programs to offer a chance of rehabilitation. Juveniles are  faced with lockdown facilities that suppresses cognitive growth and development. Currently, instead of funding being used for treatment  and programming, it is being set aside to build new facilities which will produceRead MoreAmerica s High Prison Population1511 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica’s High Prison Population Since the 1970s, America’s prison population rate has risen 700%. Despite the U.S. comprising only 5% of the world’s population, it is the largest jailer with 25% of the world’s prison population with one in 99 adults in prison and one in 31 under some type of correctional control (Mass Incarceration Problems, 2014, p. 1). According to 2013 data, 2.2 million are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons or jails (Incarceration, 2013, para. 1), a figure that indicatesRead MoreThe Juvenile Justice System And Juvenile Offenders941 Words   |  4 Pagesways in which the juvenile justice system responds to female offenders. Historically juvenile female offenders have been treated under status offense jurisdiction (Zahn et al., 2010, p. 10). United States Courts would exercise the principle of â€Å"parens patriae† to place the female in detention as a form of punishment for misbehavior (Sherman, 2012, pp. 1589-1590). This principle also remains prevalent as it p ertains to how the juvenile justice system currently responds to juvenile female offendersRead MoreAutomatic Transfer Law: An Effective Policy? 1218 Words   |  5 Pagesa national study of how the juvenile court judge weighs the pertinent Kent criteria. This criterion is based on the potential risk to the community, the maturity of character and amenability to intervention. The purpose of this study is three fold, first to test the juvenile court judges beliefs regarding the mechanics of how juveniles are transferred, second to examine the judges beliefs about the usefulness of data presented of them and third determined how juvenile judges weigh pertinent psychological