Criminal Law
The program for youth offenders involved in gang-related problems has been designed to solve that policy on juvenile crime, drug uses and the role of community corrections to rehabilitate their deviant behavior. The juvenile program is intended to give the youth offenders the opportunity to correct past mistakes. Del Carmen and Trulson (2005) argued that imprisonment of youth offenders will result to a traumatic experience since it will separate them from their families. This action on the part of the community is related to the rehabilitation theory which will benefit the juvenile delinquents to have a better future. For non-violent youth offenders, the Comprehensive Community Correction Programs can be applied and is considered an alternative model for imprisonment. The concept of parole and probation program for the youth offenders is to establish drug courts, impose community service and victim assistance which fall under the concept of restorative justice. Alarid (2012) argues that restorative justice promotes community corrections programs since it is based on ethics to assure the offenders that the law recognizes their dignity as humans. Del Carmen and Trulson (2005) contends that probation is the kind of sentence that will allow a convicted offender to stay out of prison, but will be subject him to conditions imposed by the court and monitored by a parole officer.
In case of mentally-ill offenders, the program should include observation and psychological testing in the assessment, selection and treatment to be given to the mentally ill offenders. It imperative to create a successful treatment program for these offenders in order to promote safety and security of community. The criminal justice system should pool together professionals who have the knowledge to understand the consequences imposed by both the criminal justice system and mental health treatment. It is recommended that mental health professionals must give the proper treatment for the mentally-ill offenders with the help of forensic clinicians to determine the condition of the patients prior to their release. The probation period of mentally ill-offenders shall require correctional supervision for a longer period of time compared to other offenders. A mentally-ill offender in who is undergoing community treatment and accused of a high-profile crime should be managed by the agency and clinician to manage rage of the community. One illustration to justify the importance of observation and psychological testing of mentally ill offenders is to be able to guarantee that such patient ceases to be a threat to the safety of the community.
The goals or objectives of the juvenile diversion programs will enable the court to intervene and rehabilitate the youth offenders, reduce recidivism and to prevent them from entering the adult criminal court and the court systems (Alarid, 2012). The strength and success of the diversion programs for the youth offenders is that these programs usually deal with non-violent and low risk youth offenders to lessen the risk of recidivism. The main purpose for the establishment of diversion programs is to rehabilitate offenders engage in gang violence caused by drugs and to eradicate drug addiction among the youth offenders. The diversion program for the youth takes into consideration the aspect of recidivism and cost-efficiency of the program to incorporate the proper treatment facilities for the rehabilitation of the offender.
In order to improve the program for mentally-ill offenders, it is recommended that psychological testing and assessment should be carried out for the determination of the present condition of the mentally-ill offender and to give a personalized treatment for each patient. This approach will also ensure that the patient is admitted in the proper agency.
The values targeted by the program must highlight social work values since social work is a value-based profession that is intended to uplift the lives by giving public service (Beckett and Maynard, 2005). These programs can be improved by attending to the personal problems of the offenders, which are mostly family-related issues to reduce the incidence of recidivism. This can be illustrated in the case of youth offenders who become gang members and drug dependents. The principles of social work should be integrated in the programs should include the four core values of service to others, social justice, dignity and worth of a person. Establishing human relationships will guarantee the efficiency of the program that will resolve issues including substance abuse or anti-social behavior of the offenders. Youth offenders should be engaged in activities and trainings to educate them on basic community skills, including the tips on how to apply for a job, job-hunting, creating a resume and livelihood projects (Stohr, Walsh and Hemmens, 2008). The purpose of the community programs will develop discipline among the offenders and to prevent them the possibility of re-offending. The strength of the program is in relation to the principle of restorative justice to provide the youth offenders a sense of decency by responding to their needs and to rehabilitate them to become better citizens in the future. Rehabilitating the offenders is directed toward changing their attitude or behavior to correct their deviant behavior and to provide them the opportunity to correct their past mistakes.
References
Alarid, L.F. (2012). Community-Based Corrections, 9th ed. California: Wadsworth Cengage.
Beckett, C. and Maynard, A. (2005). Values and Ethics in Social Work. London: SAGE.
Del Carmen, R.V. and Trulson, C. R (2005). Juvenile Justice. California: Cengage.
Lamb, R.H., Weinberger, L.E. and Gross, B.H. (1999). Community Treatment of Severely
Mentally-Ill Offenders under the Jurisdiction of the Criminal Justice System: A Review.
Psychiatric Services. 50(7), pp.907-913.
Stohr, M., Walsh, A. and Hemmens, C. (2008). Corrections: A Text/Reader. California:
SAGE Publications.
