Disadvantages of Juvenile Justice System
The primary disadvantages found in the juvenile justice system are both interconnected and based largely on what it fails to do as opposed to what it does. Although it was designed to meet the unique needs of children involved in criminal activity as a means of curtailing recidivism, it has not consistently been able to meet the very standards it has set for itself. Worse yet, in failing to do so, the juvenile justice system has acted to complicate the problem even more. Issues of escalating criminal behavior in adulthood, failure to address mental health needs, and racial bias have, some would argue, made matters worse.
Nunn argued that over time, the criminal justice system has devolved to become increasingly punitive (see also Bishop, 2000). As juvenile court dockets, not unlike its adult counterparts, become backlogged and delayed, efforts to identify and treat systemic problems which may have attributed to a child’s involvement in criminal activity have disappeared. According to Nunn (2002, p. 689) “punitive sanctions, less focus on rehabilitation, and consequently greater numbers of delinquent youth [are] being detained” which has created higher recidivism especially in cases that would have been less likely to lead to recidivism. This has caused a knee-jerk response in which legislatures across the country instituted even more severe punitive responses as youth crime rates went up (Bishop). As this downward spiral forms, one response feeds the intensity of the other. Eventually, in direct opposition to the spirit of the juvenile justice system in its inception, Kurlychek and Johnson (2004) found that juveniles actually received harsher sentencing on average than young adult counterparts found guilty of the same or similar crimes.
A second problem and disturbing trend in the juvenile justice system has been increasing concern about racial and social bias. Gatti, Tremblay and Vitaro (2009) argued that socially disadvantaged children are more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system than their less socially disadvantaged counterparts. Their findings revealed that “the Juvenile Justice System targets those youths who are weakest from a personal and social point of viewContact with the justice system therefore seems to be marked by selectivity and discrimination, in that, for the same degree of self-reported crime, the system targets those youths who are poorest, most disinhibited (i.e., impulsive-hyperactive) and least supervised by their parents.” (Gatti, Tremblay, & Vitaro, p. 996). As a result, those children in the greatest need for social support, mental health services and family support are the children who are the most likely to have contact with a system that is currently showing a tendency to take actions which are more likely to lead to those children to adult criminal behavior (Bishop, 2000).
The intention of the juvenile justice system was to account for the immaturity, inexperience and lack of impulse control known to be the hallmarks of child and adolescent decision-making. In taking those things into consideration, children who committed crimes were to be considered differently from their adult counter-parts. Interventions which supported the child and the family, social support and appropriate medical and mental health services were supposed to be made available based on every child’s particular need. The weakest and most vulnerable of those among us, children living in desperation and fear, were to be identified and helped. Instead, the juvenile justice system got off track somewhere along the way and began to create a system that is now engulfing itself. Children present in the system which lacks the resources and referrals to properly identify and address underlying issues. With limited options, responses become punitive, racial and social bias becomes a factor, and children become criminals. As punitive responses become harsher, children react more intensely feeling the unjust nature of their sentencing and fighting the frustration of a life beyond their control. Recidivism goes up as does the risk of adult criminal behavior. Left unchecked, the juvenile justice system as it stands right now is the demi-god creating its own youth crime crisis. And not only does it serve no purpose to utilize it, but evidently is making the situation worse.
References
Bishop, D. (2000). Juvenile offenders in the adult criminal justice system. Crime and Justice, 27, pp. 81-167.
Gatti, U., Tremblay, R., & Vitaro, F. (2009). Iatrogenic effect of juvenile justice. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50 (8), pp. 991-998.
Kurlycheck, M. & Johnson, B. (2004). The juvenile penalty: A comparison of juvenile and young adult sentencing outcomes in criminal court. Criminology, 42 (2), pp. 485-517.
Nunn, K. (2002). The child as other: Race and differential treatment in the juvenile justice system. University of Florida Levin College of Law: Faculty Publications.
