For this specific poster, I want to focus more on the causes of juvenile imprisonment in Australia. The poster has centred on a little boy holding a gun and seem to point it to someone or something. The purpose of the poster is to draw attention on how children and minors are constantly exposed to violence. The media have also influenced in glamorizing violence like guns and fighting so in turn children whose morality is still developing may lose grip on different consideration on what not to apply on real life. The poster is a call for adults to act and do something regarding the percentage of juvenile offenders.
The decrease of juvenile offenders present in detention centres has decreased in recent years can be attributed to different and efficient diversionary measures (Richards, 2011). These are done in order to prevent the contact of minors to the justice system. They would undergo a different program unlike juvenile detention centres. With this diversion method, minors would be spare from being detained as part of the justice system. In detention centres, even if there are no adult offenders mixed-in, the culture of rapid mistrust to the society and the formation of groups for safety reason is still prevalent (Halsey, 2007). Once these minors are subjected to the justice system they may develop feelings against the justice system and the authorities. The juvenile program is supposed to redirect punishment to a corrective measure that is formative and positive for the minors. However, psychological factors experienced by these minors could be counter-productive to the main goal of the program. The curriculum for restoring the morality for the juvenile offenders may lose its main purpose. Also, confinement itself is also a form of adult incarceration. Having juvenile detention centres is also the same as detaining them in a regular prison. The only difference would be that minors are sharing the space with minors only. Though, a teenager may reach his adulthood while inside the juvenile detention centre until he has completed his program.
It is not too late to save minors from committing crimes or to help them get back to the society after under-going juvenile programs. However, prevention is more important in order to minimize the percentage of juvenile offenders. As the poster implies, minors’ exposure to violence is one of the reasons on why minors commit crimes. Media-violence exposure contributes to aggression on minors. Violent media are easily accessible on our home through television and the internet, sometimes children are exposed to violence during their playtime with video games. It, therefore, invites active participation from the viewer which are mostly minors (Anderson et al., 2003). Adults need to play an active role in addressing one of the cause of juvenile imprisonment. It is essential that parents and guardians must be aware of the perpetuation of violent media in minor’s consciousness. It is with adult’s supervision that this topic are discussed thoroughly and made sure that minors have understood the effects of such deviant action in the society and they repercussion it entails.
The real problem has also arisen after finishing the juvenile program and reintegrating the youth into the society. Since these minors may have mistrust towards the society, it is important to reinstate their trust and belief to authorities and government (Dawes, 2008). Minors have been always the victim of the justice system, whether they are the offender or the victim. Youth has a sensitive mind and the reason behind their offense may be attributed to unsupervised exposure to media. In any case, the effect of juvenile imprisonment could deter the social development and morality recognition of the youth offenders.
Bibliography
Anderson, C., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L., Johnson, J., Linz, D., Malamuth, N. and Wartella, E., 2003. The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological science in the public interest, 4(3), pp.81--110.
Dawes, G., 2008. The Challenges of Reintegrating Young Offenders Back to their Communities: The Caseworkers Perspective. The Australian Sociological Association. p.13.
Halsey, M., 2007. On confinement: Resident and inmate perspectives of secure care and imprisonment. Probation Journal, 54(4), pp.338--367.
Richards, K., 2011. Trends in juvenile detention in Australia. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (416), p.3.
nextnewsnetwork.com, (2014). boy holding a gun. [image] Available at: http://nextnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ralphiewithgun_image.jpg [Accessed 28 May. 2014].
