Introduction
Juvenile correctional approaches in the United States centers around the best interest of the child. Young children below the age of 18 fall into the juvenile category. The system offers to purge any criminal record after a stipulated period of time and at the completion of certain terms. The juvenile records remain sealed from public record during this time and are rarely unsealed in spite of exceptional circumstances. Juvenile offenders are first part of a meeting between the State prosecutors to discuss the options of community service for nonviolent crimes. Only in the event of not reaching a conclusive agreement will the case go before a judge. Even during such a scenario, the trial will be closed doors and the sentence lenient.
In the early days at the start of juvenile correctional systems in the nation, recidivism was unheard of among young offenders who rarely got involved in violent criminal behavior. The majority of complaints were school-related. However, the patterns are changing rapidly. Since the late 1970s crack cocaine drug wars, more children are involving themselves in dangerous situations. The end of the crack cocaine war in the mid-1980s led to hundreds of children to jail as adults due to gun related offences. It is quite shocking to note that teenagers feature in all types of violent crimes including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, armed robbery, gang violence, and mass murders. Despite spending their initial years in youth detention centers or serving community centric sentences, recidivism is on the rise among young offenders (Department of Justice, “Measuring, and using juvenile recidivism data to inform policy, practice, and resource allocation”).
Recidivism among juveniles
There are varieties of problems that lead to recidivism in the youth of today. The primary issue is the irrelevance of the juvenile correctional system in terms of dealing with substance abuse and violent criminal behavior. The correctional facility budgets face cuts on a regular basis due to various constraints in recent years. The economy has not been conducive for expansion projects either. As a result, youth detention centers are both overcrowded and lack rehabilitation programs. The earlier generations who parent the youth are unsurprisingly familiar with the drill also (Marczyka, Heilbrunb, Landerb, Tammy and DeMatteo, “Predicting Juvenile Recidivism with the PCL:YV, MAYSI, and YLS/CMI”).
The social learning theory applies to many of the cases where the juveniles encounter criminal activity in their own homes. The rise in dysfunctional families also contributes significantly to the rise in recidivism. A single parent is often unable to balance life between work and the child. The chance for association with gangs is on the rise especially among children raised by single mothers. Their association with drugs begins at school. Peer pressure often plays a major role in substance abuse. The present system is outdated and is unable to cope up with the emerging trends in juvenile crimes.
Alternative correctional approaches to reduce recidivism
The US Department of Justice is presently working on new programs that will relate to the problems faced by juveniles in their neighborhoods. These programs conducted with the cooperation of the community and the local police department is fetching the desired results. The children in these neighborhoods resist the temptation of substance use and they have adequate training to counter peer pressure with positive self-esteem. In juvenile correctional facilities, there are in-house counsellors to deal with specific problems. The juvenile detainees share housing along the lines of their problem in specific centers allowing the staff to engage in constructive rehabilitation for the entire population (Carney, "Reducing Juvenile Recidivism: Evaluating the Wraparound Services Model").
Study centers within youth detention centers are revamping to accommodate vocational courses along with the regular schooling. There are plans in several centers to encourage sporting activities to divert all the negative vibe into positive energy. Moreover, arrangements are in progress for juvenile detainees to attend college including specialized courses such as medicine. Rehabilitation programs for substance abuse such as the twelve steps are also available to inmates in the juvenile correctional system.
Community sentencing
Sentences of community service are a primary source of punishment for juvenile delinquents. The sentencing experienced remarkable success in the early 1980s and the late 1990s. However, the success rate is declining rapidly since there are additional threats for rehabilitation in the community itself. The code of involvement in gangs does not end even when the juvenile stays at a detention center. The constant presence of neighboring gangs also makes it dangerous for a juvenile with gang affiliation. The cost of relocation to a safer neighborhood might not prove economical in the already stretched budgets (NIJ, “Neighborhood Enrichment with Vision Involving Services, Treatment, and Supervision (NEW VISTAS)”).
Hence, in-house sentencing for at-risk children is advisable at this present time. ProjectBuild is a new program for helping juveniles involved in violent behavior to use positive psychology. Connecting with families and reestablishing family relationships is very important on the road to rehabilitation. Unlike adults, juveniles require a lot of assurance and reassurance from parents or their legal guardians to help with the healing process (Grunwald, Heidi, Lockwood, and Mennis, “Influences of Neighborhood Context, Individual History, and Parenting Behavior on Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders”). The Department of Corrections is now using special occasions and festivals to allow family participation. They intend to create a positive relationship that will eventually nurture into a partnership with the detainee after parole.
Religious affiliations generally receive encouragement in any correctional facility since all religions inhibit a moral sense of what is right and wrong. This can build a platform for any rehabilitation efforts undertaken by the correctional facility staff along with the family. In addition, anklets are in use for nonviolent and first-time violent offenders to pursue their sentence within the community. There is constant monitoring of each subject in an effort to restrain the subject from making contact with past associates or from wandering into rival gang territories.
Conclusion
The constraints in budgets and constant recessions threaten to destabilize the juvenile correctional system. Despite the challenges, the Department of Justice and the Department of Corrections have come up with newer approaches to bring about a positive turnaround. The statistics for substance is on the decline for the last three years due to school based interventions such as the Keepin’ it REAL initiative. Moreover, community policing for the juvenile population encourages children and teenagers to be forthcoming with their problems. Threats to the stability of the neighborhood eliminated due to the joint cooperation. Today, there are several hundred small cities and towns that follow the community policing programs (Department of Corrections, “Core Principles for Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System”).
Works Cited
Carney, Michelle M. "Reducing Juvenile Recidivism: Evaluating the Wraparound Services Model" Research on Social Work Practice 13.5 (2003): 551-568.
Grunwald, Heidi E., Lockwood, Brian, Harris, Philip W. and Mennis, Jeremy. “Influences of Neighborhood Context, Individual History, and Parenting Behavior on Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders”. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 39.9 (2010): 1067-1079.
Marczyka, Geoffrey R., Heilbrunb, Kirk, Landerb, Tammy & DeMatteo, David. “Predicting Juvenile Recidivism with the PCL:YV, MAYSI, and YLS/CMI”. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 2.1 (2003): 7-18.
NIJ Staff. ‘Neighborhood Enrichment with Vision Involving Services, Treatment, and Supervision (NEW VISTAS)’. N.p., 2015. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
