Policy Analysis Report
Youth with mental illness disorders should not be kept in the same rehabilitation centers with juvenile delinquent youth.
Recommendation
Separate rehabilitation centers should be constructed to take care of youth with mental illness disorders and separate them from juvenile delinquent youth currently in rehabilitation centers.
Introduction
The number of youth who are suffering from mental illness disorder and reside in juvenile correctional centers is rising and this has become an issue of concern. Youth who become disruptive because of mental instability that is brought about by either anxiety or change in moods end up being treated as juvenile delinquents rather than patients. In the rehabilitation centers where they are kept in order to remove any threat from the community, they end up not getting required and proper treatment. However, the community is concerned about developing rehabilitation centers that will offer proper care to succumbing youths in detention centers.
Data Statistic
In 2006, a research study conducted by the National Mental Health Association indicated that the prevalence of disruptive behavior that was occurring among the youth and was disruptive in nature was between 30% and 50%.
Issue of importance
The population affected is both the youth and the entire community because mental illness disorders are a common phenomenon brought by different psychological and biological factors. The major challenge is that youth with mental illness disorders do not get proper treatment and end up following a path of acts of delinquency where they eventually engage in adult crime. This issue is translated into a political topic because the community is concerned about the development of its youth who suffer from mental illness disorders.
Addressing Challenges at the Municipal, State or Federal Level/Level of government
The senator of Cook County has a critical role in offering the needed assistance to the community towards the establishment of the rehabilitation center. Societal issues attract the attention of the political class because such responsibilities fall directly under their mandate. The senator has various options, which include lobbying for funds from the federal government to construct the rehabilitation center, utilizing the county coffers, holding contributions with local community members. This challenge can be eliminated by mobilizing community resources and engaging the members in order to sustain the rehabilitation centers.
Public policy frameworks
Social emancipation and construction of separate rehabilitation centers provides the best framework to handle the young population that suffers from mental illness disorders instead of locking them up in juvenile delinquency rehabilitation centers.
Theory of public policy
The Social Construction Theory
The social construction theory, which states that society exists in different structures that all combine to define and make up a society best explain the policy framework. According to the social construction theory, the structures that make up the society needs to be enhanced. Therefore, in dealing with youth suffering from mental disorders, it is important to set up and construct different structures that care for this population on independent means.
Political strategy
The challenge presented involves the aspect of combining youth who have mental disorders with those that are delinquent in juvenile centers. Ideally, this should not be the case because the youth with mental disorders do not get the right proper of treatment, which makes the whole rehabilitation process inappropriate. The best way to deal with the challenge is to martial and mobilize financial and capital resources towards the construction of a different system of rehabilitation. This will take care of youth with purely mental disorders. In order for the policy to be successful, it is important to carry out a needs assessment and develop appropriate policies that relate directly with what helps youth with mental illness disorders.
Risk associated with the strategy
The strategy suffers the risk of missing allocation of funds in subsequent periods of operation in the years to come. Rehabilitation centers normally run on funding programs, either by the government or non-governmental organizations. Therefore, if the funding stops, the centers might have to close down. However, as a mitigation strategy, parallel programs will run, which involve financial interventions to help the centers sustain themselves financially. Additionally, community members and those working in the centers will be capacitated on the various ways of mobilizing and utilizing the available resources.
References
Flores, R. (2015). Prevalence and Development of Child Delinquency. U.S Department of Justice: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1-8.
World Youth Report. (2013). Juvenile Deliquency . New York : The National Academic Press.
