Juvenile Detainees

Juvenile Detainees

Introduction

The juvenile system of justice has been a significant part of justice and corrective department in the United States. The United States' juvenile justice department is more than 100 years ago. The key objective behind such form of punishment was to deflect the youth delinquents away from harsh, inhuman punishment and gave them a second chance by encouraging rehabilitation based on the individual juvenile's needs. The primary objective of the juvenile system is to act in the best possible interest of the child, and perhaps this is the sole reason why such proceedings are normally closed to the general public, while the juvenile records being kept as strictly confidential. Moreover, here the youth in question are not charged with crimes but instead with delinquencies. Similarly, instead of being coined as “guilty”, these juveniles are adjudicated delinquent and are sent to an appropriate training or correctional/reformatory facility. (Lipsey, M., Howell, J., Kelly, M. 2007)

Discussion

The Juvenile Detainees In order to understand, the negative influence, that the juvenile system has on its detainees, it is important to understand these detainees themselves. To criminologists, the juvenile delinquents comprise of all public wrongdoings committed by young people between the ages of twelve and twenty. However, when discussed broadly it encompasses a myriad number of various different violations of legal and/or social norms, ranging from minor to serious offenses committed by juveniles. According to statistics, majority of the youngsters who end up becoming delinquent come from somewhat the same set of circumstances. These include, abusive conditions at home, death or conflict amongst parents, peer influences, racism, early exposure to alcoholism, drugs and the growing HIV/AIDS blight. However, regardless of all these various efforts made by government and the justice department to protect the future of these young delinquents, there are still some flaws that remain common amongst the juvenile justice department. Nonetheless, the predicament of juvenile delinquency is becoming more and more complicated whereas as the same time the crime prevention programs are either unequipped to deal with this prevailing unfortunate situation or they do not exist at all. (World Youth Report, 2003)

Child Development, Punishment and Deterrence The juvenile justice department exists for the sole purpose of protecting and safeguarding the youth offenders while at the same time trying to instill amongst them a positive, well rounded social development with the clear objective that once they step out of such correctional facilities they can harness all their efforts towards becoming a model citizen of the society. The infancy and youth are the most critical stages of development where their true personality, traits, habits and behavior are molded. (Wasserman, Gail A., Keenan, Kate., Tremblay, Richard., & Petechuk, David., 2003) Unfortunately, many a times, inappropriate juvenile court authorizations resulting from ignorance on the part of the decision-makers can do more harm than good on the overall psychological, social and neurological development of a child. Similarly, adolescence is yet another intense phase of child development which culminates in his/her identity formation. These phases of developmental are ardently sensitive to environmental influence such as peers, education, family, and society. Rapid neurobiological associations accompany these changes and are ...