Juvenile delinquency has posed major issues within communities everywhere. Many people are affected by the actions of delinquents throughout their daily lives, but usually cannot be seen clearly by the naked eye. Not only is the delinquent negatively affected by the crimes committed by oneself, but also the victim of the delinquent, the victims family, the delinquents family, the neighborhood, and the society. The delinquent who has committed the crime will be emotionally and psychologically affected because of the crime one just committed and arrested for. Once the delinquent is arrested, he or she will be placed in a correctional facility, such as Juvenile Hall, where one will be faced with more troubles and issues by inmate delinquents, which will result in more criminality to come by the delinquent just arrested. Remember the delinquent is still considered a child, and at this age one is very vulnerable and more prone to psychological, emotional, and mental issues. The delinquent’s family will also encounter many financial and emotional burdens because the delinquent most likely will not have a job, meaning no income, which means the guardians of the delinquent must pay for the fines and fees for the crimes committed, the lawyer’s hired, and the counseled sessions. The family might feel that they have failed in raising a proper child, which will also put a huge burden on the guardians, who will soon start to blame themselves for the delinquent’s wrongful upbringing.
The victim and the family will be emotionally and psychologically affected by the crime as well, and maybe even physically affected depending on what crime was committed. If the victim was raped by the juvenile delinquent, then not only will the victim be physically hurt, which will cost money to hospitalize the victim, but more importantly he or she will be emotionally scarred for life. There is no type of counseling or large sum of money that will erase the nasty memory of that crime from the victim’s memory. The victim will be forever reminded by the incident, and will never be able to let his or her guard down wherever one goes. Consequently, the family’s victim might want retribution against the delinquent, and take matters into their own hands by committing a crime against the delinquent or the delinquent’s family, which will only make matters worse. It is just one huge cycle that continues as life goes on, which ultimately affects the community as a whole.
Whether it is a drug, theft, burglary, robbery, arson, or even murder issues within the neighborhood, society will definitely be negatively impacted by juvenile delinquents. The community will feel unsafe to conduct normal everyday activities. Neighbors will not want to take their children to the parks in fear of delinquents smoking dope in front of them, or being a victim of a drive-by shooting in a drug-deal gone wrong. Neighbors within the community will not want to go to the store at night, and maybe even during the day in fear of being robbed or sexually assaulted on the way to the store or on their way back home. Parents will feel unsafe sending their child to school because some of these delinquents who have not been caught for their criminal acts might be attending the same classes and carrying firearms or other sorts of weapons, which will majorly affect the way the child positively learns in school. Parents will not let their child play outside and enjoy the environment in fear that their child will be hanging out with the wrong group of children, and might be enticed to join a gang. It would be as if the whole community had to be on lockdown, and not be able to leave their homes in fear of being a victim of crime by delinquent criminals, which is not a normal and practical way to live life.
It is very significant that one must stop juvenile delinquency as soon as it occurs because t if the criminal behavior is continued, there is a major chance the delinquent will not stop. If not stopped immediately, the delinquent will start believing that these negative actions and crimes are alright to commit. Delinquents will soon believe there is no other way to live life besides the life of crime, and will continue on committing burglaries, robberies, drug-dealings, thefts, gang-banging, and other ways to get themselves in serious trouble. The delinquents will continue on committing crimes until he or she is an adult, and if not caught for the criminal acts, there is a high chance the delinquent’s children, family, or acquaintances will learn these same behaviors and act similarly because their guardians do it, resulting in more criminals. If law enforcement agencies and the community do not stop this issue of juvenile delinquency as soon as possible, officers will be arresting these delinquents continuously and locking them up in prison when these juveniles turn into adults. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, California’s correction system is already facing an issue of overcrowding in prisons with 174,282 inmates and a cost of $11,399,786 per day, and will only continue to increase. Our hard earned tax dollars are paying to house these criminals, who all started their criminality as juveniles. The issue of overcrowding would not be such a problem if we would have stopped and changed the ways of juveniles at an early age. If we want to put our tax dollars to something more useful and productive, we must make a change immediately. The safety and security of our families, friends, and future children will be in great danger by these delinquents if not stopped and corrected instantly.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prison Stats for California. July 2008. 3 Feb 2010.
http://www.jailovercrowding.com
Fellner, Jamie. “Sexually Abused: The Nightmare of Juveniles in Confinement.”
The Huffington Post. Feb 2010. 5 Feb 2010.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-fellner/sexually-abused-the-night..
U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. July 2008. 3 Feb 2010.
http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/programs/ProgSummary.asp.
No comments:
Post a Comment