Prevention and Rehabilitation for Juveniles

As we all know by now, juvenile delinquency as posed major issues within our societies, which makes us ask the question when will this negative actions from juveniles be stopped, and how can actions like these be prevented? According to Michael D. Resnick, who is a sociologist at the University of Minnesota, suggested “the well being of adolescents still rests in that strong feeling of being cared for parents.” It was found that the more that the child felt cared and loved for, the more comfortable the child felt in school, which resulted in less teenagers engaging in problematic behaviors, such as drug abuse and violence. Children need to be nurtured at a young age and not abused by their parents because the behavior the child experienced against them is the same behavior they will put out towards other people. If the child is being abused at a young age, it is high chance he or she will be abusing others, however, if the child is loved and cared for, the child will portray the same loving and caring behavior towards others. Parenting programs which teach parents the right parenting skills and behaviors in order to raise a child who does not become delinquent is also very effective. If the parents are not teaching the child the proper skills, lessons, and behaviors a child must learn in order to be pro-social, then the child will become delinquent because it will be hard for the child to know what is right and what is wrong because of what the parents has or has not taught them. The parenting program is an effective tool in order to prevent juveniles in becoming delinquent because the parents know how to parent the child at an earlier age. The RAND Corporation indicated that “ early intention programs can prevent as many as 250 crimes per $1 million spent while the same amount spent in prisons would prevent only 60 such crimes a year.” So instead of waiting for the juvenile to commit crime and punishing them for it, why don’t we try and prevent it from even happening and save more lives and more money?

If a juvenile has already been caught with the crime that could have not been prevented, then there are programs of rehabilitation that can be offered. The rehabilitation programs, which prove to be the most effective and not incarceration, focuses primarily on the juveniles critical-thinking and cognitive –thinking skills. Critical-thinking and cognitive-thinking skills deal with the ability to make decisions. By counselors and rehabilitators honing and strengthening juvenile’s skills, the juveniles will start realizing what is the correct way to approach a situation and how to deal with it in a civil manner. The rehabilitation programs will also be hands-on, meaning the counselors will role play with the juvenile in dealing with certain situations which would usually get the juvenile in trouble, such as a confrontation with another juvenile. Once the juvenile is finally rehabilitated and able to be sent back into the community and attend school, the juvenile must be provided with positive programs, such as after-school activities, sports programs, and the Boys and Girls Club. According to Barbara Flicker, who provides counsel for accuses juveniles, suggests that these programs “provide a safe haven for children to go where they can build self-esteem, pro-social values and productive futures.” By attending programs after being set back within the community once again after committing a crime will ensure the juvenile stay out of trouble by staying in the presence of positive influences.

Adebeyo, A. "Rehabilitation and Control of Juvenile Delinquency Offenders." Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Jan 2010. Found 18 April 2010. www.yale.edu/ynthi/curriculum.

McMillen, J. "Juvenile Delinquency: An Insider's View of Teen Rehabilitation. Lifestyle. 24 April 2007. Found 18 April 2010. www.associatedcontent.com/article/215051/juvenile_delinquency_an_insiders_view.

Ristow, G. "Juvenile Delinquency: Rehabilitation." BioInfo Bank Library. Nov 2009. Found 18 April 2010. www.lib.bioinfo.pl/meid:82906.

Substances Abused By Juveniles

Juvenile delinquents are more than likely to have experimented with alcohol and substances during their lifetime or to be under the influence of alcohol or some type of substance when committing a crime. According to a new report released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, four of every five children and teen arrestees in state juvenile justice systems are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while committing their crimes, test positive for drugs, are arrested for committing an alcohol or drug offense, admit having substance abuse and addiction problems, or share some combination of these characteristics. Drugs and alcohol abuse is a major factor which influences teenagers in committing crimes. In the most comprehensive study Criminal Neglect: Substance Abuse, Juvenile Justice and The Children Left Behind, which deals with juveniles within the juvenile systems in correlation with substance abuse reports that 1.9 million of 2.4 million juvenile arrests had substance abuse and addiction involvement and that only 68,600 juveniles receive substance abuse treatment. These statistics are astonishing, and should make all citizens wonder why teenagers are abusing so many substances at such a young age. Sadly enough, the juvenile justice system’s rehabilitation and treatment for these teenagers are not effective enough. Instead of tending to their needs by properly rehabilitating these teenagers by providing them with counseling or cognitive therapy in order to overcome substance abuse, the juvenile system simply punishes them by locking them up for a certain amount of time, which is not rehabilitating their substance issue.
When being arrested for a committed crime, juveniles are tested and found positive for many types of substances such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, non-prescribed prescription drugs, and even heroin. At least 92% of arrested juveniles have been tested positive for marijuana, which is the most abused illegal substance among all teenagers, besides the use of alcohol. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), there are 7.2% of juveniles who used cocaine, 2.3% of juveniles who used heroin, 4.4% who used meth, and 5.8% who used ecstasy. However, substances such as heroin and meth were not in juveniles systems upon arrests, but substances such as marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol was in their systems upon arrest. Although these juveniles were not under the influence of some of these substances, one can suggest that these drugs have had a negative impact on their cognitive thinking or their behavioral skills, and have caused a mental illnesses to some of these teenagers. According to CASA, up to of incarcerated 10 to 17 years-old have a diagnosable mental health disorder, which can be from the heavily abuse of substances at such an earlier age. As a community we must find ways in order to eliminate this issue of substance abuse among juveniles, and also find a cure which can be an effective rehabilitation in order to the further use of abusing substances by juveniles.

Burns, Keri. "Juvenile Issues." Juvenile Substance Abuse Issues. 10 April 2010. Feb 2006. www.karisable.com.

Thomas, Buddy. "Most Juvenile Offenders Use Drugs, Alcohol." About.com. 10 April 2010. Jul 2010. www.alcoholism.about.com/od/teens/a/blcasa041007.htm

Male and Female Delinquents

Male and Female Juvenile Delinquency
Males are far more likely to be a juvenile offender rather than females. According to the 1996 Sourcebook, every one out of four juvenile arrests are female, while every four out of five juvenile arrests are male. Ever since the beginning of human kind, it was proven that males do commit more crimes. According to Criminal Statistics in 2001, males rather than females were more likely to commit crimes such as theft, drug offenses, violence against a person, burglary, criminal damage, robbery and sexual offenses. The one crime that males and females had in common was theft and handling of stolen goods. According to the Violent Crime Index, the male offender is more likely to be convicted of violent crimes such as murder, sexual assault and forcible rape, however, the female is more likely to be convicted for property crimes such as burglary, larceny theft, and motor vehicle theft.
Males and females are similar, but yet different with factors which change them from being innocent to a delinquent. Similarly, males and females can become delinquent with specific factors such as poverty and growing up in a neighborhood with high crimes, most likely to belong in an ethnic group like Hispanic or African-American, a history of poor educational performance or a high school dropout, and abused drugs and alcohol (October, 1998). However, other factors which can lead to females being delinquent are the physical changes of puberty coincide with enormous emotional and psychological changes, according to Brooks Gunn & Reiter in 1990. During female teenage years, females become more separated from their families by finding their own identity, exploring their sexuality, and transforming into adulthood, which is a very difficult transformation considering the negative images from the media on how a female should look like, such as skinny, big breasts, small waist, blonde hair, etc. These false images from the media makes it very difficult for a female to gain a high self-esteem because a majority of females cannot achieve this Hollywood image, which depresses them and gives them a low self-esteem, thus resulting in criminal behavior. On the other hand, males have a far less difficult time than females when dealing with puberty during their adolescent years because males do not undergo such an enormous emotional and psychological change. The major factor for males becoming delinquent is not the outside factors that trigger emotional and psychological changes during adolescence such as low self-esteem; it is the need for a positive male role model to develop a healthy identity as a male (Davis, 1997). Males do not dwell so much upon their self-image and less likely to be engulfed in a low self-esteem due to their image, thus making them less-susceptible to some crimes.
Correspondingly, males and females are virtually the same with the needs that must be satisfied in order to eliminate juvenile delinquency. Both male and female need physical safety and healthy physical development; need trust, respect, love, validation from caring adults; need for positive role models; and need of belongingness and worthiness (Acoca, 1995). With these specific needs enforced and implemented on juveniles, both male and female should not turn to a life of delinquency.

Miller, Taylor. "Female Juvenile Delinquents." Guiding Principles for Promising Female Programs. 2 April 2010. Oct 1998.

Whales, John. "Crime: Gender Archive." Office for National Statistics. 2 April 2010. 8 Jan 2004.