Few Successes & Many Failures in the American System of Juvenile Corrections   Term Paper ID:27834 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines the tension between the twin missions of punishment & rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines the tension between the twin missions of punishment & rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system. Paper Introduction: The American system of juvenile corrections has numerous failures and few successes, and it is a system in crisis as the inner cities produce more and more street gangs, violence, and troubled youth. There are many reasons for the increase in these problems, and the programs developed to cope with them have not kept pace with the rate of change and have not served well to control juveniles or to address their problems. Yet, new programs are suggested all the time, showing that there is a realization of the need and an attempt to come to terms with it. There has long been a tension in the system between the twin missions of punishment and rehabilitation, just as there is in the adult criminal justice system. With juveniles, however, there is the added belief that the offenders are less responsible Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. McGaha and Fournier (1987) administered a familyadaptability and cohesion scale to 4 juveniles referred to juvenile courtintake and also to 5 of their parents. A particular problem develops,however, with reference to very young offenders, those under 13 in mostjurisdictions, juveniles considered too young to be incarcerated, thoughthey as well are involved in more and more "adult" crimes. Breed v. Petersen (1988) offers evidence for the rationale that young offendersare different and have not yet learned the full nature of their crimes, areason why they are treated differently than adult offenders. Children's understanding of the juvenile justice system: A cognitive-developmental perspective." Canadian Journal of Criminology, pp. 31-34). However, as juvenile crimehas increased in incidence and severity, the public has become less patientand has demanded punishment over rehabilitation, seeing this as a way toprotect itself against the depredations of young offenders. Juveniles weretreated no differently than adult offenders, and reformers were not happywith the way adult offenders were treated, either. Individual Psychology Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research and Practice, pp. (1992, February). Mahoney (1987) states that lawyers and advocates for children's rightsbegan to look more closely at the juvenile court and to identify cases thatwere a cause for concern. Probation forthese early offenders takes on a particular coloration and a particular setof difficulties. The program was designed as an alternative toinstitutionalization to address the needs of juvenile offenders and toreduce budget constraints. 26) Shireman and Reamer (1986) discuss how the implementation of thephilosophical system of the law was embodied in the criminal justice systemas it developed into an elaborately complex and highly sophisticated fact-finding apparatus which in principle ensures an adversary process whilealso providing a series of procedures intended to ensure a fair contestbefore an impartial tribunal. (1985). The rehabilitative ideal became thecornerstone of the system across the nation. The court was developed on the legal model of Britishinstitutions, first the Court of Chancery under which the king acted asparens patriae (or the father of his country) to exercise guardianship overwards of the state, and the presumption in the English common law thatchildren are more innocent than adults. 381-395). This was an important constitutional protection because earlier caseshad held that the double jeopardy clause did not apply to juveniles whocould subsequently be convicted in criminal court or who could be subjectto successive juvenile proceedings arising out of the same conduct. 81- 1 .Schwartz, I. 31). The success of these programs varies, but all are basedon some form of the rehabilitative model and on the view that the court isacting as a parent while protecting the legal rights of young offenders.The system is imperfect and involves discretion at various levels that canreduce equity, but the approach is also consistent with its goals. Of 233 juveniles not taken to juvenilecourt on their first referral to juvenile justice, 43 percent wereimprisoned in adult life after the age of 18. The system was designed to discover these circumstances andintervene in the child's life so that he or she would no longer need orwish to continue in their unwanted behavior. A total of 87 JPOs completed a survey and recommended3 dispositions for the case of a juvenile delinquent. Resultsindicate that although all subjects possessed a basic knowledge of whatconstitutes a crime, they showed a progressively more sophisticatedunderstanding with age in a number of areas related to criminal behavior.Their overall knowledge of the YOA was poor. Some legal scholars and childadvocates thought that there were abuses that took place within thisinformal and benevolent system. 296-3 2.Heard, C. 81-1 ) investigated the effects ofjuvenile probation officer (JPO) characteristics on the disposition ofjuvenile delinquents. The juvenile justice system attempts to divert early offenders inorder to avoid linking them too closely with the juvenile justice system atan age when that could influence future behavior adversely, usingprobation, community programs, and home-based programs of various sorts inlieu of detention. 51-56.Mahoney, A. Data indicate that the "JPO factor" can producetreatment differences sufficient to undermine the rehabilitative ideal andconfound studies of judicial bias. There were more supporters than critics,however, until abuses in the system were brought to the attention of theU.S. P., Jenkins, R. These arethe values that have influenced the movement since the turn of the century,and they are still held in mind by most planners and practitioners (pp. The programhas had some success but is somewhat new to be fully evaluated (pp. 155-172.McGarrell, E. Total diversion wasseen as untenable because it would also eliminate the opportunity toprovide needed assistance and services to troubled youth. (1986). Chronic conditionsin high-risk families included high levels of family stress and conflict,low levels of family cohesion and adaptability, single-parent families, andlow socioeconomic status. The human costs of 'giving the kid another chance.' International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, pp. Those who includedmore tended to identify psychological problems and dysfunctional dynamicswithin the family as causing delinquency. Juvenile correctional reform. The number andtype of contacts with the juvenile justice system were also determined andincluded. W. Boston: Northeastern University Press.McGaha, J. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science pp. The American system of juvenile corrections has numerous failures andfew successes, and it is a system in crisis as the inner cities producemore and more street gangs, violence, and troubled youth. 8 -87.Peterson, M. There are 4 4 detention centers and 19 training schools in the United States, costing taxpayers more than $1billion annually to operate. Early referral to thejuvenile court of juveniles who commit delinquent acts appears to greatlyreduce the likelihood that these individuals will go on to prison in adultlife. J. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. The procedures have become more and morecomplex over time. 145-147). 189-198), One of the key problems is knowing which young people can be helpedthrough diversion programs of any sort and which cannot, or which would behelped by a given program while some other alternative would better serveanother set of offenders. The juvenile justice system developed with a whole newset of beliefs and values that were grafted onto the existing criminaljustice system to form a new system committed to the idea that juvenileviolation of the law was the natural result of antecedent causes and thatthese causes were often to be found in the family, community, and broaderenvironment. The program demonstrates cooperation among the partsof the juvenile justice system. In a series of decisions, the Court found thatjuveniles were entitled to a broad range of procedural protections thejuvenile court system had denied them for seventy years (Schwartz, 1989,pp. The system developed during the Progressive era created a whole newprocess for the juvenile offender and involved specially selected andtrained officers, a juvenile detention home for pretrial detention, and asystem dedicated to representing the interests of the child on behalf of abenevolent society. 26). (1988, October). Of 243 juveniles adjudicated delinquent in juvenilecourt on their first referral to juvenile justice, 2 percent went on toadult prison after the age of 18. Thecreation of a special court for juveniles was one approach. (1989). The court wasdeveloped in response to the work of individuals and organizationsdedicated to many social causes including prison reform, women's suffrage,the abolition of poverty, and child welfare. A study reported by Brown, Miller, Jenkins, and Rhodes (1991, pp. Federal Probation, pp. 59)Close supervision through the probation system is a case managementapproach that begins with an evaluation of the juvenile assets andliabilities and a diagnosis of his problems so he can be classifiedaccording to risk to the community leading to appropriate decisions aboutthe nature of supervision. The program uses concepts consistent withindividual psychology, including mutual respect, the encouragement model,goal-directed behavior, goal alignment, and social interest. Yet, newprograms are suggested all the time, showing that there is a realization ofthe need and an attempt to come to terms with it. From 1878to 1898 Massachusetts enacted a statewide probation system. This was part of the Progressive Movement into the early twentiethcentury and came at a time of rapid industrialization and urbanization aswell as during the influx of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.These factors contributed to poverty, inadequate housing, disease, and theeconomic exploitation of children. It was recommendation that aprogram be developed to educate children on important aspects of the law(pp. (1988). I. The first juvenile court in the United States was founded in 1899 inCook County, Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago. Heard (199 , 51-56) examines how a juvenile probation department wentabout organizing and implementing a probation mentor home program foryouthful offenders. Subjects' demographic featureswere not associated with what they included in their reports. Formal diversionprograms thus allow officials to divert youth from the courts by directingthem to the needed services. 5 -51). It involved atrade-off, on the one hand denying children the due process and adversarialproceedings of adult court and on the other providing informal andconfidential hearings and dispositions intended to do what was consideredto be "in the best interests of the child." The creators of the court thought it would be more of a social welfareagency than a court, with the children being helped rather than punished.This philosophy would prevail for nearly seventy years, though there werethose who were critical of the approach. However, recent opinion hasshifted along with a perception that juvenile crime is rising in number ofincidents and in terms of the violence of the crimes (Shireman & Reamer,pp. H., & Reamer, F. Juvenile justice and the family: A systems approach to family assessment. Sociometric status and academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment: A five-year longitudinal study. E., & Fournier, D. The scientific approachwas then being applied more and more to social problems, and reformers cameto advocate nonpunitive measures and to place their emphasis onindividualized diagnosis and treatment based on the medical model. Probation was a new form of service that was beingimplemented so as to provide surveillance, counsel, and mobilization ofresources on behalf of the child. D., Borden, M. The creation of a number of formal programsfor diversion, however, only formalize and extend preexisting informalmechanisms and practices. Incarceratingjuveniles in large congregate care institutions has been found not to becost-effective in several studies in different states, and indeed therecidivism rate is quite high (Schwartz, 1989, pp. In general, children classified as rejected or controversialtended to fare more poorly on indices of long-term adjustment than didchildren classified as popular, neglected, or average, and those who hadcontact with the juvenile justice system tended to rate poorer on academicperformance, social, behavior, and psychological adjustment. These ideas were used before thecreation of the court as part of the child welfare movement in theestablishment of institutions for juveniles to keep them out of New Yorkand Boston adult jails. We also believe that there is danger that itwill achieve a powerful momentum, and while sweeping away many of thesuperficial excrescences and absurdities of the original revolution, mayresult in the loss of much of value" (p. TheCourt held that a child has the right to a lawyer and to a free lawyer ifnecessary and also that a written notice of the specifics of the offensemust be provided for children and parents, that children have the right tocross-examine witnesses against them, and that children should be protectedagainst self-incrimination. Jones (1975) involved theapplication of the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment tojuveniles through the fourteenth Amendment: "This decision prevented ajuvenile from being adjudicated in the juvenile court and then transferredto an adult court where a harsher sentence could be imposed" (Mahoney, p.26). (1991, Winter). (1966), the Court "asserted that in proceduresconcerning transfer from juvenile court to criminal court, due processfairness must attach" (Mahoney, p. Rehabilitating juvenile justice. Thereason why this had been true was that juvenile proceedings were seen ascivil and protective and not as criminal and punitive. This came at a time ofincreased public awareness of social problems and issues of justice, and itwas also only one of several social trends directed at improving thewelfare of children, along with such considerations as child laborregulations, expanded public education, and special services for disabledchildren. Yet, contact with the juvenile justice system of any kind contributesto the types of problem associated with continuing criminal activity.Ollendick, Weist, Borden, and Greene (1992, pp. G. (1991, June). (1988). Results of a survey presenting demographic features, workpatterns, and philosophies of 62 juvenile probation officers are correlatedwith descriptions of presentence reports. Latessa, Travis, and Wilson (1984) discuss diversion programs,instituted as a way of avoiding stigmatizing juveniles and of curtailingabuses of the rights of young people in the system. G. Results indicate thatthe JPOs' background characteristics, organizational situations, andattitudes toward delinquency were crucial variables explainingdispositional disparity. Marriage and Family Review, pp. Various alternatives to incarceration have been devisedfor youthful offenders, including probation, intensive supervision,electronic monitoring, and other alternatives. New York: State University of New York Press.Nugent, L. The act passed in 1899 established ajuvenile court in every county with a population of more than 5 , ,which at the time applied only to Cook County (Vito & Wilson, 1985, pp. H., Weist, M. A. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, pp. However, itwas in Chicago where welfare and civic organizations including the ChicagoWoman's Club, the Catholic Visitation and Aid Society, the State Board ofCharities, and the Chicago Bar Association created the juvenile court aftera long period of campaigning. Any inappropriate assessment must be adjusted as new information is acquired or as conditions change so as to aim for the greatest achievable benefit to the juvenile and to the community. McKeever v.Pennsylvania (1971) "reverted to an earlier rationale in ruling that thefederal constitution did not compel states to provide the right of jurytrial to an accused juvenile" (Mahoney, p. The new diversionary programs are thought tohave two major effects by offering services for juveniles who required helpbut who otherwise would 1) be diverted without referral or 2) subjected tocontinued judicial supervision or processing. A. There are manyreasons for the increase in these problems, and the programs developed tocope with them have not kept pace with the rate of change and have notserved well to control juveniles or to address their problems. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, pp. C., & Greene, R. The American juvenile justice system. A similar issue was studied byBellermann (1986, pp.59-68), who asked whether the characteristics ofprobation officers influence types of information included on presentencereports. K., Miller, T. The public doubts that this is money wellspent, and there is growing evidence that there are wide variations inadmission to detention centers from state to state. In Kane v. According to the National Center for Juvenile Justice, constantassessment and re-evaluation of each juvenile is a necessity for aprobation case officer: An initial assignment gets the youth into the system, but should not fix his place in it for all time or even for the duration of probation. G.(1987). Dispositional discretion or disparity: The juvenile probation officer's role in delinquency processing. In the 186 s and 187 s, separate hearings wereheld for juveniles in some courts, and agents were often appointed toattend juvenile hearings to protect the interests of the child. There is evidence that theideals noted above as having been embodied in the child-saving movementthat created the juvenile justice process in the first place. The roles and responsibilities of the subjects,natural family, mentor family, probation department, mentor homecoordinator, and mentor home probation officer were noted, and all of thesewere found to be critical in the development and implementation ofappropriate placement and services designed to address subjects' individualneeds. Shireman and Reamer (1986) find that the period from the mid-196 s tothe early 198 s can be considered a period of counter-revolution in thejuvenile court system: "We believe this development to have been necessaryand valuable, even inevitable. (In)justice for juveniles. 155-172). By 1974, eleven states had done so and had provisionsfor jury trials for juvenile offenders. 189- 198.Ollendick, T. Supreme Court in 1966. Low-risk families produced juveniles whocommitted the "traditional" offenses and seemed appropriate for brieffamily interventions, while high-risk families produced more anti-socialand violent crimes and were not seen to be as receptive to familyinterventions of this sort, usually requiring more drastic and far-reachingprograms (pp. A number of rationales have been offered for diverting young offendersaway from detention and into alternative programs, and on such reason isthat detention does not work. The Supreme Court would look at many of thesecases and hand down decisions that would reshape the juvenile justicesystem. A state could legislatethis option, however, or the state's appellate court could find that thestate constitution required the right of a trial by jury for juvenileswithin the state. These and other legislation of the late 196 s and early 197 s were all aimed at narrowing the discretion that had been put in the hands of juvenile judges and probation officers. First-time juvenile offenders cited forminor crimes are referred with their parents to a panel of trainedcommunity volunteers who, with the sheriff's juvenile diversion officer andprogram coordinator, conduct an informal hearing and assessment. 15 -151). Of course,this study did not indicate which was the cause of the other or what sortof specific relationship might be implied between the cause and the effect. Mahoney writes: Taken together, these five decisions assured that juvenile proceedings would be carried on in a court of law rather than at an informal hearing, and its procedures would be regularized in accordance with constitutional requirements. 296-3 2) was based on a 1 - to 25-year follow-up of 5 randomly selected casesof juveniles adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile court of DauphinCounty, Pennsylvania. . M. F., Wilson, D. . U.S. The program was cost-effective and was established without majordifficulties. The decisions also played an important role in questioning the limits of official discretion. the most important of these cases was In re Gault in 1967. F. (1991, p. This is related to the issueof discretion and its exercise, since the more discretion the variousauthorities involved have, the wider the possible disparities. Fromthis, an individualized set of consequences is designed to addressaccountability and intervention. The preliminary development of the Probation Mentor Home Program: A community-based model. Variations in juvenile investigations. Reformers responded to these concerns,and they were particularly incensed by the way the existing system dealtwith children who came to the attention of the authorities. (1987). Juvenile justice in context. Nugent (1991) describes a voluntary juvenile diversion program thatprovides rehabilitation for criminal youth which is grounded in aneducational approach. The issue of equity arises with reference to juvenile justice at alllevels, whether the system is fair in dealing with juveniles and whethereveryone is treated the same by the system. Five years later, 267 of the 296classified children (9 .2 percent) were evaluated on measures of academicperformance, social behavior, and psychological adjustment. R. The state stood as the parentto assure that action was taken to heal the hurt child. This philosophyinvolved wedding the legal justice system to the child welfare system, butin recent years it has become apparent that this wedding is doomed as aneffort to unite incompatible partners. Reese,Curtis, and Whitworth (1988, pp. 47-48). (199 , December). 26). ReferencesBellermann, H. A model juvenile justice program. She cites astudy in which 144 5th to 8th graders were interviewed and their knowledgeassessed by questioning them on specific critical aspects of the YoungOffenders Act (YOA), a Canadian law dealing with welfare and justiceconsiderations for young people who come into conflict with the law.Hypothetical crime scenarios, in which a child of varying age and gendercommitted either a petty or serious crime, were also presented. A., Curtis, R. There has long been atension in the system between the twin missions of punishment andrehabilitation, just as there is in the adult criminal justice system.With juveniles, however, there is the added belief that the offenders areless responsible for their actions than are adults, that the system has arole as substitute parent, and that alternatives to incarceration areparticularly valuable to meld these missions. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.Shireman, C. R. (p. Communitybased corrections programs are seen as a viable alternative to "detentioncenters" in the eyes of the justice system and other professionals who workwith young offenders, but the creation of such programs must also protectthe public from juvenile crime and will certainly come under increasedcriticism for any failure to do so. (1986). 59-86.Brown, W. Conditions that surround the juvenile change: his family and other support systems, available community resources and, perhaps, his youth also . Delinquent acts (assault, theft,vandalism, status offense, liquor violation) were plotted along theadaptability (chaotic, flexible, rigid) and cohesion (disengaged,connected, enmeshed) dimensions of family functioning. L., & Rhodes, W. 381-395.Reese, W. 8 -87) cite a report inwhich 6 4th-graders rated how much they like to play with each of theirclassmates and then nominated their three best friends, and 296 of the 6 children were assigned sociometric classifications of popular, neglected,average, controversial, or rejected status (the remaining 3 4 childrenfailed to meet inclusion criteria). New York: Columbia University Press.Vito, G. L., & Whitworth, J. Officers whoincluded fewer items tended to express dissatisfaction with the justicesystem and specific job factors (e.g., large cases). In re Winship (197 ) was a case inwhich the court ruled that the measure of proof in the case of a juvenilecharged with an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult requiresproof beyond a reasonable doubt, just as in an adult trial. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.