The Juvenile Justice System Should Focus on Rehabilitation - Research Paper Example

Topic: The juvenile justice system should focus on rehabilitation. Amid increasing number of felonious acts committed by young offenders, there is an increasing demand among advocates to uphold the juvenile justice system to reform and rehabilitate young offenders. The policies and procedures vary in every state albeit universality of international instruments extolling children’s rights and welfare. In United States, juvenile court was established since 1899 and has undergone major policy changes as societies have grown complex system and crime rates escalate to an alarming involvement of youths and children. The aim is fundamentally to control violent juvenile and put them in reformatory institution as effective rehabilitative measures before they will be reintegrated back into the society as responsible citizens or human resource of a state (Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2012). Under the law, juveniles are those young residents of the America aging between 15-17 years old that have committed a criminal act against the state, person or to property (OJJDP, 2012). Some states made some statutory exceptions on age as requisite in the acquisition of jurisdiction on these cases. Others have put concurrent jurisdiction to juvenile and criminal courts while leaving to prosecutors the discretion to decide which of these judicial body should handle the preliminary investigation of each case (OJJDP, 2012). Juvenile justice system is a policy inspired by the doctrine of parens patriae which accord authority to the state to assume the parental role of enforcing legislations that promote, protect, and provide child-friendly custodial terms under its jurisdiction (True Crime & Justice, 2012). It is deemed as the best resolve to dilemma posed by children who have committed heinous crimes with corresponding life sentence as penalty without possibility of parole (True Crime & Justice, 2012, p. 1). The passage of amended policy on Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act help states and families to determine proper preventive measures for youths or children who are disposed by courts as delinquent through education and training . Technical assistance will also be provided to them to keep them as useful persons while undertaking rehabilitation (True Crime & Justice, 2012, p. 1). Legal advocates assert that juvenile justice system should opt for rehabilitation instead of punishment. The latter is considered as unpleasant and may impact on the psychosocial make-up of a child, thus, causing stigma or isolation as they are left alone to handle their emotional setbacks while meting out punishment following a court decision declaring their guilt. Psychologists infer that punishment does not support rational processes that could address their delinquency nor those necessities to achieve desired behavioral reform. Advocates concern on child rights and welfares wanted the juvenile justice system to delve on mental health assessment of the young offenders by providing necessary services to change them into better persons and to help them conform to social norms (OJJDP, 2012; True Crime & Justice, 2012). They contend that as young offenders are also child undergoing developmental stages and constant adjustments to social norms, the intervention with the participation of family members could help assuage traumatic impacts as consequence of committing offense. The family has been the most influential agent in shaping a child’s behavioral reform to discourage them to become recidivists whilst motivating them to responsibly care for themselves or their future. Moreover, the family also help provide advises and inspirations to the child, along with social experts within rehabilitation centers, as they knew best the historical causes and factors that led a child to commit socially unacceptable acts. Experts empirically posit that 95% of the juveniles that went to the rehabilitation program reformed and avoided re-arrest (OJJDP, 2012; True Crime & Justice, 2012). Such process therefore will not impede the development of child’s potential as he matures and grow to become part of country’s human resource. This juveniles’ reformation or rehabilitation should be coupled with state’s multi-sectoral engagement for security management and law enforcement. The same should be focused on educating children and youths in value formation to help them become accountable and lawful in their actions. It will also compel them to stay out of drugs and alcohol abuses or aid them to choose right peers instead of indulging with violent or criminal acts along with gangsters. The juvenile rehabilitation have all considered these aspects, ergo, have laid procedures and designed court decision-makings with open options to send the juvenile either for trial, for detention, waive them to adult court, send them to secure facility for treatment, or to keep them within the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system. Dispositive decisions of judges from juvenile courts are all of the time considerate to the need of improving the offender’s skills and of nurturing the child’s bond to the society in contrast to adult criminal justice’s punitive nature. In handling the child’s case, there is a need to adopt careful usage of language to make it child-sensitive e.g. young offenders are adjudicated as ‘delinquent’ while criminals are ‘convicted as guilty (OJJDP, 2012).’ Under the statutes, juvenile acts are considered as ‘delinquent act’ while adult’s offenses are considered as ‘criminal offense’ (OJJDP, 2012). The court’s decision, under juvenile judicial system, is considered as ‘disposition’ while ‘sentencing’ is used to describe for adult criminal justice. Juveniles are detained while adults are jailed (OJJDP, 2012). In the case of probation and juvenile rehabilitation, the juvenile is held under community supervision but focused is held on psychosocial and emotional treatment without enforcing incarceration but under the direct supervision of court officer (Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2012). Probation refers to the process of community-based treatment utilized by the juvenile justice system. As probation is laid with set of rules, conditions and procedures, the juvenile will be immersed to a diverse community-based treatment programs that will engage the youth or child to group counseling to drug rehabilitation services (OJJDP, 2012). This is based on the context that a juvenile offender never labeled as a social menace or danger and will enjoy the opportunity of being reformed, rehabilitated, and positively change proper behaviors that would be socially acceptable (OJJDP, 2012). This is better than undertaking punitive measures because the juvenile justice system offer many types of facilities in juvenile corrections with reception centers and specialized facilities that offer services for emotional care, drug treatment, alternative education, remedial care with nature, and secured reformatories for youths needing strategic creative care (OJJDP, 2012). Besides, the system isolates them to convicts or adult criminals whose negative or violent behaviors are likely to influence them if they are annexed with them (OJJDP, 2012). Their non-restrictive setting under rehabilitation facilities therefore guaranteed juveniles that they will be saved from the disgrace of incarceration and accord to them reformation toward becoming a person with dignity. This is consistent to the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. While I agree so much on the need to refocus on offender’s rehabilitation instead of wielding on for punitive measures but the juvenile justice system, as restorative process in attaining justice (Steir, 2009) must also support the establishment of strengthened local councils that advanced the protection of children (UNICEF, 2006). This council should have comprehensive intervention program to ascertain the delivery of young offender’s justice and welfare (UNICEF, 2006). It must stay consistent to diversion program to exempt minors from being prosecuted of the crime of vagrancy and prostitution, mendicancy, and rugby sniffing (UNICEF, 2006). Child -sensitive proceedings should be done at all times, thus, litigants must be educated too about the procedural aspect of disposing delinquents to ascertain appropriate imposition of dispositive measures (UNICEF, 2006). Moreover, since law enforcement is perceived with public prejudice and bias, officials should be held accountable at all times to dispose that what is just as effective remedial process or inquest for the offense committed. Changing a behavior is not an easy task and entails much longer time and patience. Experts posit that authorities should also consider adopting 'traditional wisdom' to address child and youth offenders’ issues as some behavioral patterns pushed them to commit offense due to decadent culture within a country. Exhausting the most appropriate method of rehabilitating and reforming an offender remain a significant task left to social experts and families. It’s noted that while offenders are made accountable for an offense done, the intricate side is eliciting the desired outcome for holistic reform. But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The juvenile justice system provide a significant impetus for a child offender to understand that the commission of an offense – whether property, physical crimes or taking of life, there is a corresponding punishment commensurate to the degree of crime done. It must also be inculcated to them that the goal of rehabilitation is to make them stable to be integrated back into the society and become a productive human resource for societal development. Youth offenders should realize that they still have life ahead of them to be completed to attain integrity and dignity. Through such system, the state could hold each parent to be accountable or responsible to their children’s discipline and behavior. Responsible parenting is a must to discourage children in adopting deviant behaviors that may inadvertently make them as social menace and outcasts. Discipline remained a key and parents must realize that it’s their primary role to educate their child as authorities within homes, the basic political unit of society. Inculcating to children the proper values will also help mitigate the burgeoning responsibility of the state to reform children for misbehavior (NEF, 2010). Putting a child under custody for rehabilitation also cost the state so much (NEF, 2010; Steir, 2009). Parents should help their children realize and learn on the consequences of criminal offenses and misbehavior. The law enforcers will only take the secondary role in case the child’s misbehavior has reached a destructive and offensive point. Values can be learned thru schools and church teachings. The value of Godliness should be inculcated to each child for them to understand that the Ten Commandments written in the scriptures are fundamental behavioral standard to follow to make them fit for socialization. The school is also one of the agents that could help share a child’s perspective and behaviors. Teachers must bear in mind their significant contribution to the holistic development of a child, not only as an academic being but also as an instrument for social development. Education must strategically inculcate proper behaviors for children and youths to make them law abiding individuals and lovers of social cohesion. In relating with others, they need to know that nobody is above the law and justice can strike at any felons that need to be reformed. In conclusion, it could be inferred that rehabilitation is the best mode for young felons. However, the strategy of the juvenile justice system should be supported with collaborative measures by inter-agencies or multi-sectoral bodies, family, school, and other stakeholder s of children’s rights and social justice. The society cannot tolerate escalating crimes and abuses done to children who are undergoing punitive actions within the confines of penology. It’s therefore urgent for states to provide focus on child or youth rehabilitation thru juvenile justice system. However, as earlier reiterated, the state should not be left alone. The family’s participation is crucial in the reformation of child’s behavior and in further taking actions that could deter the offenders to become recidivists and of becoming more violent. The goal here is not to make law enforcers effective in apprehending them for punishment but to make them as holistic being with values and dignity. This should be set clearly by the state and by the judicial system. References Office of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2012). Juvenile Justice System Structure and Process. US Department of Justice, USA. Stier, K. (2009). Getting the Juvenile-Justice System to Grow Up. Time Inc.- US. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887182,00.html Accessed: May 19, 2012. True Crime & Justice (2012). Juvenile Punishment. Karl Sable. http://karisable.com/crpunyouth.htm Accessed: May 19, 2012. NEF (2010). Prison for young people costly and fails to reduce crime, says NEF. UK. http://www.neweconomics.org/press-releases/prison-for-young-people-costly-and-fails-to-reduce-crime-says-nef Accessed: May 19, 2012 Unicef (2006). Philippines enact Law on Juvenile Justice System. Unicef-Mla, Philippines. Read More