Ways of Preventing Juvenile Crimes - Essay Example

?Running Head: Ways of preventing juvenile crimes Ways of preventing juvenile crimes Introduction The issue of juvenile crime in the United States is currently affecting families and all the prisons. It also affects the victims, those who facilitate the activities, and the observers. In order to lower juvenile crime rates, various programs have been put up. Some of these programs have led to considerable decrease in crime rates while others have had no effect. This paper will deal with two juvenile crime prevention programs. Juvenile crimes Programs The Gang Reduction Program One of the programs that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) enacted to aid in the prevention of juvenile crime is the Gang Reduction Program (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). The aim of this program is to deal with the gang activities that take place in a given region. This program entails different interventions on addressing individual, family, and society issues that lead to crime and gang activities. The program involves centralized, national, and local resources to aid in the deterrence, intervention, and containment of juvenile crimes (Greenwood, 2006). The objective of the Gang Reduction Program is to address the issues of juvenile criminals, the family, school, peers and the community. The reason for this is because these are the avenues that either offer support to the occurrence or prevention of criminal activities (Greenwood, 2006). For instance peer groups have a very high influence on the character of an individual. In terms of family, one might come from a family where all the family members are criminals hence this makes it harder for him or her to quit the vice. The social status of the family might also be a contributing factor. As a result of poverty, the juveniles may opt to involve themselves in criminal activities in order to meet their daily needs (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). The role of the community in promotion of juvenile crimes is in the cases in which there is poor organization to an extent that the youths can easily access the drugs and firearms. In order to deal with the juvenile criminal issues, the Gang Reduction Program has set up prevention, intervention and control activities. Prevention actions mainly deal with the families, and the juveniles who are at risk of getting involved (Greenwood, 2006). For instance, in case of the youth who are ideal, the preventive measure is to ensure that they are involved in activities that will keep them busy, like attending school. Intervention activities entail management actions like outreach to sustain the youths who are involved in criminal activities with an aim of offering a better option to gang connections (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). The aim of these activities is to enable the youth change their conduct. Control activities entail police patrols, informing the society, offering support to the law execution intelligence distribution, setting up multi- organizational law enforcement and trying gang influencers, employing more instructors in affected schools to ensure all the youths are monitored while at school, and increasing regional watch teams that are associated with the Program. Thus by doing so, there will be prevention in juvenile crimes (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program (JABGP) Another program which the OJJDP set up is the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program (JABGP). This Program provides financial support to the state administration for programs supporting the accountability of youth offenders in juvenile justice systems (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). The funds are mainly allocated in supporting the rationale of the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program. The areas that receive support from the JABGP are; juvenile drug and gun track; facilitating school protection, provision of education on regulated approval for criminals; education curriculum for prevention and control of offenses; execution of early recognition, management, and establishment and maintenance of invigorating justice programs (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). The goal of the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program (JABGP) is to reduce and prevent juvenile crimes by offering support to the accountability programs that deal with the criminals and state and regional Juvenile Justice Systems. JAPBP has a responsibility to the criminal and the Juvenile Justice System (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). During program execution, OJJDP looks for ways that can be used in order to lower juvenile crime in which the criminals and the systems will be answerable. In addressing juvenile criminals, when the criminal is held accountable; it implies that the criminal must be liable for the outcomes for his or her criminal undertakings. At this point the criminal is informed about the repercussions. Therefore he or she is answerable for the loss, injury to another person, or injury to himself or herself. In order to achieve the accountability, systems of regulated authorities are used basing on the type and cruelty of the crime (Greenwood, 2006). In execution of judgment, the intervention restriction and actions augment if the criminal persists in the criminal actions. In addressing the juvenile system, the system is normally intensified, to ensure that it acquires a higher aptitude to increase the ability of the youths to courageously face the consequences of their actions (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). This ensures satisfactory dealings with juveniles in the system, and offers better alternatives like restriction, society service, victim criminal mediation, and other recuperative impartiality approval which will strengthens the common commitment of responsibility in juvenile system. Through accountability there will be prevention of juvenile crimes (Siegel & Welsh, 2011). The two systems discussed above aid in the prevention of juvenile crime, but of the two, the Gang Reduction Program is more effective. There are various reasons which make the Gang Reduction Program effective (Benekos & Merlo, 2006). These include the fact the program investigates the criminals, their families, the society, peers, and the schools. By doing this a lot of information is gathered and is easily dealt with. For instance if it is found out that the criminal is in a wrong peer group, it will be easier to identify the peer group and deal with it accordingly. In case the reason for juvenile crime is the recklessness of the community, the issue will be easily addressed by creating awareness in the society and enlightening them on being responsible. Grownups are advised not to allow youths to use weapons. Illegally owned weapons are confiscated and taken to the police station. Through the Gang Prevention Program, it is easier to establish the most prevalent crimes and it is easier to deal with them, thus facilitating the reduction in juvenile crimes (Greenwood, 2006). Conclusion Juvenile crime is a disturbing issue in all the justice systems in the United States. There are several programs that have been put up to address the issue but the best method has not been found. Based on this discussion youth Gang Prevention Program is the most effective. This is because it identifies the probable causes of the youth crimes and deals with them. Although programs have been put up to aid in the prevention of juvenile crimes, there is need for more efficient programs to be set up. References Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. (2011). Juvenile delinquency: The core. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Benekos, P. J., & Merlo, A. V. (2006). Crime control: Politics & policy. Newark, NJ: Lexis Nexis/Anderson Pub. Greenwood, P. W. (2006). Changing lives: Delinquency prevention as crime-control policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More