The Juvenile Intervention Program

Abstract

The Juvenile Intervention ProgramIn my opinion I believe that the juvenile justice system is better off now then back a hundred years ago. There is always room for improvement. The treatment of kids has greatly improved, for example, kids who commit a petty crime like theft would definitely be treated differently than a kid a hundred years ago. The kid a hundred years ago would have been thrown in jail with other adults who have committed more heinous crimes like murder, rape and others.

The kid who committed theft today would be put in programs,or we would have looked at the family to see if the kid was being treated right and well taken care. With the mentioning of programs, the juvenile justice system has many programs that are designed to help kids without fathers or mothers to properly learn and grow. There are also programs that can help kids stay off the streets and out of gangs. There is much more, for example, when kids are sent to JDC it makes sure that kids are properly represented and fully understand what is going on in their case.

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Stakeholders in the juvenile justice system are those affected by the juvenile justice system. This can include internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders can be considered the juvenile justice system itself while external stakeholders are those the juvenile justice system serves and in some way affects. Identifying these stakeholders brings valuable insight into the juvenile justice system. Internal stakeholders include police officers, judges, probation officers, parole officers, correctional officers, lawyers, court personnel, and other individuals.

Those who are responsible for enforcing the law and the interpretation of the law are part of the juvenile justice system internally. Also, those who are suspected of crimes and convicted could also be considered internal stakeholders of the juvenile justice system. All these stakeholders are connected with each other and affect each other. To properly prevent crime, apprehend offenders, and treat offenders, these stakeholders must each do their job. External stakeholders include elected officials, the media, groups who serve victims of crime, businesses, families, schools, and society in general. When someone is the victim of a crime they are obviously impacted. The media is also impacted when reporting on a crime. Those who receive the media's reporting of a crime are impacted as well. In one way or another everyone is affected by the juvenile justice system. From the laws that are passed to the treatment of offenders, society is affected.

The way I would develop an intervention program is by first getting to know the juvenile's situation. I would create more of like a boarding school type program. I would create it to where everybody had a 12th-grade education and a few varieties of skills or a trade to survive during this world if they weren't going to go into college. I would make it to where they had every advantage to rise to the type of person they choose to be. Offer college, sports, all the items that may facilitate them to improve their selves and break the cycle.

Intervention

The Juvenile Intervention Program (J.I.P.) was designed to show troubled teens the reality of incarceration. Juveniles have misconceptions about what life in jail is truly like. They see incidents such as police pursuits, gang violence and drive-by shootings and do not realize the consequences of criminal behavior. Today's youth have developed a respect for criminals and the wrong idea that life in the criminal justice system is glamorous. This misconception commonly has been delivered by television or results from the juvenile having friends and family members who have been through the jail system. This program is not designed for all juveniles. It is geared toward those who have begun to engage in negative behaviors and/or attitudes, or are heading down a path of alcohol, drugs, gangs or violence. The J.I.P. is for parents or guardians who need intervention in their juvenile’s life. Juveniles are exposed to the realities of jail life and are also taken to the Coroner’s Division to see the realities of death. During this time, the parents receive information on various topics such as parenting styles, communication, drug and alcohol recognition, gang awareness, and addressing various teenage problems. The J.I.P. was designed to: Address criminal and/or negative behavior. Provide collaboration between law enforcement, the community and schools. Increase understanding and awareness of the criminal justice system. Emphasize the legal consequences of violating the law. The benefits of J.IP. is to help, Families obtain law enforcement support, additional resources, and family communication improves. Youth learn the consequences of delinquent behavior, experience firsthand the realities of incarceration, and are encouraged to become better members of the community.

Recommendation

The proper way to evaluate the juvenile program is to see if the juvenile is in any way changing for the better. To determine the effectiveness of a juvenile intervention program you could look at their analytics to find their success rate. Also you could see if they are staying true to their company's mission. Yes, children who commit crimes should be punished. However, their punishment should be determined by the severity of the crime.  For example, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and more crimes along these lines, the child should be treated with the same punishment as an adult. But for the other offenses that are committed, the juvenile should be incarceration, rehabilitation and restoration. Depending on the severity of the crime, the juvenile should be incarcerated for a short time, be put in some rehabilitation programs to help the juvenile and the family of the child, then the juvenile will have a restorative justice system to mend relations with the victim and the offender. The biggest problem facing the juvenile justice system is the juveniles with mental health disorders. Youth whose delinquent conduct is impacted by their mental illness are often adjudicated and placed in county facilities that are ill-equipped to address the underlying clinical component of the delinquent conduct. Placing these juveniles in this kind of environment I feel can make their mental health issues worse and lead to more behavior problems. I feel to overcome this problem we need the county facilities to be better equipped to identify mental disorders and be able to come up with a plan to correctly deal with these juveniles. Instead of just locking them away without really assessing the mental issues that are present in some juveniles.

Conclusion

The juvenile justice process operates according to the premise that youth are fundamentally different from adults, both in terms of level of responsibility and potential for rehabilitation. The primary goals of the juvenile justice system, in addition to maintaining public safety, are skill development, habilitation, rehabilitation, addressing treatment needs, and successful reintegration of youth into the community.

The goal of the juvenile justice system should be to help these juveniles not to recidivate back to their ways and figure out how to stop this from happening more often. They should be able to determine from where this is happening and why. Help with rehabilitation and intervention programs that actually help these kids and not just take them in and do nothing with them. These juveniles have a future ahead of them and they should be able to take that road and help them later on in life.