Juvenile Justice
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Juvenile justice is a system of policies, laws, and procedures intended to regulate non-adult offenders’ treatment for law violations and provide legal remedies to protect their interests. Hence, minors who break the law are not mistreated or treated like adults while in custody or behind bars. Agendas for this system is to maintain public safety, skill development, and to reintegrate youths into the community successfully.
Delinquency is a criminal act committed by a young person, especially one who is below the age of which an ordinary prosecution can be conducted (Weish, 2014). Some of the crimes include; murder, rape, among many others. Recently, some of the reasons making minors engaged in crime include; peer pressure and abuse of drugs. Especially when they are high on drugs, children find themselves committing crimes which they would not have committed while they were sober. Peer pressure among non-adults may lead to committing more crimes such as; theft, among many others.
There are several assumptions of the due process model in juvenile justice. One of the beliefs is that adhering to legal, due process is more critical because it needs to protect juveniles from abuses in the system. This assumption ensures that the fundamental rights of the accused minors are not violated, and they are not treated as adults are treated while they are arrested. There are several ways through which the rights of juveniles can be broken. One of the ways it is when a minor is put in the same room or cell with an adult.
Secondly, the most fundamental belief is that juveniles do not possess the same criminal intent as adults. This is because they are not intellectually, socially, or morally developed. Delinquencies may be caused by their neighborhood, poverty, urban decay, family, child-rearing practices, among many other causes. Due to all these causes, that is why they are arrested for rehabilitation and not for punishment. Some of the factors, such as poverty, may lead a minor into stealing so that they can acquire what they want since their parents or guardians are not able to provide for them. Also, children that are brought up in an environment of drug peddlers are likely to abuse drugs at a tender age or start selling them to their peers.
Juvenile crimes in the United States is measured in several ways. The main channel is through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. It is a nationwide collection that entails both locally and state arrests, inclusive of the juvenile arrests. The data that is received states the number of arrests based on their genders, ages, and all their races. Reasons for their arrests are not left out in the data collection. Hence, for the United States having all this information in hand, it becomes easier for them to measure juvenile crimes in their state with ease.
In conclusion, the definition of delinquency has been discussed. Then two assumptions of the due process model in juvenile justice were concerned, first is that adhering to legal, due process is more critical due to the need to protect juveniles from abuses in the system and stated that minors as a group do not possess the same criminal intent as adults do. Lastly, the primary way, which is through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, has been discussed. Thus, it is evident that juvenile justice changes with time.
References
<a href=”https://study.com/academy/lesson/measuring-juvenile-delinquency-methods-
trends.html”>Measuring Juvenile Delinquency: Methods & Trends</a>
Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. (2014). Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law.
https://quizlet.com/188657643/chapter-2-objectives-flash-c
https://www.kean.edu/~jdrylie/docs/Microsoft%20PowerPoint%20-%20Juvenile%20Justice%20Chapter%202.pdf