Juvenile Delinquency Essay Examples

The criminal justice field currently faces various issues and challenges. These challenges include keeping up to date with the ever-changing technological trends in the world and embracing changes and new values and practices brought about by globalization. Overcoming corruption is one of the key goals of any justice system in the world. However, none of these current issues is much more likely to affect the future as the numbers of Juvenile delinquents in the society and the justice system currently. The rise in the numbers of juvenile delinquents has been steady in the recent years. This rise in crime levels amongst the young people is due to several factors.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

According to (Drake, Muncie, & Westmarland, 2010), lack of appropriate shelter and favorable living conditions for young people, as they grow up, is one of the major causes of occurrence of crime amongst the young. Due to lack of this basic need, these children grow up with the desire to acquire the social amenities that they need. They, therefore, resort to crime. Lack of readily available health care facilities and opportunities for growth into economically dependent citizens causes these young children to resort to alternative easier ways of attaining money for their livelihood.
Poor role modeling for children is another cause for the high number of cases of juvenile delinquents. For example, where a child’s parents are criminals, the child is more likely to adopt similar traits and fall into criminal activities. Likewise, children who constantly face neglect and abuse from parents are likely to engage in unlawful activities in the society.
The issue of crime amongst the young is of great concern. Waiting to implement preventative measures of juvenile cases once the children are much older is not favorable as it proves difficult to eradicate the negative attitudes, and behaviors already entrenched in their minds (Garland, 2002). A change in attitudes, beliefs and values later in life proves challenging.
According to Blumstein (1995), prevention of the increase in juvenile rates will be of great impact to the criminal justice field. Firstly, it ensures a much safer society and community for the residents. That will reduce the number of criminal cases that the Justice Department tackles. Safety within the community improves social wellbeing and encourages economic development. A decline in criminal activities also fosters good interrelationships between countries. The result of these interactions is improved overall productivity and exchange of business ideas vital for economic growth.

Approaches to prevention of juvenile delinquency

The future of the Criminal Justice field does seem brighter if the following approaches are adopted and implemented in prevention of juvenile delinquency cases;
The first approach towards curbing the increase in juvenile delinquency cases involves establishing programs that advocate for youth development and support in the neighborhoods. Most of the juvenile offenders fall into crime due to lack of positive role models and lack of wholesome development during their growing years. Non-governmental organizations that are youth based should be on the forefront in battling this societal problem so that in the future, these children grow into law-abiding citizens.
Secondly, those teenagers and youths who have already been involved in crime need to be rehabilitated and later given assistance in getting back into the society. That can easily be done through vocational trainings, and instilling vital skills and competencies in the youth so that once they are out of the criminal system they can provide for their material needs.
Thirdly, the criminal justice department needs to be proactive in programs that assists families develop the right environment for the growth of children. That can be through visits to the various homes where in partnership with non-governmental organizations they influence the society positively with social skills.
Tight, restrictive laws on gun use will facilitate a reduction in the number of cases of juvenile delinquents. Excess use of Illegal firearms in the society causes a surge in insecurity and encourages violence and crime especially in instances where these firearms fall into the hands of the youth.
Crime is mostly a result of drug abuse (Drake, Muncie & Westmarland, 2010). More often, young people who are engaged in crime have had at one point in their lives been addicted to drugs. In most instances, the offenders commit the crimes while in a state of intoxication. The criminal justice department, therefore, needs to be at the forefront of fighting against the spread of drug abuse in the society. A drug-free environment is most likely going to have fewer crime rates and consequently reduced rates of juvenile delinquency.
Youth Violence and Juvenile delinquency are critical issues facing the criminal justice field, and they have a great impact on the future of the nation. If these issues of crime in young people are not addressed early enough, they will escalate to higher levels and in the long term pose huge problems to the security and wellbeing of the nation. Juvenile offenders need to undergo rehabilitation early in life so that they do not grow to be adults while still embracing crime. The rehabilitation should involve providing the offender’s with alternative ways of earning money and providing for their basic needs as opposed to attaining this through crime.
The Justice Department, therefore, has the task of formulating policies to guide on the prevention of youth violence. The policy should be clear for all to understand and also considerate of the community for which it is intended. The policy needs to have a clear outline of the techniques and methods that the criminal justice department will put in place to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. Aside from rehabilitation, there needs to be constant follow-up with the young offenders even after completion of their terms (Joyce, 2013).
Creating g awareness to the public about the rise in cases of teenage and youth violence will greatly assist in reducing the cases of criminal offender’s under the age bracket of eighteen years. Parents and guardians have to be well informed on the signs to watch out for in their children, to identify if their children are engaging in crime.
The future of the criminal justice field relies on how well the current issues get solved. If the criminal issues are left to escalate, there will be a resultant increase in the crime rates in the future. Prevention strategies and efforts need to be supported by all stakeholders for them to be effective. The future of the country’s security lies in the steps taken in the present to attain a violence free community. Investment into eradicating all violence and crime in the society will be profitable in the long term to all in society. The future of the criminal justice field can, therefore, change for a better future based on the steps taken in the present times.

References

Blumstein, A. (1995). Youth, Violence, Guns, and the Illicit-Drug Industry. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86(1), 10-36. Retrieved from http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6847&context=jclc
Drake, D., Muncie, J., & Westmarland, L. (Eds.). (2010). Criminal Justice. Portland, Oregon: Willan Publishing.
Garland, D. (2002). Of Crimes and Criminals. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner, The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (3rd ed.). Oxford University.
Joyce, P. (2013). Criminal Justice: An Introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge,