Challenges Created by the Inclusion of Special Populations in a Prison Environment
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Challenges Created by the Inclusion of Special Populations in a Prison Environment
Special populations in prison are those people who have various unique characteristics, such as mentally ill persons, People with AIDS, juveniles, and drug addicts. The inclusion of unusual people in prison environments tends to create several challenges, which can either be addressed by the system or not. Minority youths or juveniles face a big challenge as one of the special people in prison (Rodriguz, 2021). Youths are more suspensible to facing discrimination, primarily based on their race, such as black youths are more harassed compared to white children. The paper is a discussion of the challenge’s juveniles face in prison, in relation to central park five.
a). document that a problem exists
In central park five case, the main problem is the miscarriage of justice towards juveniles after an unjust arrest and wrongful conviction of black and Latino youths, Salaam, Santana, McCray, and Richardson (Limerick, 2020). According to the case, the united states criminal justice system is more focused on the legal system and not a justice system (Sattler, 2017). Over the years, it had been a significant concern concerning wrongful conviction and unjust arrests, which has affected the minority groups and special people in prison, such as juveniles. Some of the challenges that arise after the inclusion of central park five juveniles into prison includes ineffective crime investigation methods, racial prejudice, wrongful arrest and conviction (Rodriguz, 2021). Also, torture and harassments are other challenges faced by particular persons in jail, where the central park five youths were harassed in prison because of their young age and race.
According to a study, most documented juvenile cases don’t make it to court, such as the case of central park five, where the five young men were denied a proper court hearing (Sattler, 2017). However, police decisions concerning juveniles arrest, interrogation, and sentencing are made based on few or no information, where race, sex, and age play an important role in making judgments, just like in central park five case. For example, Black and Hispanic youths were wrongfully accused of rape and even forced to confess on doing the act. Also, crimes and mistakes committed by kids of colour are taken extra seriously compared to white children’s crimes.
On the other hand, juvenile indigent defence is another problem, where most of the time, juveniles are not given a chance to defend themselves, especially when the case does not reach to court. According to central park five, the youths were not allowed to protect themselves; the youths were assumed to be criminals in the eyes of the law from the beginning. How criminal justice professionals view juvenile offenders is different, especially on sentencing (Rodriguz, 2021). Juvenile justice system has the right to protect youths’ interests, especially giving them the right to defend themselves through a lawyer. Another problem is the intentional wrongful conviction of juveniles in prison, driven by racial, and age discrimination as evident in central park five, where the court relied on forced rape confession.
(b) identify the causes of the problem
According to the film central park five case, ineffective investigations and racial discrimination were caused by bad policing and lack of a justice system in the united states (Lapp, 2017). Also, racism in the criminal justice system is another caused by negative perception towards the black and Hispanic juveniles. Due to their race, the judges were not interested in asking for a DNA test, a form of ineffective criminal investigation method. Race and age discrimination is an inappropriate police practice that is the leading cause of wrongful convictions (Rodriguz, 2021).
(c) propose solutions to the Problem
One solution to the problems allowing juveniles, such as the five youths in the case access and use a defence lawyer in court to protect them in every stage, such as during arrest, detentions, and adjudication (Dimitrieva, 2019). Also, the juveniles should be well represented and should receive legal counsel where necessary before and after incarceration (Dimitrieva, 2019). The criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system should play a role in preventing and dealing with racism cases, especially when it comes to arresting and investigation.
The fight against racism in the criminal justice system should begin with criminal justice leaders fighting against racial discrimination, especially in sentencing, provisions of services, and resources. The juvenile system also plans to overcome various challenges caused by juveniles’ inclusion into the system by developing policies and practices, and programs through funding.
On the other hand, the juvenile justice system should work on dealing with juvenile’s mental health, including the mental health of loved ones such as parents (Dimitrieva, 2019). According to central park five, the juveniles went through mental health issues after being incarcerated and their families due to their absence. Additionally, the criminal justice system can integrate several methods, such as the child welfare system and probation system, to reduce incarcerated youths in prison (Dimitrieva, 2019). The juvenile system should be able to recognize misclassification, contamination of evidence, and coercion. The design should identify cases where police officers have used compliance, influence, and persuasion. Children are more likely to be pressured into a false confession than adult criminals; hence the system should be more aware of such cases.
d) note the consequences of the problem are not solved.
If the problem is not solved, the juveniles may fall into serious mental health issues, such as depression, resulting in prison violence (Rodriguz, 2021). Additionally, the youngsters may also be drugged into drug abuse in prison to relieve the emotional trauma and family distress. Racism among special people in jail is real and should be addressed to avoid cases, such as central park’s five case. Also, other alternative options should be considered instead of incarceration to enhance reformation (Dimitrieva, 2019). Denial of defence lawyers, and legal representatives would lead to severe cases of unjust sentencing, arrest, and conviction, leading to stress and trauma among juveniles, and their families.
Forced confessions as one of the unsuitable methods of collecting evidence can worsen, leading to more wrongful convictions, which is unfair. In case the problem is not solved; however, racial discrimination would affect the black and Hispanic community, especially on increased cases of false accusations, harsh treatment, racial profiling, and warrantless arrests (Dimitrieva, 2019).
References
Dimitrieva, J. (2019, September). PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO HEALTH OF PRISON POPULATION. In Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference” Social Changes in the Global World” (Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 351-365).
Lapp, K. (2017). Taking back juvenile confessions. UCLA L. Rev., 64, 902.
Limerick, P. P. (2020). Populist and Anti-Populist Discourse Concerning African-Americans. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Central Park Five Case. Iperstoria, (15).
Rodriguz, S. (2021). The Juvenile Injustice System of Minorities.
Sattler, A. L. (2017). Treating youths in the juvenile justice system. Pediatric Clinics, 64(2), 451-462.
