Juvenile Delinquency Intervention Programs
delinquency through incarceration programs or other sanctions.
Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:
Identify at least two (2) juvenile delinquency reduction efforts / programs currently in operation in your community.
Determine the main sociological theories underlying these interventions that shape your community’s public policy for delinquency prevention.
Propose one to two (1–2) ideas that you believe would improve your community’s juvenile delinquency prevention efforts. Justify the response with examples that illustrate your ideas being used successfully in other communities.
Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
This course requires use of new Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details.
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow SWS or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Recommend improvements to a juvenile delinquency prevention program.
Juvenile delinquency has for a long time been a major problem affecting the youths which call for intervention measures aimed at maintaining order and stability in the community. Efforts have been put in place by referencing to sociological theories of causation to explain the deviant behavior among young adults. The findings from the theories are used to define public policies that seek to prevent deviance among the juveniles.
The Michigan Early Offender program established in 1985 under the Michigan Probate Court provides special services, home-care interventions for those below the age of 13 years. The program offers person-centered treatment plans, group therapies, pre-school preparation Helpance, and short-term detention sentences of up to 10 days long. Children who go through the program have lower rates of recidivism compared to others. Both parents and the children record positive changes in school performance, relationships with peers, and family relations after successful completion of the program. The Minnesota Delinquents Under 10 program located in Hennepin County is an all in one body that involves Economic support, family services, legal services, and community health. Through a screening team, police reports are reviewed to determine the children’s deposition (Mason, 2017). The children are then either referred to child protective services, or letters are issued to their parents by the county attorney, while those at high risk of future delinquency are given early interventions.
The social and emotional support theories best explain the delinquent behavior and can as well be used to prevent deviant behavior. Providing social support to children especially from the family provides them with positive social bonds that prevent traumatic and stressful events such as incarceration (Hirschi, 2017). When a child is supported from home and within the community such as school and among the peers, he or she will less likely engage in deviant behavior. Attachment theory describes the effectiveness of the bond between a child and the parents or guardian in shaping their social and emotional development. High emotional and social support results in a low likelihood of anti-social behavior while low-emotional support signals a high likelihood of anti-social tendencies such as aggression.
Paying attention to the family support system is a crucial element in minimizing juvenile delinquency. The juvenile programs should evaluate the nature of the family-child relationship while considering the intervention measures to take (Farrington, 2016). Given that most young adults and children stay with their parents and families, the programs should promote improved and healthy interrelationships between them and the family system. The information gathered is helpful in influencing policy and professional measures of intervention aimed at minimizing recidivism. Secondly, rewarding the deviant children for every good act they do rather than constantly punishing them for bad behavior could help in minimizing deviance. The child will feel appreciated when rewarded and will focus on doing good rather than feeling like a bother when they are punished and condemned constantly. Lastly, Helpance with financial support for the juvenile family could help minimize the rates of deviance as some children are driven into aggressive behavior by poverty.
Many young adults and children that exhibit disorderly behavior are sent into the juvenile intervention programs when they get to the age of twelve years. The juvenile court system that handles the majority of these cases typically provides the children with deviant behavior with an opportunity to reform under more friendly sentences that adult offenders
References
Farrington, D. P. (2016). Juvenile delinquency prevention programs. Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy, 69.
Hirschi, T. (2017). Causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency. In The Craft of Criminology (pp. 105-120). Routledge.
Mason, K. (2017). Predictive Analysis of Long-Term Risk Factors of Incarceration for At-Risk Youth.
