Competency:
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Describe the components of the United States justice system and how they are interrelated.
Explain how various types of communication skills are utilized by sworn and civilian criminal justice professionals.
Scenario:
You are a community outreach coordinator at your local law enforcement agency. The department has undertaken an initiative to reach out to diverse populations in your community. There is always a need in your community for support toward becoming a citizen; numerous recent immigrants, resident aliens, and documented immigrants could benefit from outreach materials that explain how the criminal justice system works in the United States. You have been given the task of creating outreach materials for this initiative. The materials you’ll create for this project are specific to the juvenile justice system or allied professionals; choose just one for the focus of this project.
Directions
Initiative Materials
Your initiative needs professional materials to support it. Create one or more relevant products that address all of the required elements:
1. Explain how your topic—either the juvenile justice system or allied professionals—relates to the law enforcement branch of the criminal justice system. Include information from one of the main bullets below.
Juvenile Justice: School resource officers, School-to-prison pipeline, Juvenile rights, and Status offenses
Allied Professionals: Victim’s rights advocates, Goodwill ambassadors, Counselors / psychologists, and Community service professionals
2. Explain how your topic—either the juvenile justice system or allied professionals—relates to the courts branch of the criminal justice system. Include information from one of the main bullets below.
Juvenile Justice: Restorative justice, Court process for juveniles, Diversion / alternatives to arrest,
Allied Professionals: Guardians ad litem, Witness protection, and Counselors / psychologists
3. Explain how your topic—either the juvenile justice system or allied professionals—relates to the corrections branch of the criminal justice system. Include information from one of the main bullets below.
Juvenile Justice: Juvenile parole/probation officers and Separation from adults
Allied Professionals: Auditors, Mental health counselors
Contractors: Food services and Medical services
4. Explain how social media relates to communication skills that are important in your topic.
Who uses social media?
For what purposes do people use social media?
5. Explain how active listening is a communication skill important in your topic.
Who should use active listening?
Why should active listening be used?
6. Explain how cultural awareness is an important communication skill in your topic.
Why is cultural awareness important?
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Initiative Materials
For this initiative, choose the format that works best for you. This could include one or more of the following: poster, handout, presentation slides, brochure, visual or infographic, timeline, task cards, materials for a group activity, or video.
Supporting Materials
The following resource(s) may help support your work on the project:
Website: Timeline
This website can be used to easily make an interactive timeline.
https://timeline.knightlab.com/
Website: Piktochart
This website can be used to easily make an infographic or visual.
https://piktochart.com
—
The Juvenile Justice System
Name
Institution
Date
1. How the Juvenile Justice System Relates To the Criminal Justice System
The juvenile justice system is related to the criminal justice system because it aims to rehabilitate and treat juveniles instead of punishing them. It requires the consideration of youth in the judicial proceedings by avoiding adversarial and punitive procedures associated with the adult criminal courts (Edwards & Travis, 2019).
School resource officers refer to law enforcement individuals whose primary duty is to work in schools to promote safety (Edwards & Travis, 2019).
The School-to-prison pipeline refers to a technique used to push students from school into a prison. This approach criminalizes the youth once they are out into contact with law enforcement (Edwards & Travis, 2019).
Juveniles have equal rights with anyone put under custody within the law. As such, juveniles should be given the rights of representation by an attorney and other common rights of charges (Edwards & Travis, 2019).
A status offense includes violations such as running from home or underage alcohol use, among others. Psychologists suggest that there might be underlying issues that lead to this kind of behavior, and they should be thoroughly checked before juveniles become adults (Edwards & Travis, 2019).
2. How the Juvenile Justice System Relates To the Courts Branch of the Criminal Justice System
i. Restorative Justice – the juvenile justice system aims to rehabilitate and treat juvenile offenders and not punish them. In other words, the objective is to avoid punitive and adversarial procedures that might be associated with the adult criminal courts (Dignan, 2013).
ii. Court Process for Juveniles
Juvenile court processes involve the juvenile appearing in court to either admit or deny their alleged offenses. They are also entitled to attorneys for representation. An admission or guilty pleas see the juvenile’s case taken for disposition immediately or in the future, but a denial leads to a trial (Dignan, 2013). The judge can explore different options ranging from a warning, fines, detention, and community service.
iii. Diversion refers to the process where youths are referred to existing community treatment programs. It is intended to terminate or suspend adolescents’ juvenile justice processing in favor of referral or release to alternative services (Dignan, 2013). In other words, it involves informal youth processing who have undertaken deliquescent acts.
3. How Juvenile Justice Relates To the Corrections Branch of the Criminal Justice System
i. Juvenile Parole/Probation Officers – In the criminal justice system, Juvenile parole officers and juvenile probation officers work within juvenile corrections to Help juvenile transition officers from institution settings and back to their communities. They supervise the youths on either probation or parole (Dignan, 2013). Moreover, these officers work with juvenile offenders and their families to assess their situation and ensure that they comply with the court’s terms. Finally, they also provide these youths with counseling to eliminate or change any behavioral issues they might be having (Dignan, 2013).
ii. Separation of juvenile offenders from adult offenders is crucial to prevent children’s criminalization by coming into regular contact with adult offenders. This approach is based on the understanding that children tend to have developmental needs requiring different services and programs than adults (Dignan, 2013). In other words, it is aimed at protecting the overall well-being or safety of juvenile offenders.
4. How Social Media Relates To Communication Skills Important In the Juvenile Justice System
i. In the juvenile justice system, law enforcement officers use social to gather evidence on nay gang-related activities on different social media platforms. For example, law enforcement officers may look into Facebook to establish youths gesturing gang signs or brandishing firearms (Mauriello, 2020). Moreover, law enforcement also uses social media to enhance public perception of law enforcement. Various social media platforms like Facebook allow various police departments to demonstrate their personable sides, such as Helping at different community events.
ii. People use social media within the juvenile justice system to help rehabilitate or treat juveniles. Through various social media platforms, law enforcement agencies can collaborate with the community through enhanced transparency and communication (Mauriello, 2020). For instance, when individuals allege misconduct, law enforcement can generate social media posts to inform the public of the ongoing investigation processes and how such situations are being handled.
5. How Active Listening is a Communication Skill Important to Juvenile Justice System
i. in the juvenile justice system, active communication should be used by law enforcement and policymakers to come up with policy interventions aimed at reducing the risks of potential re-offending. Studies show that young people with very low education levels or behavioral difficulties run a high risk of developing language or communication challenges, which are thought to be huge risk factors for these youths engaging in crime (Hess & Orthmann, 2011). As such, law enforcement and policymakers should apply active communication and policymakers in the juvenile justice system to better understand these youths.
ii. Active listening should be used on the youth because it has a huge potential to improve the juvenile justice system. Most youthful offenders have often claimed that they feel frustrated because most adults or law enforcement officers appear unbothered to inquire why they acted in a certain way or how they got where they did (Hess & Orthmann, 2011). As such, active communication is important to promote how policy actions and youth programs are shaped.
6. How Cultural Awareness is an Important Communication Skill in the Juvenile Justice
Cultural awareness is a crucial communication skill in juvenile justice because it promotes knowledge, respect, and awareness of different cultures (Mauriello, 2020). Moreover, Mauriello (2020) adds that it is also necessary to enhance cultural awareness in the juvenile justice system because it reduces potential biases in the decision-making process.
Studies show that good cultural understanding and communication are prerequisites to effective and efficient justice systems (Mauriello, 2020). Cultural awareness is important because it leads to creating systems that are more responsive to juvenile offenders’ current needs.
References
Dignan, J. (2013). Juvenile justice, criminal courts, and restorative justice. Handbook of Restorative Justice. doi:10.4324/9781843926191.ch15
Edwards, B. D., & Travis, L. F. (2019). The juvenile justice system. Introduction to Criminal Justice, 433-470. doi:10.4324/9780429426551-14
Hess, K., & Orthmann, C. H. (2011). Introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice. Cengage Learning.
Mauriello, T. P. (2020). Developing your public speaking skills. Public Speaking for Criminal Justice Professionals, 213-222. doi:10.4324/9781003047957-16
