Juvenile delinquency has become a severe problem within the community, which has resulted from industrialization and modern urbanization. Its impact on the community attracts attention to curb further adverse effects and saves families and the community at large from insecurity and increased delinquency. Various issues have facilitated the existence of juvenile delinquency, including drug and alcohol, economic instability, domestic violence, malnutrition of parenting, and broken homes. Furthermore, juveniles have become victims of social influences, such as peer pressure, school, and neighborhood influences (Tolan et al., 2008). As a consequence, the community has suffered increased crimes and a high number of juvenile arrests. Nevertheless, this program has been formulated to face juvenile delinquency and reduce the effects of the same through formulating necessary strategies. A considerable number of juveniles in the community have engaged in alcohol and substance abuse in the city. The problem captures youths between the ages of 15 to 25 years who have been using the substance, in particular marijuana. Most of the children have been under the influence of peer pressure resulting in internalized behavior problems and engagement in crime to raise funds for the substance. Substance abuse has altered juveniles’ participation in community activities and affected their school performance, reducing their productivity in the society in general. The program targets juveniles aged between 15 to 25 years, intending to replace different activities supporting alcohol and substance abuse with creative and engaging activities that will support their recovery from substance abuse. Also, the program defines the best strategies to promote a healthy and clean juvenile’s lifestyle free from substance abuse and restore calmness in the community and their productivity in the society as well. The program is a behavioral intervention aiming to establish a clean and healthy juvenile lifestyle by destroying structures supportive of alcohol and substance abuse. In return, the program seeks to achieve the following goals.
Reduce alcohol and substance use among juveniles.
Increase community stability.
Improve life satisfaction.
Improve mental and physical health.
Reduce truancy cases among juveniles.
Achieve better peer relations at school.
Prevent further alcohol and substance use in the community.
The achievement of the identified program goals requires strategic approaches. The program includes educative sessions that will encapsulate parents/caregivers and adolescents to create awareness of the treatment course. The program integrates the assertive continuing care that provides residential treatment by providing home visits to treat alcohol and substance dependence. Also, the program includes education courses that provide information on the impact of alcohol and substance abuse, provides information on healthy approaches towards quitting the use of drugs and substances. The program also has awareness forums to keep the youths aware of their actions and their respective consequences. In line with the goals, the program aims to open up opportunities through the activities used to replace the unhealthy activities that involve juveniles. In full realization of the effects of juvenile delinquencies, the program is designed aiming to achieve the following purposes.
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To educate and practice developmentally appropriate life skills replacing the existing behavior.
To improve community safety and educate on community resources.
Improve peer relations among the juveniles
To enhance the quality and quantity of support to youths experiencing long-term recovery from substance use conditions.
Ensure that people in the community maintain healthy living standards.
Eradicate stigma in the community through raising awareness of the impact of alcohol and substance use.
Ensuring members of the community get quality care for their recovery process.
Create engaging environments to understand to cause of substance use among juveniles.
The program objectives reflect on an analysis of the growing crime problems whereby alcohol and substance abuse have been the root of different issues in the community. The achievement of the set objectives requires the definition of numerous strategies that are substantial in improving the lifestyle of individuals in the city. In the process of evaluating different approaches, the program defines various theories that dictate the behaviors and activities that juveniles assume. Juveniles, especially adolescents, tend to expect certain practices following the environment or setting they inhabit. This truth is in line with social-ecological systems that assert that behavioral trajectories are dependent on the activities defined by the response to the demands of given social networks (Rutter & Giller, 2013). About the same social-ecological model, the program identifies two different ways necessary for changing an individual’s negative behavior. One of the approaches includes changing the setting or environment where the person conducts everyday activities. The following method includes changing the way an individual responds to influences from a specific situation. As a consequence, the program integrates ideas defined by the identified approaches and formulates objectives that will help improve the lifestyle in the community (Zigler et al., 2012). Therefore, the program aims to remove juveniles from environments that facilitate engagement in harmful activities, including alcohol and substance abuse. The efforts of the program focus on youths living on the streets, adolescents in schools, and children who engage in alcohol and substance abuse under the influence of peer pressure. The program aims to relocate their interests from the substance use to other constructive benefits by placing them in positive settings hence promote a healthy lifestyle and build safe behavior as well. Working on the target population will require the replacement of structures supportive of alcohol and substance use with alternative arrangements that promote a healthy lifestyle. The intervention for the program involves different activities that are crucial for the identified community issue. The plan defines several evaluations that are necessary and functioning in various areas of application. The implementation of the defined strategies requires the program to build problem-solving social activities. Most of the juveniles who engage in substance abuse are victims of domestic violence, malnutrition, parenting, and other issues affecting their lifestyle. In return, they tend to develop stress opting for substance use to relieve the pressure (Tolan et al., 2008). Therefore, the community care program will create awareness on the significance of abstaining from substance use. A needs assessment needs to be carried out for the youths to identify their interests and functionality in different areas to define alternative structures integrated into the treatment approach. Skills training is also a suitable intervention program that involves behavioral rehearsals and role-playing activities. These exercises improve the juvenile’s communication skills such that they can express themselves hence reducing the stress that attracts their interest in substance abuse. Also, skill training will equip adolescents with relapse-prevention skills, thus improve their attention on other constructive structures (Rutter & Giller, 2013). Skill training involves therapy sessions where participants are required to practice the skills learned during the training sessions. The skill training sessions are profoundly entangled with positive leisure activities hence engaging the adolescents into constructive activities. The next intervention involves the community and school to create awareness of the influence of the delinquent peer groups that encapsulate most of the delinquent juveniles. Peer influence remains the most influential risk factor for delinquency in the community. As a consequence, the program engages members of the city, including family members and neighbors, in creating awareness on the impact of alcohol and substance use. Stress inclines juvenile’s urge to violence and substance use. Therefore, the program educates the community on the significance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for the adolescents through avoiding domestic violence and avoiding cases of malnutrition parenting that stress the youths in the city (Tolan et al., 2008). School and community risk factors have been identified in the program and need attention. The program addresses truancy and cases of school dropout through facilitating school-community collaboration. This intervention involves the members of the community and the school who need to maintain positive school attendance for the adolescents and monitor their participation in school activities. Also, the program supports family engagement in creating safe learning environments for the juveniles to avoid incidents of stress (Zigler et al., 1992). Also, the school will integrate mentorship programs for adolescents to relieve mental stress and create awareness on constructive approaches and sharpen their problem-solving skills as well. The program supports early childhood education and literacy development to improve the juveniles’ literacy level.
Aware of the different impacts of juvenile delinquency, the interventions described will control the issue of substance use in the community and reduce truancy cases in schools as well. The program provides care conditions and creates awareness hence expected to reduce overall substance use. Also, through creating awareness and educating the community on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the program expects a decrease in depression symptoms for adolescents. The city had internalized behavior problems that decrease upon the execution of the identified interventions (Agnew & Brezina, 2011). Through replacing substance use with positive leisure activities, the program maintains the care control service to improve the lifestyle of the juveniles. The program ensures adolescents receive education, receive medical care, and have access to other necessities for a healthy lifestyle through facilitating social stability. Also, revoking the peer influence into positive social impact improves the social stability of the juveniles. Therefore, the program provides care services to achieve the set objectives and accomplish the goals, including supporting positive behaviors necessary for the recovery of the delinquent youths.
References
Agnew, R., & Brezina, T. (2011). Juvenile delinquency: Causes and control . Los Angeles, CA, USA: Roxbury Publishing Company.
Rutter, M., & Giller, H. (2013). Juvenile delinquency: Trends and perspectives.
Tolan, P., Henry, D., Schoeny, M., & Bass, A. (2008). Mentoring interventions to affect juvenile delinquency and associated problems. Campbell Systematic Reviews , 4 (1), 1-112.
Zigler, E., Taussig, C., & Black, K. (2012). Early childhood intervention: a promising preventative for juvenile delinquency. American psychologist , 47 (8), 997.
