Criminal Justice and the Youth

Introduction 

Incarceration has no doubt increased in the United States over the last few years. However, there has been a debate on how the impact of imprisonment affects the future of the punished individuals especially the youth. The labeling theory suggests that the sanctions negatively labels the juvenile offenders to the extent of increasing the criminal activities after getting out of jail. The increase in the behavior is referred to as deviance amplification. Instead of reducing juvenile delinquency rates, sanctions lead to negative reactions from the society hence facilitating the construction of a deviant self-image by the young offenders which later increases their participation in a crime. Research suggests that detention does not have a direct effect on their criminal behavior although it affects their chances of getting employment. Thus, the new harsh policies of increased detention for the youth and young adults could result to either many or decreased criminal behavior or not affect them at all. The study will investigate why the juvenile offenders engage in illegal activities once they complete their term or get parole. 

Problem 

Over the years, juvenile delinquents have increased in the US thus at least one young individual is charged in court every day. The patterns have become worrying specifically in referring to the crimes these juvenile offenders engage in. Drug abuse and peddling, homicide, burglary are some of the criminal activities engage in ( Lambie, et.al,2013). Interestingly, once the youths complete their jail terms, the chances of them engaging in criminal activities are very high hence they end up in prison for the second, third, fourth or more times. Thus, the central question here is why the correctional facilities do not have any impact on the juveniles or what really happens to the young boys and girls that make them more deviant to the society’s rules and regulations. Thus, the criminal justice system has the record of juveniles who seem to enjoy being in prison rather than being free. Therefore, the main problem is why the youth engage in crime once out of jail. 

History of the Problem 

In the early 1890s to the first half of the 19th century, juvenile offenders were not convicted by courts but were rather given punishment which involved public flogging by the relevant authority .However, at the end of the nineteenth century, ad hoc tribunals known as the juvenile courts were created to judge and pass sentences to youth offenders who had committed various crimes. However, it was realized that once out of prison, the juvenile convicts were more likely to engage in other crimes as opposed to the assumption that jail term would serve as a lesson to them ( Hay,et.al,2016). Various studies have focused on the experiences of the incarcerated juvenile offenders and why they are likely to go back to prison. 

The researchers compared groups of young adults sent to prison to those who received community service as punishment. For instance, a particular study investigating the youth leaving an experimental program at High fields and those leaving Annandale, a more traditional correctional institution. Findings show that 79% of the young people from Annandale recidivate in the first 60 months after release compared to 56% of the offenders from Highfields. Therefore, most of the studies indicate that incarceration does not prevent youth sent to prison than those in community programs, however, is still not clear what happens to their individual offending patterns. Further, studies imply that most of the offenders are young African American boys, those from a lower economic or poor backgrounds and those with little or less education are more likely to engage back in crime once released from prison. 

Causes of the Problem 

There are various reasons as to why the youth offenders engage in criminal activities. For instance, stigmatization from the society makes them feel out of place and lonely. Primarily, this can be termed as the biggest reason as to why the young criminals behave delinquently after incarceration. They end up being under constant suspicion from their family members, friends and others such that in the case of any criminal occurrence, they are always the first suspects. Studies show that the community members tend to view such kids as dangerous hence does not even try to give them a second chance to redeem their mistakes. As a result, the juveniles find the outside world more miserable than that in jail. 

The second reason for this problem drug abuse. While in prison, the juvenile offenders mostly get mixed with the adult convicts who are social misfits themselves. They have access to and use drugs and other illegal substances which they introduce to the juveniles. Therefore, a young person who might not have been a drug user ends up becoming a substance abuser and consequently an addict. Once they get out, they involve themselves in drug addiction and can even become distributors, an act which will automatically lead them to their second and subsequent arrests. 

Lack of moral support and encouragement from the society as well as the family can also be blamed on the repetitive criminal patterns of the juveniles. For example, instead of family members supporting their convicted child and shielding him or her from the public stigma and scrutiny, they are the ones to discriminate against these individuals. As such, most parents do not wish to stay with children who have been to jail forcing them to start living on their own, which in most cases is hard since they have no jobs to enable them to have a source of income. Thus, the juvenile ends up committing crimes such as burglary which results in them being caught gain. 

Further, the lack of jobs is also another problems. In the US, most convicts both the adult and juvenile have a hard time in finding decent jobs since no one is willing to hire them. The phenomena have become serious in the last couple of years because prospective employees fear that such people will ruin their businesses ( Goldsonet, et.al, 2015). However, some of the jobs they get are not that decent, and they are paid reduced wages which do not guarantee the provision of all the basic needs. Therefore, most of the juvenile find life tough compared to jail where they are sure of shelter, medication, and food. As such, most of them intentionally engage in crime to go back to prison where they do not have to struggle for anything. 

Solutions 

To decrease the number of juvenile offenders, prevent them from criminal activity or to demonstrate the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, the government, the judicial service system as well as the community need to come together to ensure that this is possible. For instance, the government needs to give guidelines as to what forms of punishment are suitable for the juvenile offenders because they cannot be compared to the adult offenders. Therefore, the first thing that the government has to do is to allow for such delinquents to do community service in petty crimes such as theft and violence. However, those young adults who commit homicide should be taken to correctional facilities which offer them counseling to ensure that they do not commit the same crimes again. 

The criminal justice system in collaboration with employment agencies should devise ways of ensuring that once released; the juveniles have access to jobs. The involvement of the criminal justice will be an assurance that the juveniles have reformed and cannot harm people businesses. If they have reasonable jobs, then the probability of them engaging in crime will be at the lowest. Additionally, the juvenile service agencies need to ensure the welfare of the minors instead of only focusing on their involvement in a crime. Currently, these institutions only get in contact with the juveniles to ensure that they do not engage in crime ( Muncie, 2014). Though, the move is not reasonable because they do not consider other factors such as how those juveniles shunned by their families as well as have no jobs will survive. 

Therefore, they need to provide counseling and ensure that the youth either get enrolled to school to continue with their studies or get jobs before being so eager to recommend that they are taken to correctional facilities at the slightest involvement in the crime. Subsequently, the community has to be made aware that their behaviors and attitudes towards the juvenile delinquents will determine whether they become better citizens or worse criminals. As such, the society needs to show the youths love and acceptance by integrating with them instead of discrimination. 

Conclusion 

The aim of juvenile incarceration is to help them reform and become better society members. However, the current criminal system does not provide much for this to happen rather it puts the juveniles in an environment which makes them tough. Once out, it becomes difficult to cope because of stigmatization, lack of employment as well as the influence of drugs hence involving themselves in crime and more jail terms consequently. So, a lot of changes need to be introduced to all the stakeholders so that we have youth who have reformed from being imprisoned rather than developing more delinquent behaviors. 

References 

Goldson, B., & Muncie, J. (Eds.). (2015). Youth crime and justice . Sage. 

Hay, C., Widdowson, A. O., Bates, M., Baglivio, M. T., Jackowski, K., & Greenwald, M. A. (2016). Predicting Recidivism Among Released Juvenile Offenders in Florida An Evaluation of the Residential Positive Achievement Change Tool. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice , 1541204016660161. 

Lambie, I., & Randell, I. (2013). The impact of incarceration on juvenile offenders. Clinical Psychology Review , 33 (3), 448-459. 

Muncie, J. (2014). Youth and crime . Sage.