The police play an important role in preventing juvenile delinquency. The best role the police can play is to assist in contributing to the positive development of the youth by taking part in and supporting the development programs centered on the young individuals. Even though enforcing juvenile curfew regulations might reduce juvenile violence, the impacts will be limited because a significant percentage of juvenile crime occurs at time not covered in curfews. However, police involvement in programs which productively engage adolescents could be more effective in preventing their involvement in criminal activities. The high capacity of street environment indicates that efforts to suggests that efforts to occupy young people in something which would lead to their positive development is productive since it keeps them off the streets (Martin, 2005).
In essence, police agencies should assume a rehabilitative approach to prevent juvenile delinquency. The police should focus on collaborative partnerships with the local communities. In so doing, they would go beyond protecting children and teenagers from taking part in criminal activities. The police should proactively take part in community-based youth development initiatives, mentoring young people and acting as a cornerstone which they need to realize full potential (Martin, 2005). In engaging the youth in community policing as a part of afterschool activities, the police would facilitate an enjoyable and voluntary development alteration between childhood play and meticulous doings of adulthood; which is required by all adolescents especially those who lack parental support or creative play. In order to effectively control juvenile delinquency there is need to adopt a restorative approach and a nominal interventionist approach at each stage of dealing with teenager who have been brought into the corrective justice system (Lipsey et al., 2010).
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References
Lipsey, M. W., Howell, J. C., Kelly, M. R., Chapman, G., & Carver, D. (2010). Improving the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs. Washington, DC: Georgetown Center for Juvenile Justice Reform .
Martin, G. (2005). Juvenile justice: Process and systems . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
