Abstract
In this research, we describe the meaning of delinquency prevention, fundamental principles of the delinquency, prevention method, some examples of the presented preventive methods, description of the treatment measures, the basic principles of the treatment measures, some of the available treatment measures in the contemporary world, and evaluate the various preventive measures involved in the juvenile delinquency and the major treatment steps involved. We also focus our attention on the importance of both the preventive measure and the treatment measures of delinquency.
Furthermore, we single out the benefits arising from a successful preventive and treatment measures of the juvenile delinquency. However, a variety of measures has been considered in relation to juvenile delinquency.
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Keyword: Juvenile Delinquency, Preventive Measures, Treatment Measure
Introduction
Juvenile delinquency is a critical issue that exists among the American community. Juvenile delinquency is the participation of illegal behavior by minors. Juvenile prevention entails ways in which there is an early prevention of unlawful activity by a juvenile. Early prevention of adolescent prevention is better to avoid cradling in the cells. Although past approaches insist on the remediating visible and longstanding behavior, research has indicated that early prevention is essential. Early prevention of delinquency ensures that crimes do not come to pass.
Various fundamental principles are involved during delinquency prevention programs. One of such programs states that the delinquency prevention forms an integral part of discouraging crime in society (Bright, & Jonson, 2015). Young people can be assisted in developing non-criminal behaviors through engaging them in lawful and more communally constructive activities. Another principle adjudicates that successful delinquency prevention encourages corporation from the entire society. Cooperation of all members of the community ensures there is a mutual and harmonious development of both young and adults. This enables easy integration of people from diverse sets.
The need for a child-centered orientation program gives rise to another principle. Young people should be given a chance to partner with the entire society. Nonetheless, children should not be termed as objects of modern socialization. Although juveniles are found in a wrong side, they should be given a chance to interact with the outside world. Minors are always burdened with workload while serving their terms in the isolations. This should not be the case as they should be part of the modern socialization.in this case, this principle ought to be reinforced to safeguard the juveniles to be as per the growing civilizations.
The last principle highlights the well-being of young people during their childhood. In this way, one can be in a position to ascertain the real cause of delinquent behavior in the society. Tracking how a person was raised vis-a-vis their background will enable the necessary authority to trace their initial history. This will ensure that a crime is detected even before a crime is committed. Knowing a person initial history is fundamental in deciding the amount of punishment to be awarded. Some juveniles might have been arrested in the past thus having a bad track record initially. Therefore, one will be able to determine whether someone is already used to the available set terms.
Increasing bodies of researchers are shifting their attention to the best programs for preventing delinquency, especially in early stages. An effective program is the one that finds a solution most easily while saving on cost. The office of delinquency recommends the following prevention programs to be undertaken (Quinn, 2015). Classroom and behavior management programs, social competence promotion curriculum, conflict resolution and violence prevention programs, bullying prevention programs, after-school recreation programs, mentoring programs, and comprehensive community interventions.
As a result of delinquency prevention, it has led to a decline in the number of crimes committed in the America soil. Through programs such as mentorship, young people are aware of the benefit of keeping the law and avoiding crimes (Bright, & Jonson, 2015). Prevention of delinquency has also seen the engagement of youth in a more constructive activity rather than being involved in activities such as drug abuse. Successful prevention has also reduced the amount of money spent in juvenile. This has therefore saved United States taxpayers billions of dollars which can as well be directed to other useful projects.
Juvenile delinquency treatment entails programs whose main aim is to rehabilitate adolescence with criminal behavior using psychotherapeutic means. However, medicinal treatment is always limited. This treatment is always in the form of therapy sessions (Radic, 2016). Delinquency treatment is the methods focused on the intervening or treating delinquency or antisocial behaviors with the aim of preventing, reducing, and managing this illegal act. Broad assessment of a more prosperous and effective delinquency treatment have benefited mainly as a result of the so-called meta-analysis. The primary intent of treatment programs is to enable juveniles and the administrators to interact to tame delinquency. This allows the therapist to identify where the problem lies for an effective treatment.
Multisystem therapy is a significant treatment which utilizes a variety of empirically founded treatment. These treatments include cognitive behavior therapy, behavior guardian training, and functional family therapy. During the treatment process, a therapist spends a couple of weeks with the adolescent together with their family. This process can always take up to 4 months for a complete recovery process. The therapist addresses the young adult alongside the family and the school official to identify the correct predicament.
This is very useful as the therapist is in a position to identify the strength and weakness of the young adult. Although this process always takes a lot of time, the juvenile is at the most time helped. The main aim of such treatment is to ensure that the youth have been helped psychologically as well as providing them with the necessary support. The therapist always uses the minimum tool of interrogation to achieve answers from the youth while showing him or her importance of revealing the truth about a past event.
Other modes of delinquency treatment include the residential group. This home group closely incorporates the society and its behavioral lines. The core aim is to provide a community-based environment inclusive with a family unit towards juveniles. These juveniles are mostly on the verge of being institutionalized. For a smooth institutionalization of the youth, young and adult ought to work together as a common unit. Adult, on the other hand, should ensure these youth behave accordingly by showing them the right path. As a result, there would be a streamlined behavioral change on these youths. This will in greater length help our youth to avoid crimes in the contemporary world. Through seminars and necessary teaching tools, youth can be taught the importance of participating in productive activities in the society and in the long run shun detrimental behavioral actions such as crimes. This helps the involved community to build a good foundation for the future adult thereby reducing the rates of crime level.
According to research, there has been a drastic decline in the numbers of cases of repeated felonies to those youth subjected to this treatment. The average number of arrest also reduced compared to before the treatment was conducted. The research also indicates that the number of arrests has declined drastically as compared to the number of control groups formed. This shows that the program is effective in rehabilitating the juveniles and thus should be widely encouraged. This method is not short of limitations especially when the number of juveniles is large. Since the treatment requires a group of at least twelve youth, a majority of the youths are left out.
Delinquency treatment has not received overwhelming support from both ends of the society. This treatment has therefore resulted in an ineffective treatment of preventive programs. Ineffective treatment programs are those programs that do not contribute to declining in juvenile delinquency. Programs such as the scared straight program cause ineffective treatment of juvenile delinquency. This program started way back when the famous TV show program "scared straight" was released. This treatment program is not only ineffective but also controversial. This program exposes the juvenile to the harsh and intimidating condition such as being in contact with the adult inmates. The program is intended to improve youths by scaring and shocking them with the aim of deterring them from participating in future criminal activities. Research shows that the practice of such program has been unsuccessful; in fact, it has led to the increase of delinquency in the United States. Disregard of gender influence also has led to the increase in juvenile delinquency. The failure of such program to differentiate males and females can result in ineffective treatment of a prevention of delinquency among inmates. Cultural diversity should always be a consideration regarding juvenile delinquency.
Due to the increasing cases of violence in the American society, it is important for the necessary stakeholders to consider preventing this menace. To reduce the rapid increase in crimes, the government has shifted its attention to the prevention strategies. The importance of this preventive measures is that it ensures there is minimal crime rate in America and also engages youth in more productive activities. Precautionary measures have enabled the government to cut off the amount budgeted to the juvenile operation. As a result saving billions of taxpayers' money. Nonetheless, one cannot avoid the power of the juveniles and what they can do even after serving their jail term. It is necessary that even after the incarceration of the juveniles; they should be taught how to behave after serving their terms. The importance of this treatment, however, is that it enables the youth to understand the consequences of being involved in unlawful behaviors and acts.
Despite many delinquency prevention policies being termed as successful, there are more than a dozen failures of this measure. Zero- Tolerance policy is one of the major measures that have resulted to unsuccessful delinquency prevention (Dong, & Krohn, 2016). Such policy encourages the punishment of all factions that have violated the code of conduct. The practice of such policy has led to police brutality and harassment on the youth. Zero tolerance is always designed to punish the juveniles on their mistakes.
The primary goal of the zero-tolerance policy is to ensure that youth do not repeat the committed crimes. This is always done more offensively that in many scenarios violates the rights of these youths. This does not reduce future occurrence of such crimes but instead escalates it further. The main reason for the escalation of the crimes is that the juveniles are hardened by the various mistreatment of the zero-tolerance policy, and they no longer fear to be arrested.
Delinquency prevention has benefited not only society but also has a personal benefit. Research shows that prevention of delinquency is a good program as a financial investment. According to Washington State Institute for Public policy (WSIPP), the total benefits of operational prevention programs were more significant compared to their cost. A Recent finding shows that early prevention of delinquency can, in fact, save taxpayers seven to ten dollars per every dollar invested (Dong, & Krohn, 2016). This is due to the reduction of the money spent during incarceration. It is clear that intervening early not only saves the life of a child from being wasted, but also a likely onset of adult criminal careers. It also reduces the burden of crime on society and saves taxpayers billion
It is clear that while delinquency prevention focuses on those measures that intend at lowering the occurrence of crimes among youth, delinquency treatment mainly relies on the finer details that enable the healing process of the juvenile. These two processes are interconnected as they all both deal with delinquency with the aim of achieving similar goals. While preventing the occurrence of crimes may not mean no criminal offenses will be committed, it is crucial for the government to involve itself in the treatment measures to cure those minor but essential cases.
Method
The study utilizes the descriptive approach of research using set questionnaires formulated by the researcher. The technique is also supplemented by informal interview observation carried out during the research. The researcher was focused on the two types of descriptive method of research. The first method used was the illustrative survey method then later followed by the characteristic evaluation method. Individual reports will also be helpful during data collection. Reports may be carried out through the means of interviews and interrogation based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The need for an efficient and cost-effective tool for data collection is necessary. Therefore the researcher ought to use a descriptive method as well as informal interview to gain access to the necessary data.
Results and Findings
At the end of the research, it was found that juvenile delinquency is a major prevailing activity among the United States youth. The researcher was able to establish that most youths involve themselves in criminal activities thus finding themselves in juvenile. The research also found that there are existing measures that can be used to curb the ever-increasing prevalence of juvenile delinquency. Such measures that were considered was Classroom and behavior management programs, social competence promotion curriculum, conflict resolution and violence prevention programs, bullying prevention programs, after-school recreation programs, mentoring programs, and comprehensive community interventions. As part of the delinquency measures, zero-tolerance was found to be an ineffective method of treating juvenile delinquency. This does not reduce future occurrence of such crimes but instead escalates it further. The main reason for the escalation of the crimes is that the juveniles are hardened by the various mistreatment of the zero-tolerance policy, and they no longer fear to be arrested.
Conclusion
While it is essential to avoid high prevalence of juvenile delinquency, treatment of the same has to be put into consideration. A variety of steps has, however, been set aside to curb the excessive prevalence of juvenile delinquency in the United States. Mentorship program and violence prevention program are regarded as some of the best ways of preventing an occurrence of such crimes. However, in an event where there has been an occurrence of crimes by the youth, appropriate preventive tools have to be engineered to solve the menace.
Some of the recommended treatment measures include multisystem therapy and formation of residential groups that aims at teaching the youth on the importance of abiding by the law. This grouping will also ensure that the youth are as well given roles in the community to avoid sidelining them in the societal operations. With all available preventive and treatment measures, there ought to be advantages and effectiveness of the whole process. Effective preventive measures ensure there is less cost in juvenile budget allocation; as a result saving taxpayers billions of taxes. Such measures also enable the government to reallocate the excess funds to more important projects.
In the wake of the 21st century, a reduced crime assures the country of its internal security. Through empowering the necessary tools of juvenile delinquency and treatment of delinquency, reduced crime is a number one advantage. Nonetheless, a treatment measure enables a government to ensure the future occurrence of crimes is avoided. This is because youth will be aware of the challenges they are going to encounter while serving their sentence at the juvenile. While there will be reduced crimes, the government ought to benefit from successful treatment and preventive measures. The government will enjoy a cut down budget as a result of reduced crimes. This will enable the government to embark on other useful projects.
References
Bright, C. L., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2015). Multiple service system involvement and later offending behavior: Implications for prevention and early intervention. American Journal of Public Health, 105(7), 1358-1364. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1687619744?accountid=45049
Dong, B., & Krohn, M. D. (2016). Dual trajectories of gang affiliation and delinquent peer association during adolescence: An examination of long-term offending outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(4), 746-762. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0417-2
Quinn, M. C. (2015). In loco juvenile justice: Minors in Munis, cash from kids, and adolescent pro se advocacy-ferguson and beyond. Brigham Young University Law Review, 2015(5), 1247-1308. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1837554412?accountid=45049
Radic, I. (2016). SOCIAL-CRIMINAL PREVENTION PROGRAMMES FOR JUVENILES. Paper presented at the 117-130. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1854281087?accountid=45049
