How do we, as a society, view troubled children? Do we see them as selfish untamed animals, the result of ”original sin”? Or do we see them as vulnerable and in need of guidance? Are they sick-mentally ill or deficient? Are they predators, or victims of parental, (and societal), neglect? Are there just too many to bother with, so let’s just hide them away?
If we hold fast to the “original sin” point of view, then confinement is the appropriate judgment for all wrongdoers. If you see kids as at risk, then we need to seek better solutions to adolescent crime. No one denies that young people make mistakes, sometimes serious ones. But how we handle those missteps determines the quality and course of our most precious resource, and our nation s future.
Alternatives to Imprisonment:
There are alternatives to custody, even for aggressive delinquents. Juvenile corrections must first shift its focus away from castigation to improvement and instruction. Ankle bracelet monitoring provides an acceptable less expensive alternative to jail for many children. It is especially suitable for first time offenders. This allows correctional departments to know where the minor is at all times. It is also possible to monitor the young person to make sure that each offender attends school. Saint Joseph County, Indiana successfully uses this system to monitor young people on probation. As management for first time status offenders, it is an suitable option. It is a tactic that control’s costs, and, by limiting teen mobility, it prevents the first time rule breaker from having contact with repeat delinquents. It also preserves the family bond. An additional substitute to confinement is the use of family counseling. The Rite of Passage program, as promoted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, as family therapy substitute for custody, has the potential to aide families as they learn to cope with troubled teens.
The juvenile justice system is often used as a dumping ground for children that the courts don’t know what to do with, and as a proxy for foster care. Advancements in foster care such as enhanced screening and selection for placement, could help provide a healthier options for youth that need to be removed from dysfunctional homes. Group home residency, such as Mishawaka Indiana’s Family and Children’s Center provide therapy in a safe environment where troubled youngsters can learn better-quality conduct s in a protected atmosphere. A hierarchy of different remedies should be sought after before the decision is made to imprison. Only when these choices have failed should the decision be made to imprison a child. To date, adjudicators in Indiana have had wide discretionary power that allows them to jail at will.
Humanizing Youth Correction:
Traditionally, child imprisonment has been categorized as “boys/girls school”. It is not ”school.” It is a prison. It must be restored to its original purpose and become an instructional facility where only the most aggressive, and unmanageable children are consigned. All interned teens need to be offered quality academic and vocational training that will meet their educational needs, and offer them hope. Correctional Officers who are employed in the facility must be comprehensively assessed in order to ensure that there is nothing in their personal history that would make them unacceptable for work with children. There must be comprehensive video monitoring of all inmate movement within the facility for the safety of all persons. In addition to videotape supervision, there should be public oversight from citizens who are employed outside of the justice organization serving as a majority, that perform habitual spontaneous inspections of all correctional institutions, in order to guarantee facility compliance with state and federal regulations, and validate the wellbeing of all children present.
Juvenile detention should not be a communities only correctional choice. According to Rosemary Sarri PhD., And Jeffery Shook, MSW, JD, of the university of Michigan
The progress of the 60s and 70s was dramatically reversed in the 980s and 1990s with the passage of federal and state legislation that emphasized incarceration and punishment, along with withdrawal of the distinction between juveniles and adults as far as certain criminal behavior was concerned. As we “celebrated” 100 years of juvenile justice in 2000, the laws and philosophy had returned to many of the practices in place prior to the intervention of the juvenile court. Thousands of juveniles were held in adult prisons, often under extremely punitive conditions.
Should incarceration be society’s first, or last line of defense against young offenders? Correctional options exist that act to direct, and assist immature lawbreakers in creating healthier behaviors by providing them with guidance, leadership, education, and job counseling. The focus of juvenile justice should be to provide children who commit crimes with a future as productive members of society.
