Law Essay Example: Juvenile Incarceration

The era of 1990s saw an increase in the arrest trends of juvenile offenders (Schweitzer et al., 2015). This group of criminals also referred to as the super-predators were savage sociopathic youth with no ethical inner voice and considered wrongdoing to be a transitional experience. The growing fear of the public towards these juvenile offenders led to the hardening of penal sanctions as opposed to rehabilitation.

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The contention was that violent crimes among the juveniles was increasing and would keep on rising since these super predators carried out more horrendous violations with higher recurrence. The supporters of this contention presumed that the rehabilitative approach of the adolescent equity framework was worthless on these group of violators since their tendencies were to a great extent unchangeable. As a result, shielding the general population from these juvenile offenders turned into a public concern.

Therefore, states resorted to the use of "get-tough" policies for handling juvenile delinquencies, repudiating some adolescent of the equity framework's protection (Allen at al., 2015). Nations embraced specific methods for transferring youth from adolescent to adult criminal law court for discipline and trial. These laws burdened the juveniles with severe rulings and resulted in an increase in the population of the incarcerated juveniles. Apparently, the strategy was not working. Hence, there was a need for a method of meeting the two needs of ensuring the general population by imprisoning vicious adolescent and lowering correctional institutional populaces.

So, researchers proposed the creation of community-based programs such as the RECLAIM program in Ohio (Schweitzer et al., 2015). The program gives budgetary incentives to courts to keep a large portion of the less vicious adolescent wrongdoers in the group for rehabilitation. Every area gets a monthly assignment of assets depending on the number of teenage crime arbitrations. Judges can utilize that cash to buy long-term containment from the Department of Youth Services or to create, extend, or buy community-based alternatives locally.

In conclusion, even though the attitudes toward delinquents are uncertain, it is clear that the overall tactic remains supportive to the retaining of the penal rules of the 1990s. However, it is essential to readjust these laws about pragmatic confirmation, so as to gain effectiveness in averting juvenile criminals from becoming lifetime convicts.

eferences

Allen et al. (2015). Juvenile Offenders. Class reading.

Schweitzer, M., Labrecque, R. M., & Smith, P. (2015). Reinvesting in the lives of youth: A targeted approach to reducing Recidivism. Criminal Justice Policy Review. doi:10.1177/0887403415579262