Outline of Prospectus Draft

Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Versus Punishment

Mia Lee

03/07/2021

Writing a Quality Prospectus

Dr. Brooker

Dissertation Topic Interest

My topic of interest is Juvenile justice and rehabilitation versus punishment to reduce reoffending. This means that when juveniles offenders are introduced into the criminal justice system, the debate is whether or not they should automatically be sent to serve their punishment or should there be rehabilitative methods that can be taken to help keep them from reoffending. When juvenile offenders are introduced to the criminal justice system or have their first run in with law enforcement, this is when they make their mark with law enforcement. This means that law enforcement officers have now determined how they are going to react to them and interact with them from here on out. Unfortunately, all juveniles do not have positive interactions with law enforcement which leads my interest on this topic.

My interest in this topic started when I was getting my bachelor’s degree at Norfolk State University. I had to complete an internship as part of my graduation requirements, and I chose the Juvenile Detention Center in Chesapeake. I had the opportunity to work alongside with the juvenile counselors who guided and molded me as I worked from August to December. I had the opportunity to be the actual counselor while I was at my work shift from seven to three p.m. I took on duties such as getting the juveniles up every morning and preparing them for head count for breakfast and then getting them ready to start their school day. I had to monitor them throughout the school day and make sure the daily operations of the detention center were being ran properly. There were even times when I had the opportunity to go on transportation runs with the transportation counselor which included things such as taking the juveniles to doctors’ appointments, therapy appointments and any other visits they were supposed to attend. This process and internship allowed me look deeper into the juvenile justice process and how these offenders in which many of them were children, had an outlook on life. Many of them did not have the family support nor the resources to make a change in their life which is why some of them were in the predicament they were in. Some of them hung around the wrong crowd in hopes of finding the support from their peers and those were older than them because of what they lacked from their elders. There was were three females in my unit that confided in me and often talked to me about the life changes that they wanted and how they did not have the support back at home. This is another thing that sparked my interest in this topic because I do think it is important to offer rehabilitative methods where direct punishment may not be necessary. Punishment only may not help the situation out rather than make them keep reoffending and keep hanging around those who put them in a bad place to begin with.

This problem is worth studying because there are juvenile offenders who were offered rehabilitative methods after their detention center time and ended up in a better situation afterwards than those who only had direct punishment and were released to the streets to no resources. Juvenile Justice is a direct part of the criminal justice system and law enforcement. Studying rehabilitative programs and the different therapeutic methods which helps assist juvenile with re-entering society.

References

Darbouze, K. (2008). Rehabilitative Methods and the Affect on Juvenile Delinquents. https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/10097/Darbouze,%20Kelie.pdf;jsessionid=D327EFD192FA0504038F14A5BEBFDEFA?sequence=1