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Research Paper
Juvenile Research Paper
Alexis Vick
Dec 5, 2023
CJUS550
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Research Paper
Abstract
This essay analyzes some of the current problems regarding the juvenile system. The purpose of
the juvenile system is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. Along with potentially giving them
consequences for their actions. There is speculation that there is a revolving door for juvenile
offenders. This means once they are in the system it is hard for them to escape the system.
Researchers have discovered multiple reasons explaining why juveniles end up in the system and
view it as a goal. Different influences that occur in the juvenile’s life can affect them in many
ways and the individuals cannot control these aspects in their life. Relapses are very common in
the juvenile system. There is no definitive solution but there is what to prevent the issue.
Furthermore, this essay will discuss the definition of juvenile delinquency, its influences on
juveniles, and the reincarceration of individuals. Along with possible solutions to this situation.
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Introduction
Juvenile is used to define someone under the age of eighteen. In the criminal justice
system dedicated to juveniles, there is a different definition. Their definition is an individual who
has violated a United States law and is under the age of eighteen (The United States Department
of Justice Archives, 2021). The 2019 statistics reported by the United States Department of
Juvenile Justice stated that roughly 696,620 juveniles were arrested. Of these, 126,130 were
assaults, 119,790 were property crimes, 81,320 were illegal substance crimes, 53,990 were
administrative crimes, 44,010 were fierce crimes, and 31,950 were property damage. There were
26,650 cases of alcohol law violations. These are not all the statistics but are the higher
percentage of the offenses committed. While these numbers are shocking, the same study also
reported juvenile arrests, are decreasing compared to past years. Numbers are decreasing but it is
still our responsibility to help keep the numbers decreasing. This report discusses what juvenile
delinquency is, the risk factors associated with juvenile delinquency, recidivism in the juvenile
justice system, and possible solutions to prevent juvenile recidivism.
Juvenile Delinquency
There are a couple of things that need to happen to be able to address juvenile
delinquency. The first thing is understanding juvenile offenders and defining them. Juvenile
delinquencies are known as a person under the age of eighteen who has committed a crime
(Young et al., 2017). Juveniles are the same thing as adults, the only difference is their age.
When it comes to the juvenile system the wrongdoings are specific. Schmalleger (2019) defined
this topic as Criminal acts or conduct by juveniles, crimes against juvenile status, and other
delinquent acts by juveniles (p. 515). There are six categories in the juvenile system. The
categories are children, young offenders, children with behavior problems, dependent children,
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abandoned children, and offenders with multiple offenses (Schmalleger, 2019). An individual
who involves themselves in an activity that is also a crime is a delinquent child. An undisciplined
child escapes from control determined by parents. A dependent child is a child who has no
guardian or whose guardian cannot care for them. A neglected child who does not receive
adequate material or intellectual care from his or her parents or guardians or who is put up for
adoption is in breach of the law. An abused child is someone who has been physically, sexually,
or emotionally abused. A status offender is a child who carries out an act that violates the
following laws because of his or her status as a child. Examples: purchasing alcohol, skipping
school, or other acts that are legally considered criminal offenses only when committed or
carried out by young people (Schmalleger, 2019, p. 519. The juvenile justice system is structured
similarly to adult courts, but a different name is used to avoid the stigma associated with criminal
proceedings. This is like a criminal charge filed against an adult. At the hearing, a decision will
be made on further action, including whether the youth can be transferred to another program or
whether the charges will be deferred to the next step in the process. The next step is a
preliminary hearing, where the judge must determine whether there is probable cause that a
crime was committed and whether it is most likely that the juvenile committed the crime. In
some cases, the next part of the process will be determining whether the case will remain in
juvenile court or be transferred to adult court. Court hearings differ from criminal trials in that
they are closed, informal, and expedited, and juveniles do not have the right to a jury trial. The
final step in the juvenile justice process is the disposition hearing.
Risk Factors for Juveniles
One factor supported by research is that one should be considered successful based on
material possessions. These letters were further divided into groups that wrote about cars,
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houses, clothes, money, and other material things, and one group and the other group that wrote
about negative, reform, and success. As a result of the analysis of these two subcategories of his
collected letters, the author finds that people who fall into the negative category in particular
express how the influence of materialism negatively affects their lives concerning family and
community. The other category consisted of those who specifically discussed the need for
materialism as a reason for committing the crime. In the negative category, these juvenile
offenders explained that they were saddened by seeing how materialism affected the lives of
those around them, including family, friends, and community members. Because of this, young
people feel helpless because they cannot control how those around them live based on their
possessions, and therefore cannot control the environment in which they have to grow up. The
second category focuses on the need for material possessions, and these young people commit
these crimes to gain instant gratification from owning money or expensive possessions. I
explained that I felt like I had to commit the crime. The study revealed that greed is the main
motive for these young people to commit crimes. These teens are often influenced by what they
see in the media about the celebrities and athletes they admire, coupled with the environment of
the people they encounter daily, which drives the narrative, expensive clothes, Even things that
are considered successful, such as shoes, having to own a car, jewelry, housing, etc., are big risk
factors, and their influence on how teens make decisions about how to live their lives poses a big
risk for juvenile offenders. Modrowski et al. (2021) describe these types of risk factors for
children in the child welfare system. It is not their fault that they are in the system, but there is a
connection between the risk factors they face and their likelihood of entering the juvenile justice
system. Among the demographic and sociocultural risk factors in this article, gender and race
were her two strengths. Although male juveniles are more likely to commit crimes, female
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juvenile offenders are often overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. Given the overlap
between the two systems, young people from minority groups are far more represented in both
systems, and black male youth are particularly at risk of being included in both systems. These
researchers also discussed known risk factors in addition to sociocultural and demographic risk
factors. Associated with this type of risk factor is that youth living in poverty are more likely to
have contact with both the child welfare system and the juvenile justice system. Living amid
abuse and conflict in the family environment shows a direct connection to these systems,
especially in adolescent women. “Furthermore, conflicts in mother-daughter relationships are
especially salient in girls’ involvement in the justice system, as many abused girls enter the
justice system after being arrested for incidents of mutual violence with their mothers
(Modrowski, 2019, p.n285). Another risk factor mentioned in this study is the presence of mental
health and drug challenges. Researchers found that in states like Florida and Missouri, youth
diagnosed with mental illness or substance use disorders were more likely to be referred to the
juvenile justice system and more likely to re-offend. This examination showed that young people
who have the right morals and values to live their lives outside of the juvenile justice system are
still at high risk of becoming part of the juvenile justice system due to their life circumstances.
Recidivism of Juvenile Offenders
Throughout the research studied, there has been a general conclusion that there is no
national rate of recidivism for juvenile offenders as there is a lack of research on this specific
topic. Although there is no significant research specifically on the rate of recidivism, there have
been numerous studies that have examined the contributing factors to the rate at which juvenile
offenders re-offend. In a study by Baglivio et al. (2017), this study investigated the association
between parental drugs and mental health problems and the presence of markers of
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neuropsychological deficits in serious juvenile offenders. The neuropsychological deficits these
researchers investigated were specifically attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
conduct disorder (CD) in adolescents. In addition to examining the effects of ADHD and celiac
disease on adolescent relapse rates, these researchers also examined the prevalence of two
temperament deficits: effortful control and negative affectivity. In this study, he evaluated three
hypotheses. First Parental alcohol, drug, and mental health problems have indirect effects on
recidivism caused by certain mental disorders, such as ADHD and celiac disease. Secondly,
ADHD and celiac disease directly predict relapse, and then lastly parental problems have an
indirect effect on relapse through the temperamental constructs of effortful control and negative
affectivity. These researchers utilized a total sample of 11,557 white, Hispanic, and black
juveniles released from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice between July 1, 2009, and
July 1, 2013. Through the research conducted by these authors, three conclusions were drawn.
The first conclusion is that parental substance abuse and mental health problems are significantly
associated with a formal diagnosis of ADHD and negative affectivity in adolescents, but not with
a diagnosis of celiac disease and effortful control. It was said to be unrelated. The second
conclusion was that ADHD, but not celiac disease, is associated with formal relapse within 1
year of treatment completion. His third conclusion from this study was that both effortful control
and negative emotions are significantly related to relapse. All three findings predictive of
recurrence remained even after accounting for a wide range of associated risk factors (Baglivio et
al., 2017, p. 1023). Through their research and data collection, these authors demonstrated that
adolescents may be at increased risk of committing or reoffending simply because of parental
decisions. Teens can do everything they can to live a crime-free life, but there are some factors
out of their control that put them at greater risk. This study investigated the association between
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parental drugs and mental health problems and the presence of markers of neuropsychological
deficits in serious juvenile offenders (Baglivio et al., 2017). The neuropsychological deficits
these researchers investigated were specifically attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
and conduct disorder (CD) in adolescents. In addition to examining the effects of ADHD and
celiac disease on adolescent relapse rates, these researchers also examined the prevalence of two
temperament deficits: effortful control and negative affectivity. (1) Parental alcohol, drug, and
mental health problems have indirect effects on recidivism caused by certain mental disorders,
such as ADHD and celiac disease. (2) ADHD and celiac disease directly predict relapse, and (3)
parental problems have an indirect effect on relapse through the temperamental constructs of
effortful control and negative affectivity. The first conclusion is that parental substance abuse and
mental health problems are significantly associated with a formal diagnosis of ADHD and
negative affectivity in adolescents, but not with a diagnosis of celiac disease and effortful
control. The second conclusion was that ADHD, but not celiac disease, is associated with formal
relapse within 1 year of treatment completion. His third conclusion from this study was that both
effortful control and negative emotions are significantly related to relapse. Regarding the
influence of a youth`s family situation on recidivism rates and several risk factors, Intravia et al.
(2017) investigated how prosocial bonds and community disadvantage influence youth
recidivism rates. Specifically, this study examined the role of community disadvantage in
predicting youth recidivism through prosocial bonds in the form of attachment and activity
participation. By comparing the relationships between several different variables, these
researchers found that prosocial relationships and involvement in prosocial activities were
negatively associated with youth recidivism, meaning that youth It was concluded that the more
active the patient is, the less likely they are to relapse. The study also showed that communities
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that are disadvantaged for reasons such as location or number of resources available host young
people who are more likely to re-offend because they are sheltered in their communities.”
Prosocial bonds partially explain the influence of community disadvantage on the ‘balance’ of
youth recidivism (p. This study only strengthens the relationship between childhood experiences
and relapse frequency in young people.
Solution
There is no perfect solution to our nation's ongoing problem of youth recidivism.
However, little research suggests possible solutions to this problem. Roden et al. (2019)
investigated how psychological trauma interventions impact youth recidivism rates. One is to
identify and evaluate the effectiveness of psychological trauma interventions in the treatment of
post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescents, to evaluate the effectiveness of trauma
interventions in the treatment of behavioral problems, and To evaluate the methodological rigor
of trauma intervention research to find the most effective options. By reviewing and evaluating
the results of each of these 16 studies, the authors of this study concluded that the most used
form of intervention in these studies was cognitive behavioral therapy. A commonality found in
these studies was also that the researchers used some form of educational component, skill-
building, and self-regulation strategies. (2019) found that 9 of 16 studies showed moderate to
large effects on post-traumatic stress disorder and that trauma-specific interventions resulted in
one post-traumatic stress disorder. We found that patients reported symptoms of from this
information and additional information collected, it was concluded that most interventions were
effective in reducing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in youth who exhibited
behavioral problems and delinquency. These researchers also believe that more research needs to
be conducted and more studies are needed to arrive at a systematic, rigorous trauma intervention
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that proves effective in reducing deviant behavior and psychological trauma symptoms. Formby
and Paynter (2020) took a different approach to the problem of youth recidivism and investigated
the possible effects of library media programs on reducing youth recidivism. These researchers
described a nationwide problem with the overwhelming number of youths in the custody of the
juvenile justice system. This study argues that youth in the juvenile justice system are severely
undereducated, and their needs are not met while incarcerated. Formby and Paynter (2020)
investigated the relationship between the presence of library media programs and student
success. Formby and Paynter (2020) note that although there is little or no research on the direct
impact that the presence of full-time media programs in libraries may have on incarcerated
youth, they hypothesize that there may be an effect. There is no perfect solution to our nation's
ongoing problem of youth recidivism. However, little research suggests possible solutions to this
problem. Roden et al. (2019) investigated how psychological trauma interventions impact youth
recidivism rates. One is to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of psychological trauma
interventions in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescents, to evaluate the
effectiveness of trauma interventions in the treatment of behavioral problems, and to evaluate the
methodological rigor of trauma intervention research to find the most effective options. By
reviewing and evaluating the results of each of these 16 studies, the authors of this study
concluded that the most used form of intervention in these studies was cognitive behavioral
therapy. A commonality found in these studies was also that the researchers used some form of
educational component, skill-building, and self-regulation strategies. (2019) found that 9 of 16
studies showed moderate to large effects on post-traumatic stress disorder and that trauma-
specific interventions resulted in one post-traumatic stress disorder. We found that patients
reported symptoms of from this information and additional information collected, it was
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concluded that most interventions were effective in reducing symptoms of posttraumatic stress
disorder in youth who exhibited behavioral problems and delinquency. These researchers also
believe that more research needs to be conducted and more studies needed to arrive at a
systematic, rigorous trauma intervention that proves effective in reducing deviant behavior and
psychological trauma symptoms. Formby and Paynter (2020) took a different approach to the
problem of youth recidivism and investigated the possible effects of library media programs on
reducing youth recidivism. These researchers described a nationwide problem with the
overwhelming number of youths in the custody of the juvenile justice system. This study argues
that youth in the juvenile justice system are severely undereducated, and their needs are not met
while incarcerated. Formby and Paynter (2020) investigated the relationship between the
presence of library media programs and student success. Formby and Paynter (2020) note that
although there is little or no research on the direct impact that the presence of full-time media
programs in libraries may have on incarcerated youth, they hypothesize that there may be an
effect.
Conclusion
This research report discussed what juvenile delinquency is, the risk factors associated
with juvenile delinquency, recidivism in the juvenile justice system, and possible solutions to
prevent youth recidivism. Materialism, greed, and the need to demonstrate success by reflecting
the lifestyle of individuals that young people look up to are among the potentially preventable
risk factors. However, as mentioned earlier, many other risk factors contribute to problems that
cannot be prevented in young people. The justice number of young people entering the juvenile
justice system has decreased alarmingly over the years, it is most important that these young
people are provided with all the tools to change their lifestyle from a life of crime to a productive
ia
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member of society. Researchers are not satisfied with just finding a set of solutions that will help
these young people achieve this end goal.
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