Criminal Justice

We are wrapping everything up now. It is time to think about the big questions. In this final discussion, I want us to reflect on the following: In the current U.S. juvenile justice system, what is the most critical obstacle to preventing delinquency, or intervening effectively for those who are exhibiting delinquent behavior? Why is this the biggest challenge? Then I want you to reflect on what are the best avenues for reform that could address the biggest challenge. What are at least 2 potential solutions to help ameliorate, or improve, this issue? Please support your claims with evidence. Feel free to draw upon any course resources to develop your “critical issue,” as well as the avenues for reform.

ANSWER

Challenges Facing Delinquency Prevention Programs

School is among the top methods of preventing delinquency in adolescents. It is not only, effective because that is where adolescents spend most of their time, but because it is the next primary institution after family (Taheri & Welsh, 2016). The school has access to the adolescents for an extended period and, thus, can serve as a delinquency prevention program. School-based delinquency prevention programs can take several different forms such as social competency programs, which are directed to children who are believed to be at a high risk of becoming delinquent. These programs, however, face challenges such as insufficient funds to support the programs and maintain the continuance of the program over time.  The personnel who are available are usually overworked. school staff such as teachers who work in the school join the program and this leads to the program’s failure.

The challenge of schools not having enough funding to hold the programs can be addressed in different ways. One of the ways of addressing is by incorporating such programs within the school curriculum and ensuring that they get funding from the government (Welsh et al., 2019). If the government funds the program, it will be easy for the school to employ people who have specialized in dealing with delinquent adolescents and how to deal with them. This should be implemented in schools with high rates of crimes and delinquency (Welsh et al., 2015). Another method that could be useful is school heads looking for potential donors who can support the program. They can also organize community fund drives where they ask the community members to donate money for the school-based programs that will keep the adolescents away from crime. These two methods could be effective and help keep the adolescents grounded and thus, preventing them from joining the crime world. It is also going to help reduce the crime rates in the country.

References

Taheri, S. A., & Welsh, B. C. (2016). After-school programs for delinquency prevention: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Youth violence and juvenile justice, 14(3), 272-290.

Welsh, B. C., Dill, N. E., & Zane, S. N. (2019). The first delinquency prevention experiment: a socio-historical review of the origins of the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study’s research design. Journal of experimental criminology, 15(3), 441-451.

Welsh, B. C., Farrington, D. P., & Gowar, B. R. (2015). Benefit-cost analysis of crime prevention programs. Crime and justice, 44(1), 447-516.