JUVENILE JUSTICE

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JUVENILE JUSTICE

• Chapter 3
• Growth and Development
• The First 18 Years

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INFLUENCES ON CHILDS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

• Community
• Police, Courts, Corrections, Businesses, Church,
  Gangs, Youth Groups, Neighbors, Civic Groups,
  Health Care Providers
• School
• Teachers, Peers, Counselors, Co-curricular
  Activities
• Family
• Parents, Siblings, Relatives

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INFLUENCES ON CHILDS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

• JC jurisdiction over youth varies in states
  according to age 15 years (3 States), 16
  years (10 States) 17 years (38 States, including
  Hawaii)

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What Children need for Healthy Growth and
Development

• Choices and challenges Opportunity to learn,
  explore and stretch their limits
• Healthy and safe surroundings Feel secure and
  protected
• Independence Develop own personality and
  self-confidence-know others have faith in them
• Love Know that they are loved, physically and
  emotionally
• Direction Know rules and boundaries and
  consequences for their actions
• Respect and recognition Respected for who they
  are and praised for their accomplishments
• Encouragement Supported and helped to grow and
  develop
• Nurtured Attention to their mental and
  emotional needs as well as nutritional needs

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TV VIOLENCE

• Violence On TV leads to aggressive behaviors in
  children
• Children become less sensitive to pain and
  suffering around them
• May be more fearful of world
• More likely to behave in aggressive or harmful
  ways towards others

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INDIVIDUAL RISK FACTORS

• Early antisocial behavior
• High behavioral activation
• Low behavioral inhibitions
• Labeling
• Self-fulfilling prophecies

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CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY

• 11 million children living in poverty (2000)
• 55.5 in single parent homes headed by mothers
• Very young black and Hispanic children
• Economic Deprivation malnutrition and
  psychological ills
• Homelessness
• Depression and mother/child bonding
• Developmentally delayed
• Behavioral problems
• Increased risk of lead poisoning
• Increased impulsiveness, restlessness and
  aggression
• Under-weight infants and under-developed

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SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

• Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed
• Severe aggression, or impulsiveness
• Severely withdrawn
• Mood swings
• Disordered thought process
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Heightened motor activity
• Short attention span
• Impulsiveness
• Interferes with learning
• Boys with ADHD high-risk for delinquency

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SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

• Alcohol and Drug Exposed
• Cognitive problems
• Low birth weight
• Disabilities in both gross fine motor control
• Decrease in muscle strength
• Learning disabilities
• Mental Retardation
• Language Delays

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SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

• Learning Disabilities
• Deficits in Learning abilities
• Short attention span
• Poor memory
• Difficulty following directions
• Inadequate ability to distinguish between
  numbers, letters or sounds
• Eye-hand coordination problems
• Discipline Problems
• High-risk for Drop-out

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SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

• HIV Exposed
• Experience deficits in fine and gross motor
  skills
• Reduced flexibility and muscle strength
• Cognitive impairment
• Learning disabilities
• Mental retardation
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
• 1-2/1,000 born in the U.S.
• Abnormal facial features
• Growth retardation
• Problems with central nervous system
• Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE)
• Facial Features look normal, but children
  experience same problems as FAS

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LABELING SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES

• Positive vs Negative communication toward child
• Experiments Brilliant, Average, Below-Average
• Consequences of Labeling
• Self-fulfilling prophesy you are what you think
  you are

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ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

• See Page 83 for details
• Early Adolescence (10-12 years)
• Physical Puberty starts (rapid growth), usually
  starts two years earlier for Girls
• Cognitive Inconsistent thoughts, Shifts from
  immature to mature thinking
• Emotional Seeks independence, wants control in
  decision making
• Social Has desire to fit in to be well liked,
  groups form, wants no adult supervision, peer
  pressure begins

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ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

• Middle Adolescence (13-15
• Physical Development Puberty continues, boys
  have growth spurts, Acne and body order, poor
  eating habits develop, Aware sensitive of
  peers growth dev.
• Cognitive Abstract Thinking begins, Problem
  solving, analytical thinking writing deficient,
  Girls begin failing, peer conformity
• Emotional Craves freedom, Good at masking
  feelings, Intense desire for privacy, increased
  sexual desires, needs praise
• Social Friendships and romance, realizes other
  points of view, moral reasoning, development of
  self-concept, meaningful relationships with peers
  and adults

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ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

• Late Adolescence (16 years)
• Physical Boys growth doubled since 12 yrs. Old,
  Appetite increased, Eating Disorders may appear
• Cognitive Critical thinking and reasoning,
  Wants to make own decisions, develop own beliefs,
  values, career choices, increased peer conformity
• Emotional Personal identity, self esteem
  continues to dev., decision making, coping skills
  and problem solving, worries about life, mature
  friendships, generally strong ties with family
• Social Independence developed and demonstrated,
  susceptibility to peer pressure declines,
  cooperation increases, begins forming
  heterosexual groups, same-sex relationships
  strengthen, after-school work, social causes

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ADOLESCENCE

• Development of Early Offending Behaviors
• Lack of family life
• Boredom, loneliness
• Low attachment to community or school
• Deviant peers or peer rejection can influence
  non-delinquent youth to become delinquent

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ADOLESCENCE

• Alcohol and Other Drugs had direct correlation
  with delinquency
• Majority of adolescents coming into JJS had
  history of substance use
• Problems with family, academic difficulties,
  health and poor peer relations
• Juvenile drug use is related to chronic use and
  violence that continues onto adulthood

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ADOLESCENCE

• U.S. has the highest rates of teen pregnancy than
  other industrialized countries
• 4/10 girls get pregnant before age 20
• Teen mothers less likely to complete high school
  and end up on welfare
• Teen births have increased risk of low-birth
  weight and pre-maturity, mental retardation,
  poverty, growing-up w/o father
• Created a class of poor young women
• Evidence of intergenerational transfer of poverty

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INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

• Family is the first teacher
• Values, Morals and models of behavior
• Healthy family life produces high self-esteem,
  good communication skills, good attitudes towards
  others and the world
• Children in families with high levels of parental
  efficacy are low risk for delinquency
• Inadequate parenting are predictors of antisocial
  behaviors

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INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

• Common Values passed on to youth include
• Equality
• Honesty
• Promise-keeping
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Self-control

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INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

• Behavioral problems associated with
• High-level of parent/child conflict
• Poor monitoring
• Low-level of parent involvement
• Discipline Practices

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INFLUENCE OF FAMILY

• Census Bureau Identified 6 Risk Factors for
  Delinquency
• Poverty
• Welfare Dependence
• Absent Parents
• One-parent Families
• Unwed mothers
• Parents who have not completed High school

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Influence of Schools

• Children who succeed in school have greater
  possibility of succeeding in life
• Peer approval and acceptance more important to
  adolescents than approval of parents or teachers
• Truancy is high indicator that child is at risk
  for delinquent behaviors

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Influence of Schools

• Student responses to School Failure
• Truancy
• Joining Gangs
• Dropping-out
• Drinking
• Doing Drugs
• Delinquent Behaviors
• Suicide Ideation
• Attitudes toward Public Schools
• 1 Lack of Financial Support
• 2 Lack of Discipline

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PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS

• Substance Use
• (6-25 under influence of alcohol or marijuana)
• Bullying
• 8 students reported being bullied (2000)
• Crime Violence
• 1.9 million violent or theft in schools (2000)
• 59/1,000 in 1993 to 26/1,000 in 2000
• Zero Tolerance
• Pre-determined consequences for offenses in
  schools

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STUDENT RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS

• Students have full Constitutional Rights in
  Schools
• Rights against illegal search and seizure
• Freedom of Speech
• HOWEVER
• U.S. SUPREME COURT REQUIRES THAT SCHOOLS ACTIONS
  IN RESTRICTING STUDENTS RIGHTS BE RELATED TO
  REASONABLE PEDIGOGICAL CONCERNS

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STUDENT RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS

• BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT 403 V FRASER
• Schools and prohibit vulgar language and
  offensive terms in public discourse (Candidate
  for Graduation Speaker)
• NEW JERSEY VS TLO
• Schools can make rules for the administration of
  the school (US Supreme Court) (Marijuana Dealer)

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Influence of the Community

• Community Protective Factors
• Healthy communities have financial support
• Access to community services activities
• Good community involvement
• Community Domain Risk Factors
• Disadvantaged or disorganized neighborhoods
• Contain delinquent peer groups
• Easy access to drugs and weapons

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Full-Service Community Schools

• Open seven days a week
• Open to students, families and community members
• Addresses educational, physical and mental health
  needs
• Financed through the partnership of the school
  system and one or more community agencies

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Full-Service Community Schools

• All (students, families, teachers, college
  students and faculty, businesses) work together
  to implement a plan for transforming school into
  child-centered institution
• Health Services immunizations or dentistry may
  be provided