Juvenile Justice

1
Juvenile Justice

• Chapter 11
• The Role of the Broader Community

2
Objectives

• How do we define community
• What the broken window phenomenom refers to?
• How social work has influenced juvenile justice
  policy
• What parts of the juvenile justice system social
  work is involved in?

3
Objectives Cont..

• What the current emphasis in social services for
  youths is?
• What type of intervention holds the greatest
  promise?
• What basic skills should be taught in school
  besides reading, math, spelling
• Benefits of using volunteers in community based
  corrections?
• Why jobs are important to youths?

4
Introduction

• Today many parents are too stressed, many schools
  are too impersonal, and many communities are too
  disorganized to fulfill the need for children to
  belong. When children are estranged from family,
  friends, school, and productive work the seed of
  discouragement and alienation are sown. The
  result is angry children who become antisocial
  offenders. The answer to these problems cannot be
  found in Washington D.C. but has to be a joint
  effort with Main Street USA.

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Community Defined

• Community has several different meanings
• A specific geographic are such as a town or
  suburb
• A group of people with common interests
• A group of people in a congregation
• The are over which the police have jurisdiction

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Community Cont.

• Ina more philosophical sense, community
  represents a sense of integration that people
  wish, hope, and envision as being a central part
  of their collective lives
• In an integrated community people feel ownership,
  take pride in what is right and take
  responsibility for what is wrong

7
Perceptions of Community

• Several Children in Minnesota were asked to write
  essays about their community
• It was proof positive that kids are very aware of
  the community around them
• Most kids surveys had many positive things to say
  about their community expressing, close people,
  one giant family, working together to accomplish
  things, and enjoying each other
• The outward appearance of the community is very
  important to children

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Perceptions Cont..

• On the other hand many of the 7000 children that
  were surveyed expressed very negative things
  about their community
• Fears of rape, gangs, murder, kidnapping,
  shootings
• Also people of different races, cultures, and
  languages are coming closer together and enormous
  demands are being placed on them for tolerance
  and understanding

9
Broken Windows Theory

• The broken windows phenomenon states that if no
  one cares disorder and crime will thrive
• Many police and social scientists agree that if
  one window is broken and left un-repaired pretty
  soon crime will thrive

10
Community Policing

• Community policing means a lot of things
• More interaction and cooperation between the
  police and the people in the neighborhoods they
  serve
• The goal of community policing is to reduce crime
  and increase feelings of safety between residents
• Community policing helps law enforcement get to
  the heart of preventing crime

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Community Police Cont..

• Community policing is a proactive problem solving
  approach to making a community safe

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Problems with Community Policing

• Interagency cooperation is one of the most
  difficult problems
• Police will discover a problem in a restaurant,
  housing complex, or in the street but housing
  authority or public works may not do anything
  about it
• City managers want the vote of the people will
  hesitate to take action

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Problems with Community Policing Cont.

• Police themselves disagree with what the role of
  policeman should be
• Is it crime fighter or a social service function
• Do they handle the litter problem is or that some
  other agencies responsibility

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Role of the Social Workers

• Social workers have greatly influenced the trends
  in juvenile justice policy in areas of diversion,
  victim restitution, the decriminalization of and
  status offenders
• There is is public interest in helping youths by
  preventing delinquency and controlling youths

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Role of the Social Workers Cont..

• There is also great interest in assessing and
  treating youths with emotional and behavioral
  problems

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Social Workers Cont..

• Non-delinquent children who are needy, neglected
  or abused need assistance
• 1935 Social Security Act
• 1961 Amended Social Security Act
• 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act
• 1980 Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act
• The current emphasis is for social service
  workers is diversion of youths to social service
  programs

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Role of the Schools

• The role of the schools was addressed in chapter
  4 and it noted the risks children perceive while
  attending school
• There is much fear among students
• There are also kids who dont have lunches, or
  need glasses, or ones who stay up all night
  because their parents have drinking problems

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Schools Cont..

• You cant be worried about learning if you are
  worried about a place to hide
• In a survey kids 12-19 avoid 1 or more places at
  school for fear of their safety
• There were 225, 000 incidents in 1996
• Also 5 of all seniors had been injured with a
  knife, gun, or club

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Schools Cont..

• Law enforcement must bring the community together
  on 2 basic issues
• That school violence is a community issue and not
  just a school issue
• That the school is the community and community is
  the school
• Traditional courses have been expanded to
  conflict resolution and teaching interpersonal
  skills in mediation
• Student courts are now available to handle
  certain infractions

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Gangs in the Schools

• To make schools safer we have to address the
  problem of the gangs in the schools
• One program that is used is called Gang
  Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T)
• Teaches students how to set goals for themselves
• How to resist pressure
• And for kids to understand how gangs affect their
  quality of life

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GREAT Cont..

• This program provides children
• Accurate knowledge about gang involvement
• The skills necessary to combat the stresses that
  set the stage for gang involvement
• The skills to resist negative peer pressure
• Provides alternatives to gang involvement

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10 Step Plan for Gang Prevention in the Schools

• Be honest. Admit to the potential for problems
• Get smart. Know the gang symbols and
  paraphernalia
• Identify your schools leaders and get them on
  your side
• Dont close the doors at 313 pm. Keep the kids
  involved after school

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10 Step Plan for Gang Prevention in the Schools
Cont..

• 5. Work with the Police
• 6. Involve transfer students. Give new students
  activities and opportunities to fit in
• 7. Educate the teaching staff
• 8. Get parents on your side
• 9. Find role models
• 10 Provide career counseling for marginal students

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The Role of Community Agencies, Businesses and
Volunteers

• To establish statewide standards for juveniles
  services by creating a statewide Juvenile
  Services Commission
• Provide appropriate preventive, diversionary and
  dispositional alternatives for young people
• Encourage co-ordination of all agencies
  supporting juvenile services
• Promote local involvement in developing improved
  services for youth

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Goals for a JJ Model

• The family unit shall be preserved
• Intervention shall be limited to those actions
  that are necessary and will utilize the least
  restrictive and most effective and appropriate
  resources
• The family shall be encouraged to participate
  actively in whatever treatment is afforded the
  child
• Treatment in the community instead of
  incarceration whenever possible
• Provide secure temporary custody for children not
  eligible for secure detention

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Community Volunteers

• Community volunteers are a very valuable resource
• They help improve programs and make them
  successful
• They assist in breaking down isolation and
  normalize the environment
• They help offenders explore possibilities for
  adjustment to the community
• They assist in changing the attitudes of the
  community towards the offenders

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Community Volunteers Cont..

• Volunteers are encourages to review programs, and
  facilities to assess their effectiveness
• They fill gaps between govt services and the
  actual needs
• Senior citizens make good volunteers in working
  with high risk children

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Jobs and Restitution

• Community efforts are aimed at creating jobs for
  youths
• Work is important in defining who we are
• Work gives us security and creates a good
  self-image
• Work helps us measure our value to both ourselves
  and to others
• It is the communities responsibility to provide
  job for children who must pay restitution

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Jobs and Restitution Cont..

• Developing jobs for offenders serves to
• Increase the possibility for hard to employ
  offenders to get employment
• Negate the excuse of non-payment for lack of
  work
• Improves the enforcement of restitution orders
• Increases timeliness of payments to victims
• The court can control the earnings and and get
  payments to the victim and assured the
  restitution is being paid by the offender
• Allows for larger restitution orders to be paid
  out over time

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Importance of Co-ordination

• In order to reduce juvenile violence there must
  be a coordinated effort of public and private
  investment of financial and human resources
• Factors that limit successful intervention are as
  follows
• Continued corporal punishment results in the
  child being an aggressor later
• Violence on TV and the media which affects
  childrens attitudes and behavior in relation to
  violence

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Importance of Co-ordination Cont..

• Availability of firearms, especially to children
  and youth. Firearms encourage the escalation of
  lethal violence

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The End