Treatment Programs for Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile crime is often considered more serious than adult-committed crime. This thinking is because juveniles are usually are in their formative years, and this crime may be a representation of the criminal activity of a community. Over the years, the Supreme Court has not only abolished the death sentence for juveniles but also sought more ways to rehabilitate them to avoid this behaviour continuing into adulthood. Effective juvenile programs provide behavioural and multimodal treatments with meaningful contact.
Over time, a few state leaders realized that the justice system for juveniles was unfair and could lead to more re-offending since most kids were placed in detention centres for small offences such as missing school. Community treatment programs, on the other hand, worked better to rehabilitate adolescents. By considering risk assessment, and ensuring only the high-risk kids go to juvenile prison, re-offence and learning bad behaviour is reduced. Community treatment programs such as TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities) work to identify non-violent, drug-involved offenders, assess their treatment needs, refer them to appropriate drug treatment facilities (Duesbury, 2019). They also provide continuous case management to ensure compliance with the law and drug treatment regimen.
Incarceration in a juvenile facility is often the last resort, though it depends on different state requirements. In the Kalamazoo County Government, for instance, the On-Trac Residential Treatment Unit seeks to transform young male offenders, respect them, hold them accountable for their choices and give them the courage to embrace change (9th Judicial Circuit Court, 2020). This treatment program is held within the county juvenile home, serving teens between 13-17. It involves tapping into the kids’ creative energies, offering life skills training and involving the family to keep track of their progress.
In my opinion, community treatment programs are more effective in addressing juvenile delinquent behaviour. This is especially true for low and medium risk offenders who have not committed any major crimes. By meeting them at their point of need, and showing them that the system is here to rehabilitate and not punish, juvenile delinquency is stopped and effectively deterred.
References
9th Judicial Circuit Court- Kalamazoo County Government. (2020). Juvenile Home – On-Trac Residential Treatment Unit. Retrieved 1 August from https://www.kalcounty.com/courts/circuit/kcjh/ontrac.htm
Duesbury, T. A. (2019). What are the Factors Relating to the Success or Failure of Adolescent Enrolled in UAB TASC Adolescent Substance Abuse Program (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Alabama at Birmingham).