Juvenile Detainees Essay

Criminal Justice and the juvenile justice systems are almost the same but are different. When corrections’ officials have to deal with juvenile detainees, such a situation needs to be dealt with care. In identifying such situations, we will look at child development, punishment and deterrence. Juvenile detention officers work with incarcerated youth. Although juvenile detention officers deal with many of the same realities as other corrections officers, juvenile detention officers have the opportunity to assist young offenders in their attempts to be rehabilitated into responsible adults. In a sense a Juvenile detention officer is the perfect blend of a jailer and social worker. While the Juvenile detention officers must be alert and tough enough to work with young criminals, he or she must also be committed to helping troubled youngsters change their life. Since Juvenile detention officers work with youth, they have to see to it that young offenders receive all the services they need and that they are meeting their legal and therapeutic obligations. As such, Juvenile detention officers are responsible for making sure that inmates arrive on time to appointments within their facility and outside of it. According to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, a juvenile detention officer, â€Å"Prepares detained youth for court appearances, transports and escorts detained youth to medical, criminal justice, social services and judicial facilities as needed according to departmental and facility policy and procedures.† Of course, this implies keeping track of incarcerated youth and not letting them flee. Aside from insuring that juvenile offenders receive proper care and keep appointments, juvenile detention officers teach wayward youth how to function in society by acting as models of proper adult behavior. For instance, juvenile detention officers in Kitsap County, Washington are expected to † Assist juveniles in cultivating appropriate social, behavioral, and interpersonal skills and attitudes useful in community living; lead recreational activities and give instruction in games.† Juvenile detention officers may also lead the youngsters in cleaning and maintenance activities in order to model good hygiene and to demonstrate proper adult housekeeping habits. Although there is an emphasis on rehabilitation and inmate care in juvenile correctional facilities, juvenile detention officers are subject to the hazards of working in a locked facility with young criminals. In addition to rehabilitation and treatment related activities, juvenile detention officers may have duties similar to those of any other corrections officer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the duties of detention officers include searching for contraband, weapons and drugs, resolving conflicts between inmates, and â€Å"enforcing discipline.† This means monitoring vehicles and packages coming in and out of locked facilities as well as frequent personal and room inspections. Juvenile detention officers are, of course, responsible for knowing the whereabouts of all inmates and preventing them from leaving the locked facility. Laws we have regulated the way we have set up punishment for juveniles. The punishments we have in tact usually serve to rehabilitate the juvenile to do better in the future. Our laws have extended that to sealing juvenile records for the sake of protection. Juvenile crime and punishments can be different from the types of punishments that are ordered in adult criminal cases. The first court established expressly for juveniles was built in Chicago in 1899 to address the issue of juvenile crime and punishments. Juvenile crime and punishments peaked in 1994. The 1990s saw a swell of public scrutiny over the perceived juvenile crime epidemic. In an effort to crack down on juvenile crime and punishments, many state legislatures have adopted harsher laws regarding juvenile crimes. In my opinion, the best two ways to prevent juvenile crime is strengthening families and education. In American Samoa, a block grant was introduced and tested from 2002 to 2004. This block grant was for Preventing Substance abuse targeting the families and children. The idea behind the program was to seek if a problem existed, what the effects of substance abuse and how it can be fixed. The interesting factor and I suppose the most important was how the Samoan family evolved from closely knit and knowing every aspect of their children’s whereabouts to children becoming simple renters in the parent’s homes. Long story short, American Samoa was awarded funding for 10 years or so long as the program is needed. The theme of the program was strengthening families. I believe that it is an important part in anyone’s life. Sociologist’s believe that one’s environment affects one’s way of life. However, in some unfortunate cases, not everyone has the chance to grow up with a traditional family. The idea is, one’s family should be the biggest and the most important supporters in their lives. We define our familes different, whether it is a mother, a father, brother, sister, grandparent or even your best friend’s family. The point is having the sense of strength in one’s home is important to one’s success or failure. Strengthening families can be accomplished by offering help to those that need it through information and education. Which leads to my second point is education. Juveniles feel lost as do most of us that don’t know what to do or which direction to head to. Through education we get an idea of where we would like to go in our lives. Some juveniles do not have access or do not see the importance of education until there is support, programs, and resources available to them. We promote education through the media and all sorts of things, but are we really making it available for everyone? My mother in law always tells us, children are like cameras, they take images of everything around them. The product of these images are the problems we face today. Reference: Seiter, R. (2011). Corrections: An introduction (3rd ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc