Michelle Little (McMichael)
CRJ 303
Professor Karabekou
March 13, 2013
Issues with Juveniles Juveniles can break the law just like adults can. The difference is in the way they are treated after the fact, from the police interaction to the type of punishment they will ultimately receive. In most cases getting to the child before criminal behavior begins may stop a life of crime before it begins. In this paper I will be going over the importance of child development, crime control, interrogation and Miranda warnings, crime prevention, deterrence, and punishment. Children that grow up in homes where the parents are not around or do not care about them are more likely to become caught up in a life of crime than the kids that have a loving family. Children that have parents that are criminals themselves will probably become criminals as well. “According to one researcher, 63 percent of boys with convicted fathers themselves had criminal convictions, compared to 30 percent among those who did not have convicted fathers”. (Worrall, 2008, p. 259) If a child does not have a positive role model to follow, they will follow the negative one. This is also true if the father is not in the home or part of their lives or if their parents are in to drugs. Lack of parental supervision, improper abuse, rejection, neglect, conflict between the parents and many other problems can also lead to behavioral issues in children. Domestic violence in the home, single family households and families with large amounts of people are also more likely to produce children that have behavioral issues as they develop. Lack of attention or negative attention is hard on a child and it has been proven to lead them to a life of delinquency. There are many steps that families can take to work on crime control before it becomes a problem. The first is parent training and education. “Just as there are good drivers and bad drivers, there are good parents
References: Bartollas, C. & Miller, S. (2008). Juvenile justice in America (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. McCarver, S. R. (2006). Interview and Interrogation of Juvenile. Missouri Juvenile Officer Handbook. Retrieved from: http://www.courts.mo.gov/hosted/judedintra/juvenile%20Handbook/Child_Abuse_Neglect/InterInterroJuv.htm Seiter, R. (2011). Corrections: An introduction (3rd ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Wallace, H. & Roberson, R. (2006). Principles of Criminal Law (5th ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Worrall, J. (2008). Crime control in America: What works? (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.