Juvenile Rehabilitation Essay

How effective is the rehabilitation of juveniles compared to just locking them up? Lately more and more people are recognizing that rehabilitation is a better route to go in order to help those who live a life of crime. Although some people still believe that locking people up and throwing away the key would do the trick, not all people benefit from that type of treatment. According to the Oxford Dictionary rehabilitation is described as the act of restoring someone to health or normal life through training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness. Rehabilitation offers many positive effects to not only those being rehabilitated but to those who are surrounded by that person as well. The initial intention is to make sure that these
According to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) they used to punish youths in jails. They would be confined with adults and the mentally ill. Most of the youths in jail where there for noncriminal behavior. Then by 1825 the New York House of Refuge was created as a housing unit for juveniles. The CJCJ stated this was the first movement to initiate the juvenile justice system. The House of Refuge was confronted with issues that jails face today. In return, they established reform schools in order to cope with the issues at hand. Today these schools are known as correctional institutions. Juvenile courts were not established till the sixteenth century in England, which then followed in the United States. Then later in the nineteenth century, out of home placement and probation techniques were introduced. Juvenile courts wanted rehabilitation and supervision to be their main goals. In the 960’s the public began to lose faith in their court systems because, judges became so varied in discretion that two people who committed the same exact crime would receive completely different sentences. The CJCJ states that the Supreme Court formalized the system and introduced due process rights of juveniles. Then by the late 1980’s crime was on the rise, so the courts began to crack down on sentences. In a return to the crackdowns, facilities were overcrowded and outnumbered. States
There are various types of treatment provided by counties and states that can help juveniles. Washington States Department of Health and Human Services is one of those departments that provides a wide range of rehabilitation services to juveniles. Although, juveniles are put into facilities, there is a difference between these rehabilitation facilities and jail or prison which they could be partitioned into. The first type of juvenile treatment is integrated treatment. This type of treatment uses cognitive behavior therapy and family therapy. Furthermore, residential care/residential treatment is a type of integrated treatment. Residential care/residential treatment engages youth in therapeutic relationships and motivating juveniles to replace bad behaviors with pro social behaviors. Functional family parole is also a form of integrated treatment. This creates a functional environment for the juvenile without taking them away from home. They address behavior problems and are helped through their family support. Adolescent community reinforcement approach (ACRA) is used when juveniles have co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems. They address mental health problems, problem skills, coping skills, and stress skills. The juveniles get assigned homework assignments to learn and apply what they have learned. This program normally lasts ninety days.