The Role Of Recidivism In The Juvenile Justice System

The history of juvenile justice can be dated back to the 1760s when Blackstone classified a juvenile offenders as individual between 7 to 14 years old that understands they are committing a crime and has the intent to commit a crime. The juveniles were trialed, sentenced, and house with adult offenders. In the 19th century there were a shift and the best interest of the child were taken in to consideration. The best interest of the child was not to punish, but to rehabilitate which started the House of Refuge and opened up for more juvenile institutions.
Effective programs’ has positive impacts on juveniles in the criminal justice system. Juvenile offenders attending programs that focus on helping the offenders and “increasing family problem- solving skills, enhancing emotional connections between family members, and strengthening parental ability to provide appropriate structure” (Wilson, 2011, p. 121) have a positive impact on reducing recidivism in the juvenile justice system. Cost outweighs the benefits of effective programs. Ineffective programs such as discipline and deterrence programs have a negative impact on juvenile offenders and increase recidivism rates in juveniles. The cost to send juveniles to ineffective programs does not outweigh the benefits.
Harsh sentences’ have negative impacts on juvenile offenders. Being house with adults makes juveniles easy victims towards physical and sexual abuse. The court recognized that juveniles are immature, preventing them from the death penalty, but has not yet realized that juvenile offenders should not be housed with adult inmates because of the age difference, the adults easily manipulate the juveniles.