Date
2-23-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Human Services
Abstract
The History of juvenile justice started out to be something that would help juveniles grow into being strong and educated children. Instead, it has been used to incarcerate young adults who are uneducated, have mental disabilities, and even sentence them to lifetimes behind bars for offences that are not against the law, but are status offences.
Mission statements, Personal Development Programs and Communication within facilities are a starting point that need to be improved before we can even start repair the damage. The current juvenile justice system is failing and has many issues including racial disparities within the system. The current juvenile system does not work.
Society should be educated on the long-term effects of this style of punishment in the system. Simply put it is unethical to lock up children in prison, no matter the severity of their crime. The current juvenile justice system has not provided the protection for children it was originally formed to provide. Today the juvenile justice system contributes to the overincarceration of young offenders and adult men currently incarcerated as young men. People of color are more likely to be incarcerated than whites due to current biases in the system.
Elimination of the current juvenile justice system would decrease of the number of young adults in prison and the number of adult men. Leadership in all areas of corrections need to make sure that everyone’s constitution rights will be respected regardless of race, sexual orientation, or age. The current juvenile justice system has failed. The time has come to have a new juvenile justice system one that considers a young offenders age and involves punishment accordingly.