subject: Essay on Alternatives to Juvenile Detention [print this page] Essay on Alternatives to Juvenile Detention
In the past years, the trend is towards imposing harsher punishment for juvenile offenders. While there are groups which support the tough on crime policy allowing juveniles to be detained in facilities before their trial and to be tried and sentenced as adults, there are those who are against it. They see juvenile detention as short-term solution to the problem of juvenile crime.
For those who oppose juvenile detentions, they are against it because it does more harm than good to the juvenile offenders. They argue that nothing good can come out of non-delinquent juveniles being grouped with juvenile delinquents. Exposing first time juvenile offenders to those who have repeatedly come in contact with the juvenile justice system is also not beneficial to their development.
Instead, they advocate community-based programs as an alternative to juvenile detention. The opponents of juvenile detention propose that the community, in close coordination, with the state, should help in reforming and rehabilitating juvenile offenders. With the assistance from state government, the family and community can closely monitors the behavior of the juveniles. They also have mentoring programs for the juvenile offender. After-school programs are also in place to make sure that the juveniles are kept busy. These programs are based on the principle that rehabilitation works better if it takes place within the context of the family and community where the juvenile offender resides. It also takes into account that sending the juvenile offender to a facility far from his family may not work as well as community-based programs.
Other alternative programs to punishment are supervised release including home detention, electronic monitoring, intensive supervision, day and evening reporting centers, skills training programs or residential programs. These programs work better because the juvenile is not isolated and separated from his family, friends and his community. Moreover, he is not given the opportunity to mingle with other juvenile offenders.
This is a free essay on Alternatives to Juvenile Detention. If you need help with your essays, eWritegigs will provides quality, affordable and stress-free essays. We will prepare an original essay, non-plagiarized essay and custom paper for you.
