Juvenile Justice Challenges

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Since the creation of the juvenile justice system, which was in response to an increasing crime rate amongst juveniles, there has been many challenges. The challenges that the juvenile justice system faces are ever changing and will always be a constant where juvenile justice is concerned. The fact is that while the people change, so will their needs and the reasons they do things, so the justice system must also change and adapt to these new challenges. The hard thing about this is adapting while still sticking to what the Constitution says and being fair to all parties involved. Throughout this paper challenges of the juvenile justice system will be discussed, as well as what the impact of child abuse and neglect have on this system. This …show more content…
The challenges are many and are complex in nature. A juvenile justice bulletin in 1998 posted by the U.S. Department of Justice states that the growth of violent juvenile crime has stirred significant debate on the viability and effectiveness of this Nation’s juvenile justice system (Bilchik, 1998). This couldn’t be more true a statement. The rise has certainly put a huge strain on the many branches and areas of the system. It has strained every facet of the system from intake and detention to the courts and corrections. Due to this strain the system looks as if it is inadequate and does not consistently serve the public. The current system does not hold the juvenile offenders accountable, nor does it meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of each juvenile offender (Bilchik, 1998). In short, there are three objectives or challenges that an effective juvenile justice system must meet. The first challenge would be holding the juvenile accountable for their actions. The second would be enabling the juvenile to become a capable, productive, and responsible citizen. Lastly, would be ensuring that through these steps that the community is safe. The juvenile court was put in place to take care of these three challenges, but as noted in the first chapter of “Juvenile Justice: A Guide to Theory, Policy, And Practice”, there is still considerable doubt as to …show more content…
An important challenge for the juvenile court of the future is to ensure that there exists a comprehensive juvenile justice system which has an appropriate response for each child who comes within the purview of the court. There should be a measured response for a child who commits a status offense and an intervention on behalf of each child who has been abused or neglected. Another challenge for the juvenile court of the future is to ensure that there is an appropriate response for each situation. The juvenile court should identify and promote the goal of a comprehensive response to youthful delinquency, status offense, and abuse and neglect cases. There should be some assurance that the youth or family has been properly identified, the intervention is completed in a timely fashion, parents and other family members are involved in any resolution, the response is fair, and the intervention is monitored (Edwards,