Juvenile Justice: Protective Factors

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Protective Factors
In the glossary, on page 419, in the book, ‘Juvenile Justice,’ by Hess et al, it defines protective factors as behaviors or factors which reduces the impact that risk factors have on children and which causes there to be a lesser chance of delinquency. The book also defines protective factors as the opposite of risk factors, in that while risk factors can cause a higher chance for a child to be a delinquent, protective factors can cause a lesser chance for a child to be a delinquent (Hess et al, 2013, p. 419). In chapter 4, on page 122, the book talks about several sections of risk factors which are individual protective factors, family protective factors, school protective factors, peer protective factors, and community
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Before Andre was a part of the program, he was a member of the gang Varrio Norwalk, where he would break into cars and be the driver for his gang members during a shooting. At the beginning of the program, he had no idea why the DA and the Juvenile Court Judge sent him to the program, when he was a gang member and used to violence. After being in the program for a while, and taking care of Mirriam, he started to love being there, and would talk about Miriam and the other people every day. This is an example of a protective factor because it is a program which is changing Adre in to a better man who cares for people and who doesn’t want to be a part of gangs anymore. Had this protective factor not been there, Adre would have had a greater chance to get into more trouble or sent to prison for a very long …show more content…
This facility is more home-like than facility like, in that it is smaller and there are fewer juveniles in the facility. In this facility, they believe that the people who arrive are hurt and in need of healing, instead of making the juvenile pay for his crime by means of suffering. Also, in this facility, youth have access to cognitive/behavior restructuring and skill development training. When a juvenile arrives at the facility, they go through an assessment so that the facility staff can have a baseline to track their progress throughout the juvenile’s time in the facility. This is an example of a program that has improved its approach, because it is a program that works hard to involve the community and it creates several opportunities for juveniles to have friendly relationships with facility staff. This program has also improved its approach because, unlike other facilities, they have certain levels a juvenile goes through, and when they reach level four, they are in the process of leaving the facility and going