Crime Causation and Diversion Paper

Crime Causation and Diversion Paper

In today’s society, there are more and more juveniles getting involved in criminal activity.  Low self-esteem, poor decision-making and communication skills, association with a negative peer group, and a dysfunctional family unit are some characteristics of delinquent youth creations (Extension Journal, Inc. 1993).  With this being said, there are also many different types of juvenile diversion, intervention and prevention programs and resources available for these juvenile to help with rehabilitation.  These programs are created to help the youth with criminal activity issues and help reduce to eliminate the rate of re-commitment of these crimes.  Within this paper, the author will choose two programs from within the State of Ohio, explain how these programs work and the goals to help reduce juvenile crime and increase the rehabilitation rate.  Also discussed will be the objectives and core beliefs of these programs as well as whom the key participants involved.  Also discussed will be the services these programs provide for the youth as well as family. And lastly, the comparison of these programs will be discussed and identification will be made on which may be more effective at the reduction of juvenile crime and how that may be true.

The two Juvenile Programs that will be discussed will be the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and Ohio Cooperative Extension/Extension Service Juvenile Diversion program.  Each program provided is great programs observed through out the State of Ohio and are well established programs.  First, the author will discuss the OJJDP and the significances of the program.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), was established in 1974 by the Congress.  This program was created to support local and state efforts to prevent delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system.  Within this system are numerous sub-systems to help create a better juvenile program for rehabilitation.  Programs provided are not only pointed towards juveniles in general, but have several programs specifically for both male and female delinquents.

This program was created to help reduce juvenile crime rates by interacting with numerous programs and creating a better Juvenile Justice System.  Programs such as the Juvenile Accountability Program promote greater accountability among offenders and in the juvenile justice system, the Reclaiming Futures Program which is a model for juvenile offenders who are abusing substances.  These are just a couple of the many programs provided within the OJJDP Program. 

The OJJDP’s program has very similar objectives and goals as does other juvenile programs, to help reduce and possibly eliminate the possibility of juvenile offenders re-committing crimes and re-entering the system numerous times over.  The OJJPD strive to protect public safety from juvenile offenders as well as holding offenders accountable for the actions taken and providing treatment and rehabilitative services to the needs of juvenile’s delinquents and their families.

The key participants within the OJJPD are many.  These participants include the arresting officer, the judge and court staff, parents of the juvenile and parent’s themselves as well as the staff of these various programs.  Each person listed ahs very important roles.  The most important roles are that of the juvenile and the parents of.  The only way any program will succeed, is by the acceptance of the program by the parents and the juvenile, otherwise no help can be given.  The juvenile is the key participant within the program.  They must be willing to take every step, every possible advantage given to them in order to be rehabilitated and not return to the life of crime.  It is to the juvenile how far they want to take this program and how well they want it to work.

The services provided by OJJDP are limitless.  There are 20 plus programs for juveniles of which may participate in based on the situation or need.  Each juvenile in the system has separate rehabilitation steps that need to be followed in order to reach the ultimate goal of rehabilitation.  Services provided are not only for the juvenile themselves but for the families of the juvenile, the victim and the family of the victim.  All play an important role within these programs in order for success not only for the juvenile and the victim, but for the program as a whole.  These programs are designed for success and not failure.  Success brings positive roles models to the community, and that is the main goal of the OJJDP Program.

The second program that will be discussed is the Ohio Cooperative Extension/Extension Service Juvenile Diversion Program, (OCE/ESJD).  This program was established in 1986 in the Paulding County of Ohio.  This program was created in order to build a relationship with the community by taking part in the juveniles’ rehabilitation process as well as the juveniles’ family. These programs were developed based on the needs of the county and the juvenile involved. 

The Extension Juvenile Diversion program is a little different than other programs.  This program was created not only for the juvenile themselves, but for the family as well.  The program created a system to teach the family members to help with the over coming of the juveniles troubles.  The goal of this program is to help the juvenile see the importance of their lives and the reasons of abiding by the law.  This program helps with the juveniles’ development of positive self-esteem, help build personal values, create communication skills, develop ways to deal with stress and peer pressure, as well as setting goals and reaching those goals (Extension Journal, Inc. 1993).

All these goals and objectives are reached through certain groups of which the juvenile may join, one being 4-H.  The juvenile joins the club, completes projects, attends meetings not only for the club, but for the program as well and also helps teach the juvenile how to form and build leadership skills.  All these objectives are not only created for the youth, but for the parents as well in order to help with the rehabilitation of the juvenile.

The key participants within this program are that of a juvenile judge, school counselor, juvenile’s parents, probation officer, or even the juvenile themselves.  Each participant plays an important role to help with the rehabilitation but again, it is primarily up to the juvenile in how well the program will work.  The juvenile must be willing and wanting to take the steps to create a better lifestyle and a law abiding life.  The Extension Specialists also play an important role by being able to observe and select the proper program that better suits the juveniles’ needs and wants.

The services provided by the ESJD are not only for the juvenile, but for the families and the community where the juvenile resides.  These services help develop certain skills and needs in order for the juvenile to maintain a law abiding life and grow into a law abiding adult rather than continue the life of crime.  Services also help the parents with teaching and parenting skills to help identify certain juvenile behaviors.  

Both programs are very important in their own ways.  I feel that they both play very important roles within the Juvenile Justice System and one does not outweigh the other.  Based on size, the OJJDP provides more programs as a whole and may provide more of a selection of programs for different situations.  Now based on a community based program, ESJD provides better programs.  These programs only since 1986 have touched the lives of over 500 youths and prevented a return of crime rate of 50%.  All in all that saves Ohio taxpayers money based on probation and detention costs, a plus for everyone.

So as one has read, discussed was just a couple programs offered in the State of Ohio of which both are great programs and have reached out to many juveniles as well as their families.  Today it takes more than just the programs to rehabilitate the lives of these troubled juveniles, it takes a community as well as the want and will of the juvenile.  The program will only have success if the juvenile, family, friends and staff work together as a whole in order to create the law abiding life the juvenile so rightfully deserves.

References:

Extension Journal, Inc. (1993).  Juvenile Diversion Programs.  Retrieved on March 1, 2012 from http://www.joe.org/joe/1993spring/iw3.php

US Department of Justice (n.d.) Juvenile Justice.  Retrieved on March 1, 2012 from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/programs/juvjustice.htm