Residential Placement In Juvenile Delinquency

The pressure from the populace has led to increasing emphasis on punishment rather than rehabilitation. The U.S. has more youths in detention centers than another nations. This may allude to the reason of why the U.S also has the most adults in incarceration as well. Are we creating these minces to society by setting them on a trajectory to juvenile delinquency? According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 2013 Residential Placement Census, on average there is an estimated 54,000 being detained in the U.S (Justice, n.d.). Furthermore, based on the latest Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement indicates that approximately 2,524 juveniles were being detained in juvenile justice facility because they were in violation of status offenses, such being truant, running away, or violating curfew (Justice, n.d.). Additionally, when incorporating juvenile offenders in residential placement due to a technical violation, a violation of a valid court order, the number rises to nearly 11,840, which equates to over 21 percent of youths in custody that may not be there for criminal behavior (Justice, n.d.).
Three of the problems with placing juveniles in a residential facility are proximity to
As mention before, the U.S. has more youths in residential facilities than any other country in the world, still some say we should invoke tougher policies or run juvenile courts more like adults courts. However, these types of measures only tend to exacerbate the condition, hence the overcrowding. It may seem intuitive to lockup juvenile delinquents. However, it turns out that these juvenile residential facilities make excellent training ground for youths who contemplating a life of crime. The most reasonably approach would be to attack the underlying causes of delinquency, such as poverty, unemployment, discrimination and the dysfunctionality of