Police work with juveniles Essay

Introduction This term paper tackles the issue of patrol clip with teenageds. For purposes of this paper so, jejune delinquency should be chthonicstood to refer to any antisocial or criminal behaviour by infantren or adolescents ( volt, Andrew Reisig & Mueller, 1996) On Friday June 1996, a 9 year mature and 11 year old boy were charged with the rape of an 8 year old pregnant. In addition, a pregnant girl was shot by another savant in St. Louis Miami almost during that time (emergency net news, 1996). These atomic number 18 just hardly slips of Juvenile offences that the natural law force shoot to deal with. Juvenile policing has its roots in 1899 in cook county Illinois, where the first court was created as a precede of ideological changes in the cultural conception and strategies of social control during the 19the one C an event that culminated into a century long process of differentiating youngs from crowings offenders( Quint et al. 1996) What so(prenominal) is the police role in juvenile policing? Just like the adult system of criminal justness, the juvenile jurist system too has terzetto basic components, the police, courts and corrections (Larry & Welsh, 2004) More frequently than not, whether or not a juvenile is processed into this system is dependent upon the outcome of an encounter with the police. It is because true to say that, the police serve the role of the gatekeepers to the juvenile justice system. They thus begin the criminal justice system.Also, upon the correspond of a juvenile offender, the law provides for the police to release the juvenile to his or her p arents or chair the offender to a court (Quint et al. 1996) A new diorama has and emerged at heart the police themselves. Rather than seeing themselves as crime fighters who trail down serious criminals or stop armed robberies in progress, numerous police departments have adopted the concept that their role be maintaining drift and being a visible and a ccessible component of the society(Larry & Welsh, 2004) Police investigate and other related studies indicate that these offender of violent juvenile crimes are likely to turn up to world be junior terrorists who lav be of rivaled some of the worst terrorist organizations in the world.(Quint et al 1996) The arrest procedures for juvenile offender differ from place to place but generally, arrest becomes the chief(a) option of securing the juveniles attendance to court. In addition, a written notice can be issued by police for the offender to come on in court (Larry & Welsh, 2004).This is however mostly given to minor offenders. The investigate officer then notices the parent or guardian about the arrest of the time, date and place where the offender is to appear. While doing this, the police are vatical to exercise discretion to enhance the childs rights and divert the child away from the mainstream criminal justice system(Larry & Welsh, 2004) Search and seizure is another re gularity of police methods of investigation. The law governing search and seizure is typically the analogous for both adults and juveniles (Larry & Welsh, 2004). This procedure involves among others photographing, fingerprinting, lineups and record keeping. Children however, just like adults are also protected against unreasonable search and seizure under the fourth and 14th amendments of the constitution (Larry & Welsh, 2004) There is also custodial interrogation which requires the offenders to be questioned often within the presence of their parents or attorney. This is because any incriminating statement arising from such(prenominal) custodial interrogation can be used at rill (Quint et al. 1996) Because of the informality that has been built into the system in an attempt to individualize justice, such(prenominal)(prenominal) discretion needs to be exercised. Daily procedures of juvenile personnel are rarely subject to judicial review except when they violate the youths con stitutional rights (Larry & Welsh, 2004) and as a result, discretion sometimes deteriorates into variety and other abuses on the part of the police. Too little discretion gives depleted flexibility to treat juvenile offenders as individuals while too much leads to injustice (Larry & Welsh, 2004). Police for instance are likely to act officially with African American suspects and use their discretion to benefit whites (Larry & Welsh, 2004). Other factors allow in environmental factors whereby the police have that in born mentality within them that certain places, or if a child comes form a crabbed place, then he/she is likely to be an offender. This stereotypy thus falls under the environmental factors. Police bias can also be as a result of the situation and conditions under which the child is arrested. If the child brings complications such as putting up a resistance against the arrest and therefore fights the officer, or merely has a bad or negative attitude, then he is likel y to be arrested in such a case discretionary justice is likely to take place (Larry & Welsh, 2004).It should be famed also that discretionary decisions are made without guidelines from the police administration. As famed earlier, there are many factors that influence the decisions made by the police about juvenile offenders. among the ones not mentioned include, the seriousness of the offense, the harm inflicted on the victim and the likelihood that the juvenile will break the law again (Larry & Welsh, 2004). The police have however taken the lead in delinquency ginmill by employing a number of strategic measures some of which rely on their different powers. Others have relied on schools, the connection and other juvenile justice agencies (Quint et al, 1996). One of these strategies of contemporary prevention relies on aggressive patrolling at specialised patterns of delinquency. This is what we refer to as aggressive law enforcement. The police here point family areas and arrest members for any violations. The tactic however has not prove to be effective since in most cases, the results tend to be unacceptable (Larry & Welsh, 2004). In 1996 for example, the Dallas police initiated the strategy, which led to significant reduction in gang activity, targeting truancy and curfew laws but the saturation patrols proved ineffective (Larry & Welsh, 2004). Police have also worked with schools to improve their safety and prevent delinquency in the community through organizations of various programs (Quint et al. 1996). The problem here however lies in the view that is held by some throng over police in schools. These people assert that this infringement on the personal freedoms of students (Larry & Welsh, 2004) and that schools should be left to flail sovereignly. There are also others who call for greater use of police in schools, especially those schools that have experienced violent incidents in the past(a) by students against teachers (Larry & Welsh, 2004). union policing may also be employed here. Community policing models are put in place aimed at improving relationships among the community and the police. This will be important since many juveniles will then have a high regard for the police.ConclusionThe ever-changing character of juvenile delinquency thus calls for more experimentation and innovation in policing strategies inorder to prevent delinquency (Larry & Welsh, 2004). Among the first steps therefore should be orient policing activities to prevailing local conditions and providing for an enlargement in the community and other stakeholdersReferences indispensability Net News Service, 1996 http//www.emergency.com/juvycrim.htmLarry J. Siegel, Brandon C. Welsh (2004). Juvenile Delinquency. Belmont, Calif Thomas WadsworthQuint Thurman, Andrew Giacomazzi, Michael Reisig and David Mueller (1996). Community based Gang Prevention and Intervention An Evaluation of the deaf(p) Zone Crime and Delinquency