Essay On Policy Analysis Paper

Policy Analysis Paper

Criminal Justice System (CJS) in United Sates of America is known to have three main parts which are the court, correction, and the police who take people to the court for correction. Over the past years Criminal Justice System has been criticized over and over again due to its ineffectiveness in delivering justice (James, 2013). Its effectiveness has raised number of issues leading to rise of skeptics who have criticized the whole system arguing that it’s just a system where criminal moves from one hand to the other. However, the Criminal Justice System members have been working round the clock to ensure that proper justice is delivered to all at the appropriate time (Childs, 2013). The working of the system can be shown through their effort to come up with policies such as the “Youth predator of the year 1996” and the “Violent Juvenile and Repeat Offender of the year 1997” (James, 2013). The two acts have impacted greatly on the American population, and their consequences are well known. The paper intend to analyze the two Youth Policy Act have impacted on American citizens and how individuals rights are protected
Risk management and ne-liberal ideas are what gave rise to the development of the Youth Justice Policies of the year 1996 and 1997 (James, 2013). Moreover, the cultural elements of the society were also integrated with the policy to make all rounds to the deserving population. The policies were meant to control how most youths are jailed together with adult for petty crimes that do not deserve such jail terms. Moreover, it is not socio-culturally correct to jail the juvenile and adult together because adult inmates may take advantage of this and molest them or treat them in undeserving manners (Childs, 2013). The two youth acts were meant to also cater for the manner in which the youths were being prosecuted. The policies were created so as to make sure that youths have their own justice system that caters for juvenile, unlike the situation where youths and adults are prosecuted in the same law court.
It is approximated that at least 2700 youth are caught and locked in adult prison on a daily basis; this exposes the young citizen to sexual assault, suicide, abuse and even death (James, 2013). Locking youth in an adult facility is a greater criminal offence since adult inmates will on think of victimizing them for their own gain. Therefore, development of the youth act was a forward step to alleviate the suffering that young people go through when taken to adult facilities or judged in the same manner as an adult. It is evident in the society that young people who are tried on adult terms always re-offend as compared to young people who are tried on juvenile terms (Childs, 2013). Thus, development of these laws was meant to improve public policy on a wider scale as well as improving how youths are handled in criminal justice department.
Minority disparity that does exist in the juvenile justice is an issue of great concern that the youth act should try to properly address. The youths from African-American origin are mostly discriminated by the by the justice system that exist due to the fact the people in the system think that they have greater tendency to commit crime unlike the native whites (Childs, 2013). The argument that racial minorities in America are responsible for more crimes than the white majority should not be a factor that is used in judging youth since all are equal under the law (James, 2013). The youth acts were meant to tackle such disparities yet not much is happening, and this calls for serous improvement on those acts to satisfy demand of all and hence enhance public safety.
The juvenile justice system that exists today in America is a viable system that can offer justice to youths without involving the mother justices system. The federal government thus should invest more in this justice system so as to effect the key policies like the “Youth predator of the year 1996” and the “Violent Juvenile and Repeat Offender of the year 1997” (Childs, 2013). Investment on youth justice system will not only cater for youth welfare but also cater for public safety which is the main aim of any criminal justice system. The long term benefit that the nation will enjoy from investing in policies that concerns youth justice will outweigh the investment since public safety will be enhanced, and investments will increase.

Conclusion

“Youth predator of the year 1996” and the “Violent Juvenile and Repeat Offender of the year 1997” are acts that were created to cater for youths facing criminal justice system. The youths are the future of a country and thus investing in the system that caters for their welfare impacts greatly on the well being of the country. The American dream can only be totally achieved if youths are well catered. The Criminal Justice System should thus make sure that the youth initiated acts are properly working so that the youth can desist from act like re-offending after being released from jail.

References

James, C., Stams, G. J. J., Asscher, J. J., De Roo, A. K., & van der Laan, P. H. (2013). Aftercare programs for reducing recidivism among juvenile and young adult offenders: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review,33(2), 263-274.
Childs, K. K., Ryals, J., Frick, P. J., Lawing, K., Phillippi, S. W., & Deprato, D. K. (2013). Examining the validity of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) for predicting probation outcomes among adjudicated juvenile offenders. Behavioral sciences & the law, 31(2), 256-270.