Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile facilities across the nation are filled with youthful offenders.Juvenile offenders are often violent, angry, and unable to resolve conflictin any other manner. This can lead to not only pain and suffering for thevictims of these offenders but also for the offender and his or her family.While the news continues to pump information to the public about juvenileoffenders, experts and program directors continues to scramble for ways toresolve the issue. Many juvenile offenders who are released at the age of21, find themselves unequipped to deal with conflict and eventually theirreactions to conflict lead them right back into the system, this time asadults in prisons. The effort to rehabilitate youthful offenders must beginwith basic conflict resolution training. If the juvenile learns how toaddress and resolve conflict he or she stands a better chance at leading aproductive and fruitful life once released, which benefits society as a"The National Center for Juvenile Justice recently completed a studydocumenting changes in state laws targeting juvenile violence. The U.S.Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
, 1988); injuries (Bijur, Kurzon, Hamelsky, &Power, 1991); unacceptable behavior; difficulties in adolescent functioning(Forehand et al. The conflictresolution skills are the basic foundational steps that juvenile offendersneed to maintain a productive and fruitful life once they are released. "The Social Decision Making/Problem Solving Program has beenworking with schools statewide since 1979 to teach children fromkindergarten through eighth grade how to use self-control, emotionalawareness, and problem-solving skills to handle conflict at school and athome(Youth, 1998). " A program that allows the juveniles to role play in various conflictivesettings will allow them to develop the skills they will need to think asituation through and then choose the appropriate solution. This can be done by allowing the offender to be recognized forgood conflict resolution skills during his or her daily interaction withinthe setting. Role playing maybe something that the offender has not experienced. A rehabilitativeeffort must include rewards and positive feedback for making consistentlycorrect choices within the program. This program should include role playing,positive feed back for correct choices, and other methods to begin theprocess of retraining the juvenile offender to avoid future problems. Studies have indicated thatadolescents often listen to peers more than adults. "Just as the cost of college is cheaper than the cost of prison, moneyspent early on preventing crime is an effective, humane way to avoidspending more money on courts and jail cells later on - not to mentionpreventing the waste of lives. With the ability to resolve conflict through appropriate choices will helpthem prevent a return to the system once they have been released, and thiswill benefit society as a whole. "Regarding the empirical support for the link between parent-adolescentconflict and adolescent functioning, there are data suggesting that parent-adolescent conflict is related to adolescent maladjustment, includingdepression (Forehand et al. A program for juvenile offenders must not onlyinclude the training to make the appropriate choices when conflicts arise,but also must provide positive feelings in the offender for making thosechoices. center's eight-month study in a report entitled"State Responses to Serious, Violent Juvenile Crime(Violent, 1996). Because juvenile offenders have often missed out on training at home in thehandling of conflict resolution they enter the system with many years ofinappropriate messages about how to handle problems.
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Acceptance Essays
