Essay Example on Sacramento County CIP: Preventing Juvenile Arrests

Introduction

The Sacramento County Community Intervention programs in Sacramento County, CA, is designed to curb the arrest of most young children being arrested. The intervention process starts with the police officers notifying the probation department of children between ages nine and 12 who have been detained (Burns et al., 2003, p. 9). The court intake screener directs the child with instances of neglect or child abuse to the Community Intervention Program (CIP) (Burns et al., 2003, p. 9). The community intervention specialist performs crisis tests and present prior crisis intervention services to the child. An in-depth assessment is then done, including social functioning, family functioning, vocational needs/ strengths, economic needs/ strengths, school functioning, substance abuse, and mental and physical health (Burns et al., 2003, p. 9).

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Reason for Choosing CIP

The community intervention program seeks to reduce harm on juvenile offenders through preventing exposure to violence, association with delinquent peers, discontinuity in education, and disturbances of pro-social and care relationships. The community intervention program is practical and cost-effective, offering a significant alternative to the incarceration program of young children. CIP program provides activities and programs which help in the development of better individuals who will contribute to community building. The program offers several positive impacts on the society and juvenile delinquents.

The use of punitive strategies such as incarceration is more expensive, requiring extra taxpayers' input to promote it. CIP offers services to severe juvenile offenders compared to a longer period of imprisonment. Incarceration indicates more prison space, higher operating costs, and more staff, which are all money intensive. The use of CIP saves society on economic grounds helping to deal with the delinquency situation earlier in the lives of youth, preventing recidivism. The program addresses younger children with behavioral

Studies on Intervention Rehabilitation Program

Studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the CIP rehabilitation program. The studies indicated that confined juvenile delinquents face critical developmental and psychological harm causing detrimental influence the ability of the children to rehabilitate back into society (Muller, 2015). Solitary confinement of adolescent individuals resulted in various mental health difficulties creating thoughts of self-harm or suicide (Muller, 2015).

Other studies indicated a high rate of mental health issues among juvenile offenders compared to non-offenders. More so, two-thirds of male juvenile delinquents in the United States meet the criteria of about one psychiatric disorder (Young et al., 2017). Studies conducted on the effort of engaging juvenile offenders in occupational or vocational programs indicate that they offer benefits to individuals in various ways. The research done on a particular type of program determined that programs sing drug abstinence system, individual counseling, behavioral approaches, and interpersonal skill training demonstrated a higher rate of minimizing recidivism for youth who are not institutionalized.

Program Effectiveness in Curbing Juvenile Delinquency

The program is significant in the efforts to curb juvenile delinquency with other alternative programs. With the introduction of an intervention specialist coordinating all services that are family-focused and community-based help to match the needs of the child to limit delinquency (Burns et al., 2003, p. 9). Additional intervention services, including family and individual counseling, neglect, and abuse risk monitoring, contribute to identifying issues that require immediate attention (Burns et al., 2003, p. 9). Earlier address of the problems that result in juvenile delinquency helps in the effort to prevent adult cases and limit recidivism.

Negative Impact of CIP

The community intervention programs only seek to help children from the ages of nine to 12, with no regard for other juvenile offenders. The application needs to offer intervention to the larger young population, those traditional and those non-institutionalized. The program bases its foundation on children with instances of neglect and child abuse.

Recommendations

There are several recommendations, if implemented, will improve the effectiveness of the program. First, more funding should be provided to the juvenile justice system to enhance the CIP program and policies. Secondly, the number of trained, supervised staff in rehabilitation facilities should be increased in terms of social workers.

With skilled staff, the rehabilitation process should include treatments for mental health issues for children at a younger age. Through cognitive behavioral therapy, it creates an effective intervention for juvenile offenders with PTSD and reduces mood/anxiety disorders. Also, the use of trauma-focused emotion regulation intervention (TARGET) serves in the reduction of PTSD, increased optimism, behavioral disturbances, and depression (Young et al., 2017).

Treatment for conduct disorder needs to be implemented using family approaches. Using Multisystemic therapy (MST) focusing on family intervention directed towards antisocial behavior such as peer association and family relationships. Also, using motivational interviewing based on a group of juvenile offenders associated with substance abuse helps in their rehabilitation from substance abuse. The program needs to integrate prevention, prior interventions, graduated sanctions, and aftercare in a progressive approach.

For a successful rehabilitation program, juvenile offenders need to engage in education and employment. Education and skill-based training offers meaningful activities related to improvement in self-belief and guard against future participation in criminal activities (Young et al., 2017). In terms of education, teachers should ensure they are caring and proactive to enable the offenders to engage in the educational system.

References

Burns, B. J., Howell, J. C., Wiig, J. K., Augimeri, L. K., Welsh, B. C., Loeber, R., & Petechuk, D. (2003). Treatment, Services, and Intervention Programs for Child Delinquents. U.S. Department of Justice; Office of Justice Programs; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Muller, R. T. (2015, September 17). Rehabilitation benefits young offenders. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-trauma/201509/rehabilitation-benefits-young-offenders

Young, S., Greer, B., & Church, R. (2017). Juvenile delinquency, welfare, justice and therapeutic interventions: a global perspective. BJPsych Bulletin, 41(1), 21-29.