Research Paper on Juvenile Criminal Justice System: Rehabilitation Through Different Processes

Introduction

Individuals below the legal age of 18 accused or have committed a criminal offense are subject to the justice system in the juvenile. Similar to criminal justice in adult individuals, youths are arrested, there is detainment, hearing, petition, disposition, probation, placement, and juvenile justice reentry (Keller et al., 2009). All the processes are deployed at a different level in an attempt to rehabilitation. Majorly, the juvenile agencies, as well as the system, are to develop individual skills, attend treatment needs, rehabilitation, habilitation, community reintegration of individuals, and maintain ace of public safety. This paper lays out an overview of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services agency in attending children's welfare.

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Location

TDCS, (2019) suggested that the agency (Department of Children's Services) bases its physical location in Tennessee. Major agency offices are in downtown Nashville, 315 Deaderick Street Nashville. This location specifically is meant to offer technical support, customer services, and act as regional offices for other departments. Under this agency, there are youth centers and programs. For instance, the "Wilder development center". The program is located in Fayette County in West Tennessee in a town called Somerville. Its justice system is positioned at 13870 Hwy (TDCS, 2019).

Population Served

According to TDCS (2019), the juvenile facility is charged with the purpose of ensuring public safety, providing a platform to develop competencies, and ensuring that the youth is responsible for their actions. This facility (Wilder) has the mandated responsibility of providing welfare to delinquent male individuals below eighteen years and not less than fourteen years. There are a total of 120 beds in the institution thus its serving population is restricted. Neglect and child abuse allegation is investigated by this department which follows fostering care (TDCS, 2019).

Offered Programs

TDCS (2019) suggested that the facility improves the lives of the youths through the provision of education. Education as the basis for live improvement, school changing constantly increases absenteeism and hopes for education. The facility, therefore, puts the delinquent individuals in state custody providing them with education. Through enforcement, neglected, abused or youths who have committed the criminal offense are either placed in public schools or in-house schools (TDCS, 2019). Tennessee State has the responsibility of ensuring that all legally placed youths in the program care live a life that is productive. In doing so, the department of children service agency struggles to see that youth and children in the care acquire education.

The facility offers a range of counseling and religious services. Individual youths are allowed to interact with volunteers and chaplains where they are encouraged to attend weekly faith-group as well as non-denominational services (TDCS, 2019). By offering that, youths are provided with important resources necessary for spiritual growth. Besides these programs offered at the wilder agency, an inmate is given an opportunity to engage in local volunteer's bible study.

The agency also equips youths with skills effective for participating in social activity. Every youth in the wilder participates in a teen outreach program. The purpose of this program is to shape individuals' behavior giving them a sense of purpose. All the participant youth in the program are provided with n minimum interactive time of twenty hours serving the community.

According to TDCS (2019), the facility additionally offers training to individuals in an attempt to shape them to reenter society. For instance, an individual with hyper aggression, extremely hostile, disruptive and non-compliance are subjected to an aggression replacement program. The training allows individual youths to gain self-esteem as well as containing their hostility consequently resulting in a positive outcome. Finally, offenders in the juvenile are provided with specialized treatment. For instance, the agency has programs such as drugs and alcohol in which professional staffed counselors along with mental professionals offer correction.

Staffing

Youths are offered maximum care in the juvenile. Staff - professionals, workers, and trainers' ratio are distinguished by their ratio. During the active time when inmates are awake, the ratio of staff to youths is 1:8 while during rest (sleeping time) the ratio of staff to inmates is 1:16. TDCS (2019) determined that the agency has about 4,200 workers across Tennessee to ensure that child safety and welfare is maintained. Although the majority of the employees are investigators and caseworkers, the agency to a large extent employees specialists in juvenile-justice, teachers, attorneys, and IT specialists relevant in helping families and children.

The facility is structured in a way that agency goals are realizable. The youth development center has a well-structured security and safety hardware along with the trained staff. The personnel (staff) work in the assistance of groups of inmates placed in various small organizations to accomplish a task (Goins, 2015). By creating a direct link between the staff and the youth, a strong supportive relationship is developed that fosters a change. Accordingly, since the purpose of the program is to increase skills and encourage independence, a balance between evidence-based treatment and security as well as support interventions between youths and staff brings safety. Goins, (2015) suggested that the department majorly relies on private direct contractors in offering a range of services including therapeutic and clinical requirements to youths and children under care. The services are provided on intensity basing on individuals' needs. Youth eligible to be attended by the private network should satisfy the criteria - they need for out-of-home services. An individual is categorized as an out-home-care patient when they fall within foster levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. The wilder agency offers a special program in training, education, and general juvenile offenses.

Funding

To be able to accommodate and sufficiently run these processes, the agency through federal funding (Title and TennCare), and state support is able to acquire these necessities. Although funding originates from combined efforts of the federal and state support, its budgeting is done in a block-granting manner. In these, the funds are decentralized in such a way that the program receives direct cash to fund education, youth training, and salaries.

Status

Wilder youth development agency is an active government non-profit organization that began in 1971 (Hamburg, 1998). Through responsible governance, public disclosure, and proper management of finance, professionalism standards are exhibited. Funds used to run the facility are obtained from the state-federal government in helping the high-risk-youth recover from their situations. Individual youths may receive cash from family and friends through an acceptable process. Although individuals contained in the facilities participate in community work, they do not get paid as they are being trained to be productive in society.

Choosing the Agency

It is a government based community program funded by the federal government in combination with the state (Hamburg, 1998). The agency's purpose is to address the need of high-risk youth serving a delinquent offense making a perfect institution of choice. Besides, since the agency is a government-owned, chances of information biases are reduced as compared to a private agency that may only be interested in sharing what they need. It is a non-profit government-oriented organization. Therefore, the possibility of youth either abused or offender exploitation is minimized because there is financial transparency.

By researching one of the Tennessee high-risk juvenile agencies, the revelation of situations necessitating adoption is now possible. My knowledge about the criminal justice process has been enhanced for instance, an understanding that like any other adult offender, individuals subjected to the juvenile undergoes the same processes. Additionally, my perception of children attending the agencies has been widened; about 70% of youths in these facilities have a mental issue which calls for public concern. Researching on the topic has broadened my understanding of the role the agencies are playing in seeing that the safety of the society has been realized.

References

Goins, A. (2015). Justice for Juveniles: The Importance of Immediately Appointing Counsel to Cases Involving Status Offenses and Engaging in Holistic Representation of Juveniles in All Cases. In The Forum: A Tennessee Student Legal Journal (Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 3). Retrieved from https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=forum

Hamburg, M. A. (1998). Youth violence is a public health concern. Violence in American schools: A new perspective, 31-54.

Keller, D. P., Schut, L. J. A., Puddy, R. W., Williams, L., Stephens, R. L., McKeon, R., & Lubell, K. (2009). Tennessee Lives Count: Statewide gatekeeper training for youth suicide prevention. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(2), 126. Retrieved from http://www.fostercareandeducation.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?EntryId=1292&Command=Core_Download&method=inline&PortalId=0&TabId=124

Tennessee Department of children services, (2019). The Wilder development center. Retrieved from https://www.tn.gov/dcs/about-us.html