Argumentative Essay on Juvenile Delinquency

Introduction

Juvenile delinquency is the engagement in criminal activities by young individuals of the society who are not of age to be handled by law for ordinary citizens. Juvenile delinquency is often used to mean a young person with a habit of engaging in crime and cannot be brought to the legal action because he or she is not of age. A juvenile is a person who is capable of committing, and is above the least age of criminal responsibility and below the right adulthood age of criminal responsibility. Delinquency is misconduct or violation of laws, especially by young people. The age limit of being a juvenile is dependent on the state one hails from, ranging between 15 to 18 years that considers one an adult. Mostly, Westernized countries, juvenile delinquencies are on the rise as young individuals are exposed to unhealthy acts such as drug and substance abuse that are the reasons for the increase in vices like theft and robbery. This behavior develops from being minor activities like theft, and if necessary action is not taken, these young people end up being exposed to dangerous activities that are irreversible. Restorative justice for juvenile deliquescent has its own merits and demerits. The cons for this are because of various reasons. The medium through which these juveniles are exposed to crime and vices are through having poor role models, either their peers or the environment or from school interactions. Restorative justice is a form of justice that ensures justice has been served and everyone faces the consequences of their actions; it is possible when both parties, the victim and the offender come together to find a suitable solution.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Advantages of Restorative Justice

The advantage of restorative justice for juvenile delinquency includes ensuring fair ground for hearing for deciding the best way to rehabilitate the young person. Restorative justice for juvenile delinquencies is important as it helps the young individual to change his behavior. Restorative justice is mainly advantageous although it may have some demerits to the juvenile as an individual. The juvenile gets an opportunity to admit and rectify his or her mistakes and meet the consequences of their actions. The young person gets exposed and learns about the effects of their actions negatively on others (Daly, 2017). This avenues for justice assist the young person to see life from a positive perspective and show them the right examples for them to emulate in society, to make more informed life decisions. Restorative justice operates on principles that ensure equity has been served, one of the principles being to solve the harm caused by crime. Through solving crimes using Restorative justice system, it ensures that both sides of the story are heard and that the ultimate decision will be fair, not biased to one individual. The victim is satisfied too as the restorative justice system seeks to compensate for the harm caused on them, physiologically and psychologically.

The restorative justice system for juvenile delinquents is all inclusive and includes both parties taking part in the hearing. This system of justice has increased the perception of fairness which was not evident in other traditional systems of justice. This has also helped in changing attitudes of victims towards the young offenders, and help them to change their ways. The victims after that assist in finding the reasons for juvenile delinquency and help in finding solutions to some problems the young offenders might be making. The Restorative system has served to be the most effective in correcting the individual's mistakes as compared to the juvenile courts whereby criminal activities continue behind the confines of the bars. The restorative justice system considers the interests of the victims. Compared to other forms of juvenile justice like the Traditional Juvenile systems and court systems, the juveniles are punished collectively, and no proper means of total behavior change is used. The restorative justice system is mainly mediation and is not costly regarding paying lawyers and bond, expect only compensating for the losses incurred on the victims. Being inclusive of both parties for solving a problem, the two parties are always satisfied with the outcome of restorative justice. In other systems of justice like the traditional systems, the dignity of the offender is always disrespected and their images tainted. However, in restorative method of restoring justice, the young offender is encouraged to change their behavior.

Restorative justice system for juvenile delinquency is effective to the community as the community gains regarding the funds the young offender's pay as compensation for their actions. Moreover, when these young people rehabilitate into meaningful members of the society, they help in developing the community by engaging in developing activities like being role models to other young people in society. These individuals, help in rehabilitating other young offenders into owning up their mistakes and changing their behaviors. The community is also assisted in that there is greater collaboration between the community and the young offenders and how the rate of criminal activities are done away with and the community members have trust in each other. The court for juveniles charge a lot of funds to listen to cases of juvenile delinquents, and if the restorative justice system resolved minor problems, the community would redirect these funds to more useful activities that can help in generating income for the community. For instance, investing in businesses and development of social facilities. The society would also benefit from the reduction of criminal activities that affect the peaceful running of business and acuities.

Restorative justice system for juvenile delinquents is essential in focusing on linking the young offenders and their community. Usually, when these juvenile delinquents commit a crime or break the law, they lose their dignity and are put behind bars. However, restorative consumes all hatred between the victims and the offenders hence restoring their status in society and negotiating with the victims. This is the best channel to air out issues and solve differences between the two parties and models them to be respected members of society. Restorative systems for justice of juvenile delinquents give a cause and effect relationship by digging deep into the cause of juvenile delinquents which may be due to poverty, peer pressure, drugs, and substance abuse and poor role models in society. The restorative justice for juvenile delinquents also looks at effects of juvenile delinquency on the society they live in, such as causing pain in the victims and incurring a loss of property. Through the mediation, the offenders get a chance to sympathize with the victims and apologize for the pain they cause them to go through. The offender is made to understand the effects of their activities and to feel the pain of the victims and given an opportunity to be better members of society. Rather than detaching them from the society and their families. The juveniles are given a second chance to rectify their wrongs and encouraging them to take part in community activities that promote values - these activities like unity and teamwork such as sports and voluntary work when the community members work hand in hand to solve such problems rather than imprisoning these young offenders who do not help in positive change of both behavior and attitude.

Moreover, restorative justice minimizes the habit of relapsing that is going back to the old habits of engaging in crimes. Restorative justice for juvenile delinquents enables permanent change in behavior as the individuals experience a positive transition in their lives. Restorative justice seeks to curb the cause of the problems to prevent reoccurrence of the same activities. Restorative Justice looks at the problem as a whole and gives sound and meaningful results. The victims of the juvenile delinquency are given time to heal their wounds and to forgive and reconcile with their trespassers. The punishments of the restorative justice system are meant to prevent slipping back to the old habits. The restorative justice system attempts to divert the energy of this individuals use to engage in crime into more useful projects that are beneficial to the society and the members of the society.

Disadvantages of Restorative Justice

However, the restorative justice for juvenile delinquents has their demerits too. First, the victims may expose and embarrass the offenders. The victims, due to the pain that the offenders have caused them, may refuse to forgive the juvenile criminals, and bear this pain in their hearts. Consequently, the victims may embarrass and diminish the young offenders before the whole community thus lowering their confidence and self-esteem. The restorative justice for juvenile delinquents may lead to creating a wide gap between the juvenile delinquents and their community. This is very unhealthy for the juveniles as the society have a negative attitude towards these young individuals regardless of their age. The society tends to be judgmental on them even after these individuals change their behavior. (Tom Whitehead), held the view that restorative justice system is not the right avenue for resolving disputes and providing justice and that it should not replace the justice systems as justice is not solely based on restoring relationships but deserving justice where it is due.

Restorative justice for juvenile delinquents is only applicable to those who are willing to own up their crimes. Furthermore, most nationalities cannot acknowledge Restorative justice as a means of solving differences and dealing with the juvenile delinquents because not every offender is willing to own up and be ready to bear the consequences of their actions. Restorative justice cannot take place without the willingness of both parties to mediate. Once these young individuals engage in criminal activities, that form part of them, and it is almost impossible to convince them to stop engaging in such practices. Therefore, not the slightest reason can make these young offenders own up to their mistakes as some fear intimidation and embarrassment. Such kind of attitude hinders the application of restorative justice. In most occasions, the victims get over the trauma and depression and may be willing to forgive and meet their offenders, but the offenders fail to own up because they fear prejudice

Restorative justice, according to (Zehr, 2015) is not fit for solving all kinds of criminal activities such as committing murder offense. The kind of pain this has on the victim is so severe that it is impossible to get the victims to forgive the offenders for such crimes. Even if it enables forgiveness and peace, it will take much time for a victim to nurse such pain and every time the victim sees the offender; it will be hard to reconcile the two parties for such a great loss thus disrupting a peaceful existence of both the victim and the offender. This is as a result of the intensity of the crime committed by the young offender. Such pain can brew much loathing that the victim might feel the urge of revenging on the juvenile deliquescent. In a case where the crime committed was witnessed by a large group of people, it is challenging for the young offender as his dignity will be tainted even after he or she changes into a better person. The victims affected by high profile criminal activities committed by the juveniles do not see the need to preserve relationships and would opt for alternative means of punishing the juvenile delinquents

Restorative justice is suitable and healthy means of settling a disagreement because both the personal and the physiologi...