Juvenile Detention and Repeated Offender Behavior

Running head: JUVENILE DETENTION AND REPEATED OFFENDER BEHAVIOR
DO THE JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY OUT-WEIGH THE BENEFITS OF
THE CORRECTION PROCESS OF CHILDREN AND MAKE THEM A REPEATED
OFFENDER AS AN ADULT?
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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JUVENILE DETECTION AND REPEATED OFFENDER BEHAVIOR
As opined by Donnelly (2018), the process of juvenile detection had gained a
significant amount of prominence within the framework of the contemporary law
enforcement system used by the different nations of the world. Woolard, Henning and
Fountain (2016) are of the viewpoint that the primary scope of the juvenile detention process
is to ensure the fact that the offending behaviours on the part of the individuals below the age
of 16-18 years of age through the usage of adequate or minimised punishments. More
importantly, it is seen that one of the best advantages of the usage of the process of juvenile
detection is the fact that it tries to not only modify the offending behaviour of the juvenile
offenders but also tries to makes these individuals respect the rules or the norms of the
civilised society in which they had to live in their adult (Murphy, 2018). However, over the
years it had been seen the process of juvenile detection causes more harm to the children
rather than remedying their offending behaviour adversely affects their psychology and
thereby makes them repeated offenders in their latter adult life. This purpose of this essay is
to argue that the process of juvenile detection causes more harmful to the children and
thereby increase their repeated offending behaviour in future rather than rectifying it.
One of the most important negative aspects of the different juvenile detention centres
is the uncongenial atmosphere which exists within their framework significantly affects the
behaviour of the children who are at an impressionable age. Cunneen, Goldson and Russell
(2016) are of the viewpoint that the young children are very susceptible to their external
environment and the things which are going on their external environment have a profound
affect on their psychology. The resultant effect of this is that the cognitive abilities of the
children often influenced by the negative environment which exists within the framework of
the different youth detection centres and thus they often try towards various kinds of
aggravated offenses in the latter part of their lives (Sharf et al., 2017). As a matter of fact, the
idea that the different kinds of crimes or offenses are something to be proud of had gained a

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JUVENILE DETECTION AND REPEATED OFFENDER BEHAVIOR
significant amount of prominence in the present times and this idea which is predominant
within the various juvenile detention centres significantly affects the mindset of the young
children. This in turn in the later part of their life makes them resort to different kinds of
criminal or offending behaviour and thereby makes them disregard the rules or norms on the
basis of which they are required to live within the societal framework (Jain et al., 2018). In
this regard, Gass (2015) had suggested that “placement in correctional facilities do not lower
the likelihood of juvenile reoffending and may, in fact, increase it in some cases”. This in a
succinct manner states that the different juvenile detention centres rather than helping in the
modification of the offending behaviour of the children aggravates the offending behaviour of
the same by exposing them to adverse environment (Reid & Loughran, 2019). On the other
hand, Ericson and Eckberg (2016) have counterargued this point by stating that the
environment or the climate which exists within the framework of the different juvenile
detention centres are actually meant to be eye-openers or a kind of reality check so as that the
children can know the exact fate which awaits them if they do not modify their offending
behaviour. However, at the same time it is seen that rather than modifying their behaviour it
actually hardens them and thereby makes them repeated offenders in their adult life.
An important negative aspect of the different juvenile detention centres is the fact that
the children who are sent to these centres often lose touch with education and when they
come out of these centres it becomes too difficult for them to pick-up their education from
where they left before being sentenced to these juvenile centres. This can be explained on the
basis of the fact that the children during the different juvenile court trails had to undergone a
significant amount of mental stress and this in turn significantly affects their learning abilities
or for that matter their mindset to continue their education (Sullivan, 2018). Furthermore, the
negative uncongenial environment which exists within the framework of the different
juvenile detention centres also affects the learning aptitude of the children in a substantial