Juvenile Corrections Essays - Penology, Prison, Workhouse

Juvenile Corrections Jeshondra Lucas CJ 564 Seminar in Corrections Mississippi Valley State University November 27, 2017 The historical development of the juvenile justice system dates back to the Roman Times. The Roman law gave parents the responsibility for punishing their child. Back in the Roman times, the child's age was the factor of if the juveniles were capable of being punished by their parents, or if they would be punished by the court with adult charges. At seven years of age, in the Roman law if that child had committed a crime. The child would be held accountable for their actions and no longer be under the punishment of their parents, but under the punishment of their king. In England in the 1500's shires and other people were to carry out what the king had wanted done. The Bridewell Workhouse was built in London in 1557, this workhouse was a place where inmates would go to provide cheap labor to please mercantile. Guards claimed that the work that the inmates were doing was therapeutic and rehabilitative. In the Middle Ages, children were seen as property. Male children were the head of all households and the patriarch handled his homes as he pleased. When parents broke the law, the children were forced to take care of themselves. A lot of them stole things to provide for the family, placing them in the same situation to face adult charges. During the 1600s in England, government began to consider the plight of the child (Clear, Reisig, Cole, 2016.) Children fell under the protection of the king or queen. The crown would act as the parens patriae which means the crown could act as a guardian of any child, especially one with rights to inherited property. In the United States Juvenile Justice has shifted to reflect social, intellectual, and political currents of crime. The Puritan Period takes place from 1646-1824. Americans stopped the practice of English laws in the 1800s. The Massachusetts Stubborn Child Law in 1646 was an early attempt to deal with problem children. The Puritans simply voiced the need for problem children to be disciplined by their parents and those who refused to obey their parents be dealt with by law. The Refuge Period was 1824-1899, children were urged to learn good work habits and study skills. More reform happened throughout the Juvenile Court Period of 1899-1960, The Juvenile Rights Period of 1960-1980, Crime Control Period of 1980-2005, and the Evidence Based Period of 2005 to present days. From 1930 through 1980, the incarceration rate was pretty stable in the United States (Clear, Reisig, Cole, 2016.) In today's society there has been tremendous growth leading to prison overcrowding. We cite prison overcrowding by five reasons since the crime rate does not match the incarceration rate. We credit the increase of prisoners to increased arrests and more likely incarceration, tougher sentencing, prison construction, the war on drugs, and state and local politics. There are nearly 19 state prison systems that operate above capacity. Prison overcrowding may violate constitutional standards, decrease access to some much needed programs and services, create major administrative problems, and increase prison violence. The Null Strategy, Construction Strategy, Intermediate Sanctions and Prison Population Reduction are four ways the states try to combat prison crowding. A lot of sentences are due to the race and ethnicity of the person committing the crime. Disparity is of ten used to target certain groups. References: Clear, T. R., Reisig, M. D., Cole, G. F. (2016). American Corrections (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.