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HN430 Advocacy for Families and
Youth
Unit 4 Seminar
Sara Trovatore
Announcements
 Unit 2 Project grades – read comments
 Use rubrics for future assignments
 Follow directions
 Please make it a priority to turn in assignments
(discussions & projects) on time
Unit 4 Project – Billy Case Study
 Advocacy issues = key areas that require intervention to help
Billy.
◦ What is the issue? List at least three issues and explain why they
are key issues.
◦ How would you address it? List at least three solutions per issue
identified. Support your response with at least two Internet
sources.
 Roadblocks = specific problems that could stand in the way; think
ethical issues, resource unavailability, personal concerns, legal
issues, etc. – specific to this case study/situation
Unit 4 Project – cont.
 Make sure you use support in your paper – not just
listed in a reference page. Show what information you
use where via direct reference and/or in-text citations.
 Use APA format. Lots of resources available through
writing center, classroom site, websites.
 Have an introduction and a conclusion
 Follow the directions
 Use the grading rubric as a guide
 Due by midnight on Tuesday
Understanding Juvenile
Delinquency and the
Juvenile Justice System
Historical Development of
Juvenile Justice
From a historical perspective, juvenile
delinquency and a separate justice
process for juveniles are recent concepts.
juvenile delinquency
A special category of offense created for youths—
that is, in most U.S. jurisdictions, persons between
the ages of 7 and 18.
The Development of
Institutions for Youth
In the beginning of the 19th century,
American cities were seeing tremendous
growth, particularly because of immigration
and, in later years, industrialization.
The Houses of Refuge
Houses of refuge were designed to be
institutions where children could be
reformed and turned into hard-working
members of the community.
A child could be committed to a house of
refuge by law enforcement, by a parent,
or on the order of a city alderman.
The Houses of Refuge
Children in houses of refuge engaged in a
daily regimen of hard work, military drills,
and enforced silence, as well as religious
and academic training.
After “reformation,” boys were frequently
indentured to masters on farms or to
tradesmen, and girls were placed in
domestic service.
The Development of the
Juvenile Court
By the late 1800s, legal mechanisms for
treating children differently and
separately from adults were being put in
place: The juvenile court.
The first juvenile court was established in
1899 in Cook County Illinois
The Legal Context of the
Juvenile Court
• The doctrine of parens patriae served
as the foundation for the juvenile court
parens patriae
The legal philosophy justifying state intervention in
the lives of children when their parents are unable or
unwilling to protect them.
The Formal Juvenile Justice Process
The police represent the primary gatekeepers to
the formal juvenile justice process.
• 85 percent of delinquency cases referred to
the juvenile courts come from police
agencies.
• Status offenses are often referred by
others.
status offenses
Acts that are not crimes when committed by adults
but are illegal for children (for example, truancy or
running away from home).
The Police Response to Juveniles
Typical responses that police officers
employ in handling juvenile cases are:
• Warn and release
• Refer to parents
• Refer to a diversionary program
operated by the police or another
community agency
• Refer to court
Trends in Police Processing of
Juveniles
In recent years, there has been a trend
toward more formal processing of
juveniles taken into police custody,
particularly:
• Referring more youths to juvenile court
• Handling fewer cases within police
departments
• Referring more cases to criminal courts
Diversion
The goal of juvenile diversion programs is
to respond to youths in ways that avoid
formal juvenile justice processing.
Diversion programs are based on the
understanding that formal responses to
youths who violate the law do not always
protect the best interests of children or
the community.
Detention
Sometimes a youth is held in secure
detention facility during processing. There
are three primary reasons for this
practice:
1. To protect the community from the
juveniles
2. To ensure that the juvenile appears at
a subsequent stage of processing
3. To secure the juvenile’s own safety
Disposition
Disposition is the juvenile court
equivalent of sentencing in criminal court.
Disposition
An order of the court specifying what is to be done
with a juvenile who has been adjudicated delinquent.
A disposition hearing is similar to a sentencing
hearing in criminal court.
Disposition
Some of the options available are:
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Probation
Placement in a diversion program
Restitution
Community service
Detention
Placement in foster care
Placement in a long-term or short-term residential
treatment program
• Placement with a relative
• Placement with the state for commitment to a
state facility
• Or a combination of the above
Disposition
Because of recent heightened concerns
about violent juvenile offenders, many
states have legislatively redefined the
juvenile court’s mission by deemphasizing
the goal of rehabilitation and stressing
the need for public safety, punishment,
and accountability.
Disposition
The philosophical focus has also changed
from offender-based dispositions to
offense-based dispositions, including:
• Blended sentences—both juvenile and adult
sanctions
• Mandatory minimum sentences for specific
types of offenders
• Extension of juvenile court dispositions
beyond the offender’s age of majority
Probation
Probation is the most frequently used
correctional response for youths who are
adjudicated delinquent in juvenile courts.
A recent trend in juvenile probation is the
development of intensive-supervision
(probation) programs, which in some
jurisdictions involve home confinement.
Probation
Probation officers (advocates) usually
perform four important roles in the
juvenile justice process:
• Performing the intake screening
• Conducting presentence investigations
• Supervising offenders
• Providing assistance to youths placed
on probation
Restitution
In practice, there are three types of
restitution:
• Monetary restitution—The youth pays
cash to the victim for harm done.
• Victim-service restitution—The youth
provides some service to the victim.
• Community-service restitution—The
youth provides assistance to a
community organization.
Wilderness Probation (Outdoor
Adventure) Programs
Wilderness probation programs involve
youths in a physically and sometimes
emotionally challenging outdoor
experience intended to help them:
• Develop confidence in themselves
• Learn to accept responsibility for themselves and
others
• Develop a relationship of trust with program staff
Day Treatment Programs
Day treatment programs provide
treatment or services during the day and
allow youths to return home at night.
It is believed that they are:
• Cost-effective
• Effective at protecting the community
• Can provide a range of services
Foster Homes
Foster homes are out-of-home placements
intended to resemble, as much as possible,
a family setting. It is usually used by a court
when a youth’s home life has been
particularly chaotic or harmful.
Group Homes
Group homes are open, nonsecure
community-based facilities used either as
an alternative to incarceration or to help
youths transition to home.
Group homes are generally larger than
foster homes, less impersonal than
institutions, and less expensive than
institutional placements.
Juvenile Correctional Institutions
Institutional programs are the most
restrictive placements available to juvenile
courts.
However, juvenile institutions vary in the
extent to which they focus on custody
and control.
Juvenile Correctional Institutions
Secure facilities:
•perimeter fencing
•barbed wire
•surveillance devices
•monitoring of
residents’ movements
•restricting residents’
access to the
community
Open facilities:
• have no perimeter
fencing
• Leave entrances and
exits unlocked
• rely heavily on staff
Juvenile Correctional Institutions
Juvenile correctional institutions vary:
• Some are public, some are private
• Many are small—40 residents—some house
as many as 800 residents
• Some are co-ed
• Detention centers and diagnostic centers are
designed for short-term stays
• Farms, ranches, forestry camps, and trainings
schools are for long-term placements
• Types of programming and quality of care
Substance Abuse: Adolescents
 Substance use in adolescence is particularly
concerning because early age of first use of alcohol and
drugs is a risk factor for the development of substance
dependence and other psychological disorders later in
life.
 Prevention is critical and efforts may include alcohol
and drug education programs, as well as programs
designed to increase coping and social resistance skills
The Need for Prevention Programs for
Children and Adolescents
 Approximately 9.1% age 12 or older in U.S. are
dependent on some type of psychoactive
substance
 Increasing varieties of drugs available
 Increase in prescription drug & inhalant use by
adolescents
 Preventing drug use decreases risk of HIV/AIDS,
unplanned pregnancies
Adolescent Drug Abuse Risk Factors
 Individual Characteristics
 Mental illness, school failure, antisocial behavior, and
criminal activity
 Attitude
 Distrust, anger, and deviant behaviors
 Psychosocial characteristics
 Low self-esteem, poor social skills
 Family characteristics
 Family history of drug use, and family antisocial behavior
 Environment characteristics
 Poverty, lack of support services, and violence and
criminal behavior
Prevention Program Categories
 Nine Different Strategies
 1. School-based prevention programs (peer pressure resistance
training; drug education)
 2. In-school drug testing
 3. Mass media (scare tactics)
 4. Early diagnosis and treatment of emotional problems
 5. Harm reduction programs
 6. Restrictions of access to drugs
 7. Juvenile drug court diversionary programs
 8. Risk reduction and protective programs
 9. Multimodel programs (a little of everything)
School-Based Prevention
 Educate young people on the dangers of drug use
 Encourage healthy alternatives
 Peer involvement programs
 Adolescent programs focus on “gateway drugs”:
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana.
 Drug Abuse Awareness and Resistance (DARE)
 No positive long-term outcome
Substance Abuse Prevention Outcomes
 Effective programs
 Social-skills training
 Parental involvement
 Peers as educators and mediators
 Partnerships with community members
 Ineffective
 Focusing on single factors
 Teaching a few specific skills
Five Essential Components of Effective
Programs
 Adequate contact hours – exposure lasting at
least three (3) years
 Involvement of peers
 Emphasis on refusal, social, and decision-making
skills
 Change in students’ expectations and definitions
of “normal behavior”
 Involvement of parents, peers, and community
members
Useful Web Sites
 Drug Abuse Prevention Programs
http://www.drugfree.org
 Drug Prevention Media Campaign
http://www.mediacampaign.org
 SAMHSA Model Programs
http://www.modelprograms.samhsa.gov
 NIDA for Teens
 http://teens.drugabuse.gov