Research Assignment Paper: Treatment or Punishment?
reatment versus Punishment: That is the Question!
When looking at the relationship between social justice and juvenile justice, there are two overarching concepts when addressing juvenile delinquency - treatment and punishment. These two concepts have driven a cycle of changes in the juvenile justice system over the years. Your task is to support your premise that your state or city should either implement a philosophy of treatment or punishment for juvenile offenders for a specific crime or criminal justice issue identified in your paper.
Explain the differences between the treatment and punishment concepts. Build the case for which one you believe has the stronger position based on your research and the crime or criminal justice issue you selected to study.
Review the juvenile crime statistics between three cities or states in three different parts of the country (e.g., Boston, Chicago, and Seattle) for a crime or criminal justice issue. Incorporate a graphic display to present your findings. Be sure to include at least three demographic items, such as gender, ethnicity, race, education, or socio-economic status, in your analysis. Ensure you standardize your data (i.e., 1:1000; 1:10,000; or 1: 100,000) and incorporate the scale in a key for each chart.
Identify the prevailing thought in the city or state: Is it treatment or punishment? Analyze the differences in the recidivism rates between the cities or states you have selected? Is recidivism the best indicator of success or failure or should we use a different indicator?
In Chapters 2 and 3 of the text, our author addresses biological, psychological and sociological theories to help explain juvenile delinquency. Evaluate which of these theories would best support your thesis.
Support which juvenile justice intervention strategy would be effective to counter the crime or criminal justice issue based on your research?
Conclude with a summary of which concept (treatment or punishment) best supports the over arching concept of social justice?
The paper must be ten to twelve pages in length and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least six scholarly resources (at least four of which must be found in the Ashford Online Library) other than the textbook to support your claims. Cite your sources within the text of your paper and on the reference page. For information regarding APA, including samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, located within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar.
Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:
Must be ten to twelve double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student's name
Course name and number
Instructor's name
Date submitted
Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
Must use at least six scholarly resources, including a minimum of four from the Ashford University Library.
Must document all sources in APA style
Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
https://ashford(dot)waypointoutcomes(dot)com/assessment/3757/preview
Treatment or Punishment
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Treatment or punishment
There is a school of thought that views crimes within the younger generations as a recipe of what is to come. This is relative to the fact that, most of the adult criminals that have been convicted, have had some element of criminal activities in their youth. Some of the criminals start their criminal activities as early as ten and they carry on their delinquent habits to adulthood. It is for this reason that most of the research that has been carried out indicates that, persons that have had criminal pasts, are likely to become repeat offenders. It is not common that an offender without a criminal record will become a repeat offender in their old age especially if the offense that they committed was in their adult age. Most of these cases are associated with reactionary aspects of the person, relative to the fact that there is an element of habit developments that is associated with the criminal tendencies. As a result, there has been a debate on whether the correction facilities actually have any significant impact on the inmates and in this case the offenders that are young. Ideally, the correction facilities are supposed to be as the name suggests offer the inmates a chance to change their lives. However, over the last several decades, there is a twist to the elemental use of the correction facilities for political statements (Scheingold, 1994). This is to mean that, there is break in the system and this needs to be fixed. Which brings on the question about the effectiveness of punishment as means of helping reduce the rate of crime as compared to the element treatment (‘Crime and delinquency; researchers at university of kent have reported new data on crime and delinquency’, 2014). Given that most of the criminals in their adult age are generally repeat offenders that have in the past been convicted of delinquent behavior in the youth. It would be crucial to confirm that, given that most of the criminals in the adulthood are repeat offenders, the element of using punishment on delinquent offenders only works to harden the children and usher them in to more complex and violent behaviors in the adult life (‘Crime and delinquency; researchers from east carolina university describe findings in crime and delinquency (sedentary activities, peer behavior, and delinquency among american youth) (sedentary activities, peer behavior, and delinquency among american youth’, 2014). Some of the states have tried to bring about treatment other than punishment in the juvenile systems other the use of punishment as their basis for correction purposes. This is relative to the fact that they have realized the benefits of getting the teenagers involved in crime other than punishing them, which only works to harden them into more refined and violent criminals. By treating the teenagers, this helps them to form better behavior changes, such that they are able to accommodate the help that they get. If penalties were a deterrent to crime, there wouldn’t be any form of crime in the society (‘Crime And Punishment Crime And Punishment’, 1999).
Punishment
This brings out the two main concepts that have been used over time when it comes to deterring crime, treatment and punishment (Nussim & Tabbach, 2007). Starting out with the most common form of correction, punishment, this is a system that has been used over the years in most of the correction facilities. Ideally, this is based on the notion that, for every crime that one commits, they should be punished for it. This means that, for every crime one commits there are elements such as bail, jail terms and community services that are used to make sure that there is some element of punishment to act as a way of getting the person that committed the crime to pay for their acts (Kaba & Frase, 2016). However, there is also the aspect of capital punishment that is associated with getting a death sentence for crimes that considered to be a felony (With, 2007). This acts as a pay up for the acts that the criminal commits or in some of the cases the convict commits. Due to the fact that, there have been incidences that have brought out the debate on whether the system of punishment actually works to deter criminals from committing more crimes, there are those that suggest that there should be harsher punishment (‘Harsh Punishment won't Reduce Crime’,2002).
Treatment
On the other hand, it is crucial to consider the issue of treatment (Scott, 2012). This means that, the criminal or the convict, is assisted to change their habits and adopt more socially acceptable habits. Unlike the element of punishing the delinquent youths that are found to have committed crimes, this involves getting them help (Samakow, 2014). This is based on the consideration, that for the youths to be involved in the crimes that they have been convicted for, they must have some element of social difficulties and in most of the cases individual difficulties that they are struggling with. It is for this reason that the element of getting the child the help that they need through support programs that better help them to change their habits and give them hope, the treatment programs are based on. Other than making the child feel unwanted and an outcast, they feel that they are accepted and they have the power to change how they act. In the case of the punishment method, this is an approach that mostly leaves the children feeling as if they are outcasts, as they locked up and dehumanized for their acts. What makes it worse are cases where the child in this case has been wrongly convicted and they locked along with being treated as a degenerate in a society that does not understand what actually happened and the situations that led to them being framed for the crimes. In most of the cases, such a youth is likely to become rebellious and even develop disrespect for the system along with distrust for authority. Given the fact that, the correction facility that is based on the punishment, basically makes the youth feel unwanted, this means that the child has less chances of recovering from their delinquent behaviors. At the same the same time, those that are convicted wrongly now develop delinquent behaviors relative to the fact that they feel that they need to prove themselves (‘Crime And Punishment Crime And Punishment’, 1999). Furthermore, they the element of punishment tends to make the youth dejected and thus less of a person. With this aspect of eroded confidence in themselves, they seek confidence and motivation in actions of crime. It is also common that most of these youths will end up joining gangs as they feel more accepted among other persons that have been discriminated against in the society. This is a concept that largely a problem unto its self. By pushing the convicts into a segregated position where they do not have the chance to get back in the society, this pushes to become even more hardened criminals (Piquero & Steinberg, 2016). One of the aspects that comes out of this approach is that, as the delinquent youths are forced into incarceration, they feel victimized. What is worse, once someone has been convicted and jailed, they are branded an outlaw in the society. This is relative to the fact that the society has formed corrupt systems that shun away from anyone that has had a criminal record. As a result, these youths from an early age do not have the means to find employment and their social circles are much smaller. No parent wants their child to hang around a child that has had criminal records in the past. This means that the child feels even more rejected, within the society and even their families as they do not get the support that they need to get their lives together (Piquero & Steinberg, 2016). As such, using the treatment method is much better, as this means that the youths have support systems that they can rely on to get their lives in order. They have counseling sessions where they can speak out their struggles, fears and even their dreams. at the same time, the treatment does not only offer them hope, it also offers them the chance to get integrated back in the society with much more confidence in themselves and their abilities. It is also a system that allows the youths to better address their habits and focus on the ones that make them competent individuals before they are citizens.
Crime Statistics
To better understand the impacts of the correction methods in use, it is crucial to look at some of the statistics among some of the major cities in this case Boston, Chicago and Seattle. In Chicago, the rate of murder cases has increased to an estimated 72%, while incidences of shootings have increased to an estimated 88% (Madhani, 2016). Much of the criminal activities have been associated with the proliferation of gangs (Chicago Police Department, 2016). With reference to the juvenile crimes in Chicago, there were more than 21000 arrests, for youths that were less than seventeen years and below. In the year that followed the cases dropped to an estimated 17000, this means that there was a decrease in the number of arrests between the year 2013 and 2014, which comes to about 17%. This is a trend that has been established since the year 2009, relative to the fact that juvenile crimes have come down by more than 43% since then. With reference to the race of the most arrested youths, the African Americans account for an estimated 79%, while the Latin accounted for an estimated 18% in 2013.
Crime
2013
2014
Drug abuse violations
1263
1065
Robbery
1091
952
Burglary
590
590
Aggravated battery
444
447
Weapons
392
470
Motor vehicle theft<...