JUVENILE JUSTICE

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Juvenile Justice : A Necessity

It is an unfortunate fact that crimes do exist in any community of any country in the world . Crime and criminals plague many of our streets today . Whether a street is located in a highly urbanized city or in a remote village in the outskirts of a small county , crime could be committed by various kinds of people . No one could blame anyone who would feel unsafe

or even gripped by paranoia when walking alone on a darkened street alley . No one can ever say that the streets are truly safe for people today . In fact , some people would not even feel so secured in their own homes . We have to acknowledge the fact that there could be no place in the world , which we can say it is truly free from any crime

Whether a community is located in a so-called third world state or to be found in a highly developed country like the United States , people everyday commit crimes ranging from light offenses to more serious felonies . The Federal Bureau of Investigation has categorized crimes into violent crimes (which include murder , forcible rape , robbery , and aggravated assault ) and property crimes (which include burglary larceny-theft , motor vehicle theft and arson . However , what is staggering are the percentage rates of crimes committed by juveniles from the crime statistics . In the latest edition of Juvenile Offenders and Victims : 2006 National Report from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP ) it is published that in 2002 one in twelve murders in the U .S . involved a juvenile offender and one-third of murders committed by a juvenile offender also involved an adult offender . We have to take note that aside from murder , there are different kinds of crimes and that statistical data by the OJJDP is only for accounted murder crimes committed by 17 years old and below ! The picture would surely be more appalling if we include the other types of crimes committed by juvenile offenders and if we include those delinquencies , which are unaccounted or unreported

What causes juvenile delinquency ? According to The History Channel Website , the causes of juvenile crime focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence . Theories centering on the individual suggest that children engage in criminal behavior because they were not sufficiently penalized for previous delinquent acts or that they have learned criminal behavior through interaction with others . A person who becomes socially alienated may be more inclined to commit a criminal act . Theories focusing on the role of society in juvenile delinquency suggest that children commit crimes in response to their failure to rise above their socioeconomic status , or as a repudiation of middle-class values

In the newss , most of the juvenile crimes that were reported were committed by children from disadvantaged families . There would be Juveniles from well off families...