Criminal Justice Ethics Policy

Criminal Justice Ethics Policy

Criminal Justice Ethics Policy

The existing system of juvenile justice basically targets at the prevention of crimes among juveniles. In this respect, it should be pointed out that the prevention of juvenile crime is very important because the way the justice system treats juvenile offenders may, to a significant extent, define their further life. In fact, many specialists (Hayward, 2004) lay emphasis on the fact that the imprisonment of juveniles and repressive or, to put it more precisely, punitive approach to the juvenile justice may produce a negative impact on the development of personality of juvenile offenders. In other words, the early experience is extremely important for juveniles and serving term in prison produces a negative impact on the formation of their identity and, what is more important, it may contribute to the formation of criminal habits and increase the risk of anti-social behavior of offenders in the future, i.e. increasing their criminal inclinations under the impact of their social environment in prison. In such a context, it is very important to observe carefully all the procedures starting from the detention of offenders to the trial and sentence. Obviously, all these procedures imply professional work of law enforcement agencies and their representatives, attorneys, and judges. At the same time, it is important to develop effective strategies of the prevention of juvenile delinquency and minimization of the negative impact of the current methods used by the justice system in regard to juveniles.

The problem of juvenile delinquency is one of the most serious challenges to the contemporary justice system and law enforcement agencies as well as the society at large. It proves beyond a doubt that juvenile delinquency affects not only the current situation in the society, but it also influences the future development of society. In fact, the growing crime rates among juveniles reveal a serious social problem and the state and local communities cannot ignore this problem anymore. In this respect, it is important to underline that the current methods of the prevention of juvenile delinquency prove to be ineffective since the number of crimes and offenses committed by juveniles is steadily growing. This trend is very dangerous because it threatens to the future of the contemporary society.

Obviously, juvenile delinquents are a lost generation because many of them, as they go through the modern justice system's correction programs, are inclined to recidivism. Being released from prisons, they often return to criminal activities which eventually bring them back to prison and the society, as well as the modern justice system, is unable to rehabilitate and integrate them into a normal social life.

In such a situation, the problem of the effective management of juvenile delinquency and punishment arises. It is necessary to develop effective programs which can prevent juvenile delinquency, while the existing punitive system should be totally replaced since it is not very effective. In addition, the problem of family and community education arises, which also need proper management because the social environment affects substantially the ...