A patrol officer or juvenile officer has at least five options when investigating a complaint against a juvenile or arriving at the scene of law-violating behavior. Identify and discuss those five options. Discuss the various factors that influence discretionary practices used by police in regard to their handling of juvenile matters.
Please answer in a paper of 4-5 pages, double-spaced, no larger than 12-point font. You should incorporate outside sources, our textbook, and Scripture, if appropriate in your paper. Please document all of your sources in APA format. Please refer to the grading rubric in the resources area.
——-The Processing of Juvenile Offenders—–
A. Factors Influencing Police Discretion
Discretion-the choice a police officer makes between two or more possible means of handling a situation.
Only 10 to 20 percent of police–juvenile encounters become official contacts.
The juvenile justice system could not function without police discretion.
Factors: (1) offense, (2) citizen complaints, (3) gender, (4) race, (5) socioeconomic status, (6) individual characteristics of the juvenile, (7) police–juvenile interactions, (8) demeanor, (9) police officer’s personality, (10) departmental policy, and (11) external pressures.
B. Informal and Formal Dispositions
Personal biases do sometimes influence individual police officers.
Must deal effectively with the various types of youths.
Five options: (1) warning and release, (2) station adjustment, (3) referral to a diversion agency, (4) citation and referral to juvenile court, and (5) detention.
The further youths are processed into the system, the less discretionary authority the police have.
—–The Police and the Prevention of Juvenile Offenses—-
A. Community-Based Interventions
The officer who has earned the respect of the youths of the community will be aware of what is happening in the community and will be called on for assistance by youths in trouble.
In many larger cities, police departments form juvenile units to handle youth crime.
B. School-Based Interventions
Developing effective delinquency prevention programs in schools is one of the most important challenges facing the police at the present time.
Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.)- has not reduced youth involvement in gangs and delinquent behavior, but it did help young people to develop positive relations with law enforcement.
LRE is designed to teach students the fundamental principles and skills needed to become responsible citizens.
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
C. Gang-Based Interventions
Drugs and violence have made gangs a problem for the police.
Once the community becomes aware of the problem, pressure on police to solve it.
Three types of interventions: (1) Youth Service Program, (2) gang detail, and (3) gang unit.
—— Study: Police Attitudes toward Youth Crime —–
Have more positive attitudes today toward youthful offenders than in the past
Three occupational determinants work against even more positive attitudes: (1) police see themselves as skilled in their ability to apprehend criminals, but leniency of court make them believe nothing will happen to apprehended youth unless it is a serious offense, (2) dangers inherent in their jobs require them to be alert to assailants who indicate trouble or danger, therefore they must be guarded in their encounters with juveniles, and (3) the police must always defend the authority of their position
—–Juveniles’ Attitudes toward the Police —–
Juveniles who have had contact with the police have more negative attitudes toward them than those who have not had contact.
Youths had more negative attitudes than did older citizens.
White juveniles are more positive than African Americans.
Female juveniles are more positive than males.
Also influenced by social class; middle-class youth tend to be more positive than lower-class youth.
