Fair or Foul Police Authority Limited with Juveniles

Introduction

 The juvenile justice institution is similar to the adult criminal justice system due to its three aspects: law enforcers, courts, and corrections. Often, a juvenile enters into the juvenile system after an encounter with the police officers. Therefore, law enforcers serve a similar purpose in both justice systems. Therefore, majority of the cases which reach the juvenile system are a result of police interactions with the juvenile. However, it is evident that police authority with the juvenile is fair and warranted.

Role of Police in the Juvenile System

 The police role in the juvenile system varies greatly depending on the situations law enforcers find themselves in. A police officer’s duty in the juvenile system is normally challenging because federal laws safeguards juvenile individuals who perpetrate grave crimes (Elrod, & Ryder, 2020). More so, the federal laws releases young offenders back into the community. Law enforcers often find themselves at crossroads whenever a juvenile commits a serious crime but the punishment does not match the crime committed.

Law enforcers normally record personal details such as fingerprints and photos. During an arrest, police officers have to make a referral- either to the juvenile court or justice system. Thus law enforcers are accountable for most juvenile court referrals. According to USA statistics, police offers made 83% of the juvenile referrals in 2009 (Brogan et al., 2015). Parents, academic institutions and victims made the remainder referrals. Additionally, law enforcers are obligated to take care of noncriminal mannerisms among young offenders. For example absenteeism from schools, breaking the rules and other offences a young offender might subject themselves to. Also, law enforcers mediate or are called upon whenever an under 18 individuals is reported missing or is abused. The police officer’s role is to scrutinize these cases by interviewing suspected victims, their guardians or college staff members. Therefore, police department normally designate some divisions to juvenile cases so most of the cases ca be given enough attention.

Police Duty

Police have a duty to protect communities from crime and other forms of violence. In this particular context, juveniles are separated from the rest of the community and kept in juvenile homes where they can cause no harm. Law enforcers are supposed to serve and protect others from juvenile related crime rate in neighborhood communities. In some areas, police patrol schools especially whenever there is an increase in the rate of juvenile crimes in academic institutions (Campbell et al., 2018). These patrols normally deter crime from recurring in most communities negatively impacted by juvenile crime. In terms of juvenile justice, police has to ensure young offenders are corrected and then release back into the community. The inhibition of juvenile crime and the development of juvenile correctional facilities is important to the communities where juvenile crime is high. Moreover, a stable community is dependent upon law rates of crime among the youth. The juvenile laws aims to put in place methods for personality improvement and contextual adjustment and also stipulate mechanisms for juvenile court cases. Most of the agencies that deal with juvenile cases, address have to extensively discuss in detail the actions that are to be taken whenever a young person commits a crime. Police departments actively promote extensive actions to prevent juvenile crimes and to enhance proper character development (Branson et al., 2017). A law enforcer interact with numerous youths hence have an obligation to protect the society from the crimes that the community might face. For example, while investigating juvenile cases police officers have to follow the law from the start to the finish. Police cases are conducted in a straightforward manner that obeys the law. Under the criminal procedural regulations and the juvenile law, police are to follow the outlined policies if they are to investigate juvenile cases appropriately. For example, the juvenile is supposed to be referred to the correct correctional facility before a court hearing. The right referral increases the chance of giving the juvenile offender a right to stand trial but the due procedure has to be followed to the latter. Once a person comes into contact with a juvenile, the right referral is to be used on the juvenile offender. Since a juvenile investigation leads to fosterage or protection mechanisms. However, compulsory measures unless the court gives a specification or a court order for the police department to do so. In terms of investigating juvenile, the juveniles system states that the police officers have to only gather facts that are connected to case. In challenging situations, the timing and methodology have to be considered to retain the innocence or the youthful offender.

In summary a police officer in the juvenile justice offer referrals to under 18 lawbreakers. The characteristics and details of the juvenile offenders are recorded and later passed into the juvenile justice system. Through law enforcement, the juvenile stands trial and is sentenced according to the evidence presented in the court room. The police department designate divisions which only deal with juvenile cases. An officer is not required treat a juvenile like an adult, thus forcing officers to document juvenile information.

 

 

References

Elrod, P., & Ryder, R. S. (2020). Juvenile justice: A social, historical, and legal perspective. Jones & Decker, S. H., & Marteache, N. (Eds.). (2017). International handbook of juvenile justice. Springer International Publishing.Bartlett Publishers.

Brogan, L., Haney-Caron, E., NeMoyer, A., & DeMatteo, D. (2015). Applying the risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) model to juvenile justice. Criminal Justice Review, 40(3), 277-302.

Campbell, C., Papp, J., Barnes, A., Onifade, E., & Anderson, V. (2018). Risk assessment and juvenile justice: An interaction between risk, race, and gender. Criminology & Public Policy, 17(3), 525-545.

Branson, C. E., Baetz, C. L., Horwitz, S. M., & Hoagwood, K. E. (2017). Trauma-informed juvenile justice systems: A systematic review of definitions and core components. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9(6), 635.