Evaluation Research
Introduction
The juvenile justice system is a court system that is intended to pass judgment on persons who have committed crimes and are not of age to undergo the main court system. This justice system entails minor to serious offences. This court is created so as to differentiate it from the adult court system as it is thought that the young ones are malleable and responsive when compared to adults. This paper attempts to present an analysis of how effective the system has been. With the rise in crimes committed by young offenders it becomes of importance to evaluate how effective the juvenile justice system is in evaluating its effectiveness (Leidy, 2008). In recent times the system has demonstrated its flaws in handling the young offenders. The punishment issued to these offenders has, instead of stopping them from going back to the crime, they have, increased the numbers. This means that the system has its mistakes; there is belief that instead of correcting the offenders it tends to harden them.
On the other hand the Future of Children argues that the juveniles are not responsible for what they do and are supposed to be less punished. The juveniles are however becoming less effective with a large number of the offenders getting into adult hood with the same characteristics. So as to correct this, these young people need assistance.
A number of these young people under go a lot of issues; being molested physically, incomplete homes and the missing in action of the head of the houses in addition to poverty and getting involved in substance abuse. To stop these from happening, these young people are taken to the juvenile system for help. The society on the other hand has its role to play in preventing these youngsters from getting involved in crimes that may translate in future into adult crime.
This research is an attempt to focus into the procedures of the juvenile system and ways that can be applied to limit if not do away with these crimes as they grow into adulthood. The relevant sectors in the lives of the youngsters are set to play their respective roles; the parents and the neighbors in the growing up of the youngster and the government in the provision of the financial assistance which would be used in providing learning and sentience programs.
Statistics of the related group would be used from the varied locations they are as well as the rate at which the crime rate has prevailed with time. This statistics are used as they would be useful to tell us what size of the population is affected and at what speed it is going at (Lipsey, Howell, & Kelly, December 2010). The data would be acquired through surveys and questionnaires as well as interviews which would be the most effective way though tedious considering the size of population to be handled.
Data evaluation
The participants as mentioned above acquire the benefits of the information that would be applied to get data are significant in taking control of the problem. The statistics of the size of the youth affected and how fast it has grown would be a better way of getting to know of how to resolve the problem by first reducing it if not stopping it. The parents, government, probation officers and educationists are the people who are in constant contact with these youth and would play a vital role in coming up with the solutions. The solutions that they have come with would be applied at home, their classes as well as other places.
So as to be able to know whether my evaluation plan has succeeded or not it would be useful to monitor the progress of the youth in the said places. This information would hence be useful to the authorities to hinder any crime in the fore coming days as well as note the factors behind such negative acts (Champion, 2009). The success of the project would be achieved if the crime rate notes a decline in the rate of crime amongst the youth as well as the numbers of youth getting involved in the crime. In this program statistical data of the population in a particular area was involved in the research, so as to note the success or difference in the regions that underwent the program and the regions that did not undergo the process, observation would be involved. The region that received awareness of the program is expected to be less prone to crimes; a drop in rate of crime and reduction in the number of youth involved in crime.
The data that has been applied in evaluation research would be quantitative and qualitative. In the quantitative aspect of it the size of the affected youth is of consideration. The size of population affected is acquired and undergoes the program, it is expected that with time it is to reduce. The magnitude of reduction is dependent the level of effectiveness the program is. On the other hand, the qualitative aspect of it is considered in how the program has impacted the youth on a personal basis.
Conclusion
The juvenile system is the best known way to eliminate from the society criminal nature from the young offenders. The system aims to eliminate the criminal behaviour from the youth with the assistance of the various sections of the society. The advantage that is acquired is that the number of crime in the adult hood would be reduced similarly. Controlling the crime as it starts helps to limit the tendency as he or she grow up to adulthood. The society as a whole would be the sole benefit of this plan.
Bibliography
Champion, D. J. (2009). The Juvenile Justice System: Delinquency, Processing, and the Law. New York: Prentice Hall.
Leidy, R. M. (2008, December 2). Juvenile Justice: Keeping Teens Out of Jail. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from The Future of Children: http://blogs.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/2008/12/juvenile-justice-keeping-teens-out-of-jail.html
Lipsey, M. W., Howell, J. C., & Kelly, M. R. (December 2010). Improving the Effectiveness of Juvenile Justice Programs. A New Perspective on Evidence-Based Practice.
