Running head: CRIME CAUSATION AND DIVERSION PAPER 1

Crime Causation and Diversion Paper

James Hankerson

CJA/374

November 26, 2012

Kevin Hewitt
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Crime Causation and Diversion Paper

In this Crime Diversion Paper the comparison of two juvenile diversion intervention or

prevention will be compared. The following statements will be address. How do the programs

work to reduce juvenile crime? What are the programs major goals, objectives and core beliefs?

Who are the key participants in these programs? What services do they provide to the youths?

Identify which program of the two is more effective at reducing juvenile crime and why?

Law enforcement encounters youth on city streets in every day and night. Police officers

never know how serious the juveniles are or the potential dangers they pose when they are

dispatched to a call. There are many juveniles throughout cities across America that is constantly

at risk for becoming delinquent due to many reasons. Some of them come from single parent

homes, poor parenting, social economic status, overcrowded schools, and gang affiliation that

encourage juveniles to become delinquent also if juveniles have no structure in the home they

are more likely to become a juvenile delinquent. Although these juveniles are committing many

dangerous crimes on the streets there is still hope for them through the juvenile justice programs

that are offered, such as police officers programs, court, probation, corrections, and treatment

programs. Juvenile diversion programs have been committed to divert youth from their early

encounters with the juvenile court system (Russell & Wood, 1998).

Juvenile programs are available to those who are charged with a minor crime,

misdemeanor, or a petty offense. Diversion is an alternative procedure in which the case is

handled outside of the court, instead as part of the normal criminal justice system. A defendant

who agrees to be diverted will escape the criminal charges altogether if he or she successfully

completes the rehabilitation program and stays out of trouble for a specified time. There are

many programs in Georgia to help troubled juveniles such as Community Services, Mediation,
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Youth Diversion, and Counseling Centers. The two programs I choose for my comparison is the

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and Drug Abuse Resistance

Education.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention were recognized in 1974 by

the Congress. This juvenile program was created to support state and local efforts to prevent

delinquency and improve the Department of Juvenile Justice System. This system offers

numerous of sub-systems within to help create a better juvenile program for rehabilitation.

Within this juvenile program not points toward juvenile in general, but have several programs

specifically for both male and female delinquents.

This program was established to help reduce juvenile crime by interacting with several

programs and creating a better juvenile system. Programs such as Reclaiming Futures Program

which is a model for juvenile offenders who are abusing drugs this one of many programs

provided within the OJJDP Program.

The OJJDP program has very similar goals and objectives as other juvenile programs

offer to help reduce and possibly eliminate the possibility of juvenile offender recommitting

crimes and re-entering the system many time over. The program does their best to protect public

safety from juvenile offenders as well as holding offenders responsible for their actions taken

and provide rehabilitative and treatment services to the needs of juveniles delinquents and their

families. The key participants in this Office Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program are many.

These participants include the judge and court staff, arresting officer, parents of the juvenile and

parents themselves as well as the community of these various programs. Each participant listed

play a very important role, but the most important role are the juvenile and the parent. The only

way any program will be successful, is by the acceptance of the juvenile and the parents willing
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to participate a 100%. They must be willing to take every possible advantage given to them in

order to be rehabilitated and not return to the life of crime.

The services provided OJJDP are unlimited. There are numerous of programs for

juveniles of which may participate in based on the need or situation they may be facing. Each

juvenile in the system has separate steps that need to follow in order to reach their ultimate goal.

Services provided are not only for juvenile but for the families of the juvenile and the victim and

the family of the victim. All play an important within these programs in order to see a positive

out come. These programs are designed for success and not failure. Success brings positive role

models to the community, and that is one of the main goals of the OJJDP Program.

The second program that will be address is the Drug Abuse Resistance Education

program also as DARE. This program is offered to various juveniles grades K-12, schools,

parents, and communities and is witnessed by many school system throughout the United States.

Professionals, law enforcements officers, and trained individuals enter classrooms and

community centers with a series of highly developed, well planned- organized, lessons that

provide the most- up- date information gathered by research. The DARE program focuses on

the negative effects of drugs concern among juveniles, short and long term health problems, peer

pressure, alcohol abuse and drug prevention techniques (DARE, 2010).

The DARE program further educates juveniles how to avoids, detects, and prepare when

encountering dangerous situations-environments. The one of important role of DARE is to

educate and target youth as these individuals are most vulnerable and encourage easily by both

positive and negative social groups. DARE offers training and education that displays the

dangers of experimenting with drugs and alcohol while instilling positive communication and

problem-solving techniques.
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Both programs are very important in their own way and play a very important role in

juvenile delinquent lives. Based the research Office Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Program provides more program as a whole and may provide more of a selection of programs for

different situations.

In conclusion, the research has shown that both programs have a major role in juvenile

lives. Both are great programs and have reached out to many juvenile as well as their families to

help reel these youth and deter them from a life of crime. Today it takes more than just the

programs to rehabilitate the lives of these troubled juveniles, it takes a village as well as the will

and want of the juvenile. The program will only have success if the juvenile, family, courts, law

enforcement, judges and staff work together as a whole in order to create the law abiding life the

juvenile so rightly deserves.

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References