Teen_Court_Programs_For_Juveniles

Teen Court Programs For Juveniles Teen Court Programs for Juveniles Teen courts are becoming more and more popular today throughout the country. It has become evident that teen courts are fulfilling a recognized need. Teen courts help reduce recidivism rates, decrease costs, and increase public awareness of the legal system. Through organized and closely monitored teen court programs, juvenile offenders learn the consequences of their behavior and often help to improve one’s attitude about the justice system. Many theories have been proposed to explain the origins of crime among juveniles, including the social strain theory, social control theory, and social learning theory. The purpose of this paper is to explore the teen court program, its history, and the theories behind the program. ii Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...ii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………….iii Problems with Juvenile Delinquency……………………………………………….…1 Need for Teen Court…………………………………………………………………….1 History of Teen Courts ……..…………………………………………………………..2 Theories Behind Teen Court………………………………………………………...…3 Social Strain Theory………………………………………………………….…3 Social Control Theory…………………………………………………………..3 Social Learning Theory…………………………………………………………4 Teen Court Statistics……………………………………………………………………5 Recidivism……………………………………………………………………...5 Problems Associated with Some Teen Courts……………………………………….5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….…6 References………………………………………………………………………………8 iii Teen Court Programs for Juveniles Problems with Juvenile Delinquency It is no secret that juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in today’s world. Juvenile crime has a huge impact on the nation’s overall crime rates. According to data complied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the year 2000 alone, more than one teen, courts, court, juvenile, theory, programs, juveniles, justice, community, 2003, youth, 2002, program, delinquency, offenders, offender, help, behavior, strain, retrieved, including, february, theories, system, peers, one’s, learning, department, crime, 2000, social, young, welsh, states