Juvenile Justice Impairment Among Adolescents

The treatment of drug abusers has been a controversial topic for decades among policy makers. There are those that stand on the rehabilitation side and others that side with criminalization and incarnation of users. With both sides of the spectrum being developed and tested out, there has not been a concise way that fully solves the issue. The side of criminalization has led to increased amount of users being incarnated which eventually destroy their chance of having a better life later on in their lives. The other side of the issue leads to inconsistent results, with some people being rehabilitated and others fall back into the same hole they were in before rehabilitation. The research by Johann Hari in the video Everything You Think You …show more content…
Some key factors mentioned in the article spoke of how the “effects of age, sex, race/ethnicity, mental health disorders, functional impairment, and type and number of substance use disorders in relation to specialty and non-specialty services” (Aarons, A.G., et al pg. 48) effect the impairment of adolescents in the juvenile justice courts. These key components showed that unlike the research has shown above it wasn’t just addiction that affects users but other internal factors. Juveniles in the justice courts receive less harsh sentence than adults, however; instead of being cared for and have their problems looked upon. They are just shoved in the court 's system without much help on the reason behind their actions. The article resulted that a key contributor to whether a juvenile received helped was the color of their skin. “youths involved with the JJ system versus SAD services was about ten times more likely to be non-Caucasian and much less likely to have an affective disorder or prior ADM involvement” (Aarons, A.G., et al pg. 54). While other factors contributed to the treatment of juveniles, they all started with the race and ethnic background of the offender. The article does not show a positive aspect in such kind of discriminatory treatment, …show more content…
It was noted, that there was an increasing amount of juveniles being punished for alcohol and drug usage without treatment. The article advocated a need for a juvenile drug court in Southern Arizona based on the increasing availability of drugs going through the state which has led to more apprehension of suspects essentially juveniles. The purpose of the drug courts is to provide external help rather than the punishment in the juvenile court system. “The PCJC provided (a) initial screening of youth and subsequent referrals to treatment (as appropriate), (b) intensive judicial contact, (c) urinalysis testing for substance use, (d) weekly court hearings, (e) community service opportunities, and (f) school interventions/contacts” (Ruiz, B. S., et. al., p. 419). These types of measures in sense would gradually rehabilitate the juvenile and keep them of the