The issue with mental health in juvenile justice is that over two thirds of the youth involved with the juvenile justice system experience some form of mental health problems (Smith, 2017). Each year over 2 million youth come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Of those youth, approximately 65-70 percent have at least one diagnosable mental health need. Moreover, approximately 20-25 percent have serious emotional needs. My solution to this issue would be to establish a system of care focused on meeting the mental health and related needs of youth who get in trouble with the law, through comprehensive community-based services and support (Smith, 2017). The issue with youth in child welfare is that they have been abused and neglected and are higher risk for early onset for delinquency, mental health concerns, educational problems, occupational difficulties, and public health and safety issues. My solution to this problem would be to coordinate a multisystem of integration, to produce better outcomes for dually involved youth in a variety of states and localities (Smith, 2017). The issue with status offenses is that youth in the United States can get sent to court and even incarcerated for behaviors that are not crimes, such as running away or skipping school. My solution to this issue would be to implement immediate, family focused alternatives to court intervention to reduce family court caseloads, lower government costs and provide meaningful and lasting support to the youth (Smith, 2017). The issue with juvenile indigent defense is that public defenders or other defense attorneys for youth have little practice in representing them. They do not have a background in adolescent development, lack access to juvenile experts and do not know how to make use of public safety arguments. My solution to this issue would be to ensure that juvenile defense counsel have adequate training and also to development new juvenile defense standards to ensure youth receive excellent knowledgeable legal counsel and representation (Smith, 2017). The issue with probation is the level of contact between a probation officer and their client and the number of services provided in communities. The contacts range from regular to infrequent and some communities have very few services. My solution to this issue would be to set a standard for all probation officers to make contact with their clients at least once a week and I would also ensure that each community has the same services and can provide them to probationers (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). The issue with youth in adult jails is that they are at a greater …show more content…
My solution to this issue would be to talk to the judges and encourage them to refrain from sentencing youth to adult jails and prisons unless a capital crime is committed. I would also try to set up some form of mock incarceration for youth who continuously commit crimes to scare them into good behavior (Smith, 2017).
The issue with racial disparities is that youth of color are profoundly over represented in the juvenile justice system. Studies show that black youth are twice as likely to be arrested as white youth. To combat this issue I would implement more services, such as after school care programs, targeted at youth of color and in the low income communities, to try to help these youth from taking the wrong path in life (Smith, 2017).
The issue with group homes and halfway houses is that they are open non-secure community based programs that often face a number of obstacles that act as barriers to the effective treatment of youth. One major issue is that residents often get victimized by other residents and even staff. My solution to this issue would be to implement training for the staff and to hold the youth and staff members accountable for every wrong action they commit (Elrod & Ryder,