Juvenile Probation Research Paper

Juvenile probation was originally started through John Augustus when he persuaded a judge in 1841 to release an offender to him for supervision in the community rather than to sentence him to prison (Lawrence et al, pg. 410). Juvenile probation is provided on the basis of having supervision and guidance through programs such educational and employment services and assistance in other areas as well. Juvenile probation has been the most predominantly used juvenile court disposition. There have been four components to achieve the goals that probation is seeking to accomplish those being; juveniles are technically under court supervisions with conditions and rules that they will need to comply with before they can be released, probation is also …show more content…
Although probation may seem like a good alternative over incarceration for many juveniles for certain offenses, there has been research and critiques who claim that it is ineffective and not helpful to the youth. There have seemed to many oversights to planning, developing and implementing juvenile probation programs and agencies seem more concerned on emphasizing the "process" rather than the results that come about from juvenile probation. In my research paper, I would like to cover the areas of juvenile probation of why they in fact are around, what some benefits or failures to this alternative are, some research behind juvenile probation and whether it seems to work or not for juvenile offenders, and what some better alternatives may be besides …show more content…
approximately 60% of all youth referred to the juvenile court will have some form of probation supervision as their final disposition (9). Two main objectives of probation are public safety and prevention of recidivism (9). These objectives can be achieved through many outlets. Support of parents during probation is critical for youth participation as well as the youth and officer relationship being another vital point to the success of probation (9). These two key factors for the success of juvenile probation can change the final outcomes of youth greatly. Stated by (3), families, especially parents are a critical component of juvenile offender rehabilitation especially with probation. The ideal parent should be able to support their child, accept their parental authority, and partner with probation officers in the probation process although, having an ideal parent is very minimal because most fall short in their duties and parents are typically resistant to probation participation (3). As learned in class some family characteristics that may increase risk of juvenile delinquency are parental separation, abuse, poor parenting skills, poor monitoring and supervision, and family