Videos and articles you might need. I chose Shawn from the first link’s article to write my final paper about and the other articles/videos are needed to use for references.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/juvenile/four/
- Chapter 1: Definitions, Measurements, and Process.pptx
- Chapter 2: The History and Philosophy Behind the Juvenile Justice System.pptx
- Chapter 3: Theories of Delinquency and Juvenile Offending.pptx
- Chapter 4: Youth in Society – Developmental Risk and Protective Factors.pptx
- Chapter 5: Juvenile Victims.pptx
- Chapter 6: Juvenile Offenders.pptx
- 7. Gangs use this.pptx
- 8. Police use this.pptx
- 9. Pretrial and Diversion use this.pptx
- 10. Juvenile Court use this.pptx
Final Paper Rubic:
Your final submission will consist of a 4 – 5 page paper synthesizing the information throughout the class, as it applies to your juvenile offender. This is the offender you chose in the first
module. You will be required to cite the textbook, the case you selected, and other course
materials that you find relevant.
The formatting is as follows: 12 point Time New Roman Font, double spaced with 1 inch margins all around, citations in APA format. The content of your writing, before the reference page and excluding a title page, should be at a minimum 4 full pages of writing. This is a formal paper – do not write in the first person.
Here is the content required in your final paper:
●Your first paragraph should be a brief summary of your case where you explain to the reader a bit about your juvenile offender. For example, you would want to make sure you answer the following questions in your description:
■How old was your offender?
■What crime was committed?
■Was this their first offense?
■What was their history with juvenile offending?
Then, answer the following questions:
●Why did your juvenile offend? From what you know, how did they become an offender?
○Can draw upon: risk factors, gang involvement, childhood victimization, and
theories of offending
●After the offense, what happened to your juvenile in the three criminal justice systems
(police, courts, corrections)?
○You may only be able to write about 2 of the three – for some juvenile offenders,
their interactions with the police were not fully discussed in the cases
●What are at least three areas for improvement – what are three things the criminal justice
system could have done differently to better served the juvenile and why?
○This is an opportunity to think creatively about intervention efforts, juvenile
transfer, rehabilitation, and areas of reform for the juvenile justice system
●How could this crime have been prevented?
○Draw upon information regarding prevention efforts and protective factors. This
is again an opportunity to think creatively, building upon content discussed in the course.
●Conclude by explaining the following – What should someone take away from this case
review about the juvenile justice system? What is learned?
○Perhaps you learned most about shortcomings in the juvenile justice system,
necessary avenues for reform, or how the system can help prevent a juvenile from
becoming an adult offender. There are many other alternative answers that can be
justified. Your conclusion can be what you find most relevant and memorable
after working through all of the above information. Whatever your conclusion,
please justify it using an example from the case. Please do so avoiding first person
language (e.g. “A primary takeaway from this case is …”instead of “I think it is
interesting that…”).
The strongest papers will include regular citation of specific information from the textbook, the
case, and other course materials (lectures, ted talks, etc…).
To earn a high grade on this paper, it must be well written, meet the formatting criteria, avoid the
first person, answer all of the above questions, incorporate specific information from the
textbook/lectures/case, synthesize learned information, and draw original conclusions. All final
papers will be checked for plagiarism using standard software; there will be no tolerance for
plagiarism.
Please see the rubric for grading criteria before you write your final paper. In addition, please re-review the syllabus for the late policy and plagiarism policy.
No self-plagiarism from the previous Case Studies.
My Case Study Submissions (5 total over the last 5 weeks):
Case Study Assignment Module 1:
I have chosen to follow Shawn from the 4 juvenile offenders from PBS.
Shawn was accused and charged with stabbing his dad repeatedly in the arms, head and neck on Christmas night 1998. He was sentenced to juvenile hall until he turned 19, instead of adult prison, which would have sentenced him to 25 years to life. He violated parole (he was able to leave juvenile hall for meal times with his family and college courses) shortly afterwards and got violent with the arresting officers, which will land him in court again for sentencing, in
I have chosen this case because of its uniqueness. I have heard of a lot of excuses why a murder or other criminal acts were committed but I have never heard of a suspect blaming parasomnia for their crime(s).
Case Study Assignment Module 2:
Learning theory and opportunity theory best describes Shawn. The learning theory describes him by watching and learning from his mother how to drink alcohol since she has been drinking heavily since he was very young. The article suggests that his mother was more of a drinking buddy than his mother. It does not seem like she told him right from wrong. Leaning this at an early age, he was not aware that drinking heavily would get him into trouble. Shawn’s father was away a lot on business trips and therefore, was not able to intervene. Shawn also learned that bullying kids at school or smoking marijuana, will not have much consequences at home. He got expelled from 2 schools because of his behavior and it seems like it did not get any better or anyone tried to help him be a better person.
The opportunity theory describes Shawn as having the perfect opportunity to commit the crime. His father was at home asleep and Shawn did not have to go outside the house to look for a victim. Without this opportunity of committing the crime at home, Shawn most likely would not have turned criminal in that way. But, he might have chosen a younger kid from school,at one point, that he used to bully.
Shawn offended because he had the opportunity to commit a crime. He was able to stab his father while both were asleep in their bedroom and he knew, that both would not be able to defend themselves. Even the schools have not done their part in helping Shawn overcome his aggression towards his peers.
There are several risk factors for Shawn, which are: psychological, behavioral, family structure, peer influences and school policies. The psychological risk factors in Shawn let him have negative thoughts about kids in his school by bullying them and also emotions and attitude towards his parents for being a heavy drinker, like his mother (emotions) and for being gone too much, like his father (attitude).
The behavioral risk factors were signs of aggression towards his dog and also towards an inmate, whom he forced to perform a sexual act on him. Shawn said that he was afraid of the gangs in juvenile hall and that is why he had forced the inmate but looking at his track record, it does not seem that Shawn was afraid of anything. The judge was also a negative influence on Shawn by giving him a very light sentence. Shawn was able to attend college classes and also go to counseling outside of the prison during the day while incarcerated. He only needed to be back in prison at night and after a while, he was even able to go home for meals with his family on the weekends.
The family structure risk factors are the same as the psychological risk factors. His mother was a heavy drinker and his father was gone most of the time. According to the profile of Shawn, his mother was more interested in her alcohol than to show or teach Shawn right from wrong. She also did not make sure that his upbringing was a positive one or to give him a better homelife. His father was gone most of the time and could not be a positive role model in his son’s life. After Shawn had been expelled once from school, his father should have seeked employment near his hometown so he could make sure Shawn would walk a straight and narrow road in becoming a positive and good member of society. His parents suggested to Shawn that he should plead guilty in order to receive a lesser charge and be sentenced to juvenile hall, instead of adult prison. Even his father, whom he tried to kill, suggested it. Peer influences is another risk factors in Shawn. Shawn and his friend committed strong-arm robbery when they stole money from a younger kid. It is hard to say if Shawn would have done this robbery without his friend being present but it is very likely since he did bully other kids from his school by himself. School policies is also a risk factor for Shawn. Shawn was expelled from two schools for drinking and the heavy use of marijuana. Research shows that being suspended and expelled from school results in an increase of negative juvenile behavior, which is not surprising since Shawn had more free time to commit crimes. The school should have made sure that Shawn got the help, for instance counseling or at least worked together with the parents to ensure he got the counseling he needed.
Unfortunately, Shawn does not have a lot of protective factors right now. He is able to leave juvenile hall for classes and meals with his family. The only protective factors I see are that he is going to counseling, such as private counseling sessions and narcotics anonymous meetings. Those might help him overcome the aggression and addictions (alcohol and marijuana) he has. If they do not help him, he, most likely, will continue his crime spree when he gets out of juvenile hall at the age of 19. He has already proven in October last year, that he has not changed at all. He started smoking marijuana again and when he knew his probation officer was aware of this and also had prove, he took off, hiding in another town. He quickly got arrested four hours after taking off and a new court date was set for February this year. The outcome of this hearing is still pending. Therefore, the protective factors of counseling and narcotics anonymous meetings did not help him so far. The only protective factors I see, that might help Shawn lead a productive and “legal” life away from the criminal one he led so far, would be to be sentenced to community service in either a hospital or a domestic violence shelter, to see and hear what victims are describing as having gone through. Maybe even a morgue, where victims were not that lucky to have survived a domestic violence attack. This might, but only might, open his eyes to the situation, he had gotten himself into, when he stabbed his father. Counseling and narcotics meetings should also still be a “must” in Shawns life. Another factor that might have prevented Shawn from offending in the first place (stabbing his father), would have been if his mother had gotten the help she needed with her alcoholism and if his father had been in town more often to help raise his son. If Shawn would have had a stable childhood, he might not have gotten to the point to where he stabbed his father. I am not saying that the stabbing would have never happened because there are kids and teenagers that tried to kill or even succeeded in killing their parents, even though they had an excellent, loving and very stable childhood but it might have given Shawn a greater chance of not committing this horrible crime.
Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. M., & Wright, J. P. (2013). Juvenile justice (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
https://www.acesconnection.com/blog/why-do-childre…
Case Study Assignment Module 3:
Shawn has a history of victimization. He is mean to the family dog and he had been arrested and charged for “strong-arm” robbery by taking money from a smaller boy in his school. Shawn was arrested and charged for the robbery but was never treated like a criminal. His mother was drinking heavily and his father was often away on business, therefore; Shawn did not have any discipline for the criminal actions he took in life. His mother was more worried about alcohol to care about her son’s life and his father, most likely, never knew about the mischief his son was getting into. Smoking marijuana and also drinking heavily (which was introduced to him by his mother), have as well contributed to him stabbing his father on Christmas Eve 1998. Shawn, in a way, was a victim therefore himself. He did not have a mother who took care of her son the way she should have. His father was not around much because of his job, to introduce Shawn to a straight and narrow path of becoming a law abiding member of society. Shawn was able to do whatever he wanted without any repercussions from his parents. This seems to have been the only victimization for Shawn, that was stated in the article. Shawn was the one victimizing peers and his dog and only fell victim himself through his mother’s drinking problem and his father’s absence. But even though, many kids have absences parents and do not commit any crimes, especially murder, but for Shawn, not having any guidelines and rules to live by, the path took a dramatically different way.
Shawn has stabbed his sleeping father in the neck, arm and head on Christmas Eve 1998. The offense was very severe and Shawn was charged with attempted murder. If his father had died, the charge would have moved from attempted murder to first-degree murder, which would have given him a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life.
Case Study Assignment Module 4:
The juvenile I have chosen was not involved with a gang. His crime was the attempted murder of his father on Christmas Eve 1998. His mother had a drinking problem and was hardly ever able to care and raise her son the right way. Shawn’s father was away on business a lot and also not available to his son. None of this was the outcome of Shawn being in a gang. He was not, and never had been, involved in and with a gang.
Shawn was no stranger to the police. He had been arrested and charged before for strong-arm robbery since he and a friend took money from a smaller kid. He was also known for his heavy drinking and marijuana use. When he got arrested for the attempted murder of his father, he was able to even leave juvenile hall to attend classes and counseling sessions. Last year October, Shawn started smoking marijuana again as well as drinking, and when he knew his probation officer found out about it, he fled. 4 hours later, he was arrested again in another town. His trial will be in February, and at this point, he is not allowed to leave juvenile hall anymore, since he is considered a flight risk. The police, as well as the judge, should not have allowed Shawn the choice of leaving juvenile hall at any time, not even to attend classes. As for counseling, Shawn could have been taking there by a police van with other inmates that attended counseling themselves. He should not have gotten special privileges over the other juvenile inmates, especially, since he had been arrested and charged with attempted murder. Some of the other kids in juvenile hall were arrested and charged for a lesser crime than Shawn committed and they were not able to leave at all, at any time.
The police should have also tried to help Shawn, or at least tried to convince him, that a live of crime is not the right thing to do. They should have done this when he first got arrested for the strong-arm robbery he committed on a smaller child. If they would have done this, they might have gotten through to him and the stabbing of his father on Christmas Eve 1998, would have never happened.
Case Study Assignment Module 5:
The judge was very lenient with Shawn by sentencing him to continue to stay at the juvenile facility until he turns 19. During that time, he was able to leave the facility to attend college classes and counseling sessions. He was even able to go home for meals with his family, even though he had attempted to take his father’s life within the last year. Even though Shawn forced his cellmate to perform oral sex on him, he did not face any repercussions for that.
The case was not handled how it should have been. Shawn should have never been allowed to leave the facility until time served. Since Shawn was able to leave the facility any time he wanted to, he, eventually, got back into trouble by smoking marijuana and by drinking. Since being on parole and not being allowed to get into any sort of trouble (not matter how big or small), he fled town when he found out that his parole office knew about the smoking marijuana and the drinking. Shawn was caught 4 hours later in a different town and taken back to juvenile hall. The case will go in front of a jury (for the 2nd time) in February. His faith will be decided at that time.
Shawn was never transferred to an adult court, even though, I believe, he should have been. If Shawn is old enough to take a knife and stab his father several times, he should be old enough to face the consequences in an adult court. I believe, Shawn might not have violated parole if he had been trialed as an adult and received a harsher sentence than what he received in juvenile hall.
The court process in juvenile hall hurt Shawn because they did not hold him accountable for his action, which was attempted first degree murder on his father. He was able to leave juvenile hall for college classes and for counseling. Other juveniles did not have this luxury. They had to pay for their crimes within the 4 walls in juvenile hall. He should have received a harsher sentence than what he received in order to know, what he was charged with, was not the right thing to do. I do not agree with the sentence and believe, he should have been charged with attempted first degree murder on his father. It seems like, Shawn thought it was a game and that he can do whatever he wants to, even if it is illegal. He thought, nothing would happen to him and that is when he took off after violating parole by smoking marijuana. The court failed Shawn in helping him with his aggression towards people and animals by not punishing him, as he should have been. By not giving him a harsher sentence, Shawn might never learn from this and might commit the same crime again but with a worse outcome.
Reference:
PBS, Frontline (2001). Case Study 5. Published January 11, 2001.
Case Study Assignment Module 6: (is not due yet but thought you might need this for the final paper due on 2/26) – have not started it but will start it this weekend:
In this module, we are learning about corrections and prevention. In preparation for your final exam/paper, consider the following:
- What happened after your juvenile’s court case?
- What kind of correctional sentence did they serve?
- Do you feel that the correctional decision was appropriate and why or why not?
- How do you believe your offender could best be rehabilitated?
- What kind of prevention and intervention services did your juvenile receive?
-
- How could prevention or intervention have been more effective?