When an offender is paroled, special conditions may be placed by the parole board upon the individual, to ensure that the rehabilitative process began in prison continues. "In addition to establishing the standard rules which include paying restitution, maintaining contact with their parole agent, submitting to searches and not leaving the state without permission" ("Division of Juvenile Justice: FAQs, 2008, CDCR). These special stipulations may include counseling for substance abuse or anger management, substance abuse treatment in a residential facility, drug testing, not associating with certain individuals (like members of the offender's former gang) and even earning a high school diploma or equivalency degree. The system takes an 'interest' in the development of the young offender ("Division of Juvenile Justice: FAQs, 2008, CDCR).
The youthful offender "can earn an early discharge from parole supervision if they perform well on parole for a significant period of time," which the court system calls paying off their restitution in full to society, again reflecting the growing shift to seeing retribution, to some degree, as a critical element even of the once ostensibly rehabilitative system ("Division of Juvenile Justice: FAQs, 2008, CDCR). The offender may be dishonorably discharged from parole if he or she does not meet the conditions of the parole.
Although even adult programs have attempted to embrace a philosophy of rehabilitation or restorative justice before the adult is released into the community, for example, by requiring offenders to engage in community clean-up -- juvenile courts have made even more extensive use of such efforts as community service, sensitivity training, giving back to the community, repairing the offense (like cleaning up graffiti), or 'boot camps' to educate the youths as to how to become more functional members of society. These service and educational activities are meant to teach as well as to repair the harm done by the offender to society.
The increasing shift to retribution and extracting punishment in the juvenile justice system, despite the continued existence of such programs...
Notes the Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice, which has been particularly critical of California's shift to a retributive model at the expense of rehabilitation: "Juvenile Court was created in the early 20th century on the philosophy that children are inherently different from adults and that the state should take on the responsibility of protecting and rehabilitating young offenders. In the past 20 years, despite actual declines in youth crime rates, public perceptions of youth violence have contributed to widespread support for the dismantling of the juvenile court system and tougher crime legislation, like trying children as adults and increasing incarceration as the solution to juvenile delinquency. Research shows that incarceration does not rehabilitate juvenile offenders and that more and more youth who end up in juvenile halls or state prisons are non-violent offenders" ("Introduction," 2008, CJCJ).
Problems thus remain in a system where teaching children not to become adult offenders through incarceration may ironically expose them to more hardened criminals than they ever have encountered before on the 'inside.' The different types of programs and philosophies of juvenile justice that vary from state to state also make the system problematic. However, for a justice system of any kind to take on the formidable task of 'raising' a child and the difficulty of balancing the need for the child to show responsibility without damaging the rehabilitative function of the juvenile justice system may mean that punishing juveniles will always be a challenge for the American system of justice.
Works Cited
Introduction." (2008). CJCJ: Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice. Retrieved 5 May 2008 at http://www.cjcj.org/jjic/intro.php
Clark, Barry. (2008). "Juvenile justice: History and philosophy." Law Library. Retrieved 5 May 2008 at http://law.jrank.org/pages/1493/Juvenile-Justice-History-Philosophy.html
Division of Juvenile Justice -- FAQs." California Department of Corrections. Retrieved 5 May 2008 at http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Divisions_Boards/DJJ/About_DJJ/FAQs.html#q1
