This paper examines the major challenges confronting the U.S. Juvenile Justice System, focusing on juvenile mental health issues, child abuse, and child neglect as primary contributors to delinquency. Drawing on national studies from 2003 and 2010, as well as insights from Judge John Phillips of Harris County, Texas, the paper documents the prevalence of abuse and neglect, the lack of adequate funding and community resources, and the disconnection between agencies serving youth. The paper argues that future progress requires mandatory reporting laws, interdisciplinary team collaboration, expanded child advocacy centers, and targeted prosecution of abusers, treating delinquency as both a problem and a symptom of deeper societal failures.
The U.S. Juvenile Justice System currently faces a number of challenges in dealing with delinquency. Many of those problems are underlying issues such as mental health problems, child abuse, child neglect, lack of funding, and the disconnection between professions dealing with children — all of which contribute to delinquency. The high incidence of child abuse and child neglect, in particular, has been directly linked to delinquency and must be sufficiently addressed. In the future, the Juvenile Justice System must confront all of these current problems and develop proper responses, including a multidisciplinary approach.
The U.S. Juvenile Justice System currently faces numerous problems. One judge who speaks to the most serious of these is Judge John Phillips of Harris County, Texas. Though he serves the juvenile justice system in one geographic area, he provides insights into problems facing the system nationwide. Today's juvenile justice system must contend with the fact that juveniles with mental health problems make up a very high percentage of delinquents (Phillips, 2009, p. 1). Mental health services for juveniles are not well-funded; as a result, there are insufficient community resources to help these young people, their families become frustrated, and they resort to the juvenile justice system to address those mental health issues (Phillips, 2009, p. 1).
There is currently a significant disconnection between the agencies that are supposed to serve adolescents. In addition, juvenile justice institutions do not have the funding or other resources to adequately treat mental health issues. Consequently, these institutions tend to be punitive, isolate mentally ill juveniles, fail to address their underlying mental health needs, and can even make those issues worse (Phillips, 2009, p. 1). Finally, high percentages of child abuse and child neglect in the United States are directly linked to mental health issues and delinquency (Sedlak et al., 2010, p. 12). In sum, the Juvenile Justice System faces an interconnected set of problems: juvenile mental illness, misuse of the system to treat mental illness, lack of funding, insufficient resources to treat mental illness, high rates of child abuse and neglect, and the direct influence of those conditions on juvenile delinquency.
In 2003, Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey was published by the U.S. Department of Justice as the first attempt to document violence and neglect inflicted on children aged 17 and younger. The national survey found that 60.6% of all children surveyed had some exposure to violence or neglect, 36.7% had been assaulted without a weapon or injury, 14.9% had been assaulted with a weapon and/or injury, 6.1% had been sexually victimized, and 10.2% had been "maltreated" — including neglect (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, Hamby, & Kracke, 2003, p. 4).
Then in 2010, the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) (2009–2010) — Report to Congress was published. The study found that between 1993 and 2005–2006, there were significant decreases in child abuse alongside significant increases in child neglect: physical abuse decreased by 22%, emotional abuse decreased by 43%, but emotional neglect increased by 101% (Sedlak et al., 2010, p. 12). Though incidents of child abuse and neglect may increase or decrease over time, the fact remains that both occur in significant numbers and that both are directly linked to juvenile delinquency (Sedlak et al., 2010, p. 12).
During that same period, recognition rates of child abuse and neglect increased by 86% in police and sheriffs' departments and by 55% in juvenile probation departments. These substantial increases in recognition could be attributed to increased rates of abuse and neglect, greater public awareness, changes in mandatory reporting requirements, or some combination of these factors (Sedlak et al., 2010, p. 21). One thing remains certain: the link between child abuse and neglect and increased juvenile involvement with law enforcement agencies, courts, and probation departments is unmistakable.
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