Chapter 11—Juvenile Probation and Community Corrections 1. What is a social history investigation? 2. What is juvenile aftercare supervision? 3. What is the balanced approach to juvenile corrections?...

Week 4 Chat Discussion Questions
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CJA 437
THE JUVENILE OFFENDER
WEEK 4 CHAT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
CHAPTERS 11-14
Chapter 11—Juvenile Probation and Community Co
ections
1. What is a social history investigation?

Social history investigation refers to the process of investing and reporting
comprehensively about an individual before the court of law, and such investigation
and reporting includes findings and results about “cu
ent offense and prior record,
psychological and educational information, physical description, employment history,
driving record, health history, behavior patterns and peer and family relationships,
and risk assessment results” (Owens, 2017). In cases involving juvenile offenders
such investigations are often directed by the court.
2. What is juvenile aftercare supervision?

Juvenile aftercare supervision is a process through which juveniles are kept under
supervision to ensure that the Juveniles are getting back and assimilating into the
mainstream society. The process of juvenile aftercare supervision is constituted of re-
integrative services that are primarily designed to prepare juvenile offenders placed
out of their homes to make a re-entry into the community they have actually resided
prior to subjection to the sentencing (Crime Solutions.gov, 2017). It must be noted
that the “overall goal of aftercare programs is to reduce the recidivism rates of
juvenile offenders” (Crime Solutions.gov, 2017).
3. What is the balanced approach to juvenile co
ections?

The balanced approach to juvenile co
ections is based not on the principles of
etributive justice but on the principles of restorative justice. In this respect is must be
noted that the balanced approach to juvenile co
ection signifies a conceptual
framework which is based on some specific values and principles, “that defines this
mission of juvenile justice and guides the activities employed to translate these values
and this mission into practice” (Jurisdictional Technical Assistance Package for
Juvenile Co
ections, 2000). It is an approach which should be considered an
alternative to punishment (Jurisdictional Technical Assistance Package for Juvenile
Co
ections, 2000).
4. The research on co
ectional interventions for juveniles indicates that there are
8 areas that are successful. What are these 8 areas as defined in Box 11.3?
The 8 successful areas are:
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a. Concentrating on changing negative behaviors by “requiring juveniles to
ecognize and understand thought processes that rationalize negative behaviors”
(Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
. Promoting healthy bonds with prosocial members within the juvenile family and
other social institutes (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
c. Having a comprehensible and predictable path for juvenile progression and
juvenile future movement (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
d. Effectively rewarding positive behavior (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
e. Recognizing the fact that, “a reasonable degree of attrition must be expected with
a delinquent population” (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
f. Providing highly structured developmental programs for enhancing the lives of
the juveniles (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
g. Facilitating discussions that promote problem-solving skills among juvenile
offenders (Whitehead & Lab, 2013, p.307).
h. Integrating “delinquent and at-risk youths into generally prosocial groups to
prevent the development of delinquent peer groups” (Whitehead & Lab, 2013,
p.307).
5. What is meant by goal confusion with regard to juvenile offenders?

Goal confusion, in the context of juvenile offenders, refers to the fact that, “judges,
probation and aftercare officers, probation directors, state legislators, and juvenile
justice experts disagree about the purposes and objectives of juvenile court and
community supervision” (Whitehead & Lab, 2015, p.329). There are several reasons
for goal confusion, and among them the primary one is the conflicting images of
juvenile offenders that make it difficult for the key players to understand their key
oles effectively (Whitehead & Lab, 2015, p.329).
Chapter 12—Restorative Justice
6. What is restorative justice?

An opposite to the concept of retributive justice; restorative justice refers to the
process of involving all the parties to a crime in mitigating the after effect in a way of
considering and treating the crime as a disease. In other words, restorative justice,
“Acknowledging that crime causes injury to people and communities…insists that
justice repair those injuries and that the parties be permitted to participate in that
process” (Centre for Justice & Reconciliation at Prison Fellowship International,
2005).
7. What is dispute resolution? What are the components of dispute resolution?

Dispute resolution is a process that denotes one of those several different processes
that are used to mitigate and resolve disputes between two or more parties, and such
the process of dispute resolution may be constituted of processes like negotiation,
mediation, a
itration, litigation, collaborative law, etc. (Program on Negotiation|
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Harvard Law School, 2017). The components of dispute resolution are fostering of a
apport, appeal to overarching values, consideration of interests and values of each
party on a separate basis, and indirect confrontation (Program on Negotiation|
Harvard Law School, 2017).


8. Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) which is also refe
ed to as victim-offender
econciliation programs (VORP) is a direct outgrowth of the early dispute
esolution/dispute mediation programs of the early 1970s. What are the goals of
VOM/VORP programs?
VOM/VORP programs are the ones from which the concept of modern restorative
justice practices has been derived. There are some specific objectives and goals of
VOM/VORP programs. VOM/VORP programs are meant for
inging offenders face
to face with their victims, and this is done with assistance of a trained mediator who
is usually a community volunteer (American Bar Association, 2001). Such a process
paves the way for the emergence of realization of guilt on the part...