Department Policy and Issue Selection
The public policy issue of concern in this research is drug use and juvenile crime. Drug abuse is one of the issues that immensely affects the young people. Abuse of the drugs results in the families of the young people and the community suffering. In most of the cases, drug abuse is linked to juvenile crime. Welsh and Harris (2016) opine that there is a strong association between drug abuse and an increased burden on the juvenile justice system. The use of illicit drugs among the youths has been steadily rising. Based on the statistics by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2014), high school seniors are among the youths who frequently abuse drugs. The juvenile detainees are reported by the U.S. Department of Justices’ Office of Justice Programs to possess a high rate of drug use. One of the studies under this program showed that 77 percent of the juveniles associated with crime were reported for indulging in Marijuana in the past six months (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). Half of the juveniles under this study were reported having disorders associated with substance use.
The arrest cases of drug-related crimes remain high among the juveniles as compared to other cohorts. Most of the arrests are linked to underage drinking violations and drug abuse (Welsh & Harris, 2016). Several problems can be linked with the juveniles entering the criminal justice system. Such problems include emotional disturbances, family problems, sexual abuse, emotional disturbances and academic failure (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). Addressing the issues associated with juvenile crime requires a comprehensive assessment of the offenders, treatment, and provision of support services. Use of evaluation is essential since not all drug abuse cases call for treatment. On the other hand, there are some of the cases that need intervention from juvenile drug cohorts and juvenile detention. As such, drug use is frequently associated with crime hence use of the juvenile detainment policy should be incorporated in a reduction of the crime and drug abuse cases.
Welsh and Harris (2016) assert that tackling of issues associated with the juvenile offenders necessitates incorporation of a policy that addresses the challenges faced by the juvenile from the family background. Families can either impose a positive or negative effect in the recovery of the juveniles from substance abuse and indulging in the criminal activities (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). The risk factors that expose the juveniles to drugs abuse and crime activities include physical and sexual abuse by the family members and substance abuse and delinquent behavior. For effective treatment of the drug abuse and juvenile crime, the department policy emphasizes on using family-based treatment as a way of targeting the family functioning and increasing the involvement of the family members in the recovery of the affected juveniles (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). In addition to the impact of the juvenile justice criminal system, the family-based treatment is an essential strategy for combating juvenile crime and drug use. Use of the family interventions and the juvenile criminal justice system is a departmental policy that is utilized in strengthening the families while at the same time decreasing delinquent behavior.
Use of the justice system services is one of the policies that can be used by the state and federal government in the fighting of drug use and juvenile crime. Use of the justice system can only be effective if it focuses on preventing youth violence rather focusing on imposing larger penalties to the offenders (Welsh & Harris, 2016). Through the use of the departmental policy, the justice system can use and approach whereby comprehensive services are imposed to fit the needs of the individuals youths rather than trying to fit the youths into inflexible programs.
References
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2014). What are the unique treatment needs of juveniles in the criminal justice system? Drugabuse.gov. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-abuse-treatment-criminal-justice-populations/what-are-unique-treatment-needs-juveniles-in-crimin
Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned Change. New York: Routledge.
