Drug Use And Its Effects Of Juvenile Delinquency

Problem Statement

It is common to see behavioral changes in the juveniles who are mostly involved in drugs. Drug addiction has become a menace of late, and it is not only prevalent to adolescents but the entire society in general. The most disheartening thing is that the younger generations who are hooked to drugs have a high likelihood of engaging in crime. Juveniles are those people who have not reached the consent age of 18 years. These are the people who are highly impressionable, and they are easy to manipulate. Several people can help them avoid engaging in crime, with the leading societal unit being the family. It has a role in ensuring that these juveniles do not engage in any deviant behavior.

Also, they must ensure that the juvenile behavior is not controlled by those friends who surround them and that they enhance a positive growth behavior. The major problem is that these actors may fail to necessarily play their role because of the increased cases of delinquency in youths. Several factors cause this delinquency, and it includes poverty, family dynamics, peer choices, and failure by the criminal justice system to foster positive behaviors in the society. It is evident in the fact that most of the youths who have been involved in the court-processes have been found to have used drugs at some point in their life. As such, there is a common diagnosis of a substance use disorder, and it creates a relationship between serious drug use and crime in youths.

Purpose of the Study

This study seeks to come up with a comprehensive examination of the existing relationship between substance use and the juvenile delinquency. It ends up sketching a bleak portrait of how the criminal justice system is currently overwhelmed by drug and substance use among the children who are between twelve and seventeen years. By the time these juveniles are subjected to the criminal system, most of the other systems in the country will have failed them significantly. As such, the research is an inclusive analysis aimed at creating an overall overview of how different actors have a role to play in ensuring that the juveniles do not engage in deviant behaviors. These behaviors are both use and addiction to drugs as well as engaging in crime.

Also, it is evident that the juvenile justice caseloads have also significantly impacted on the load that the taxpayers must pay. These costs would have been minimized if alternative strategies for preventing drug use were adopted. The future generations rely highly on how the juveniles are raised today. As such, there is a need for the country to come up with a way of protecting the young individuals, and ensure that children do not have a platform for them to engage in drugs. It is common for the juveniles who use drugs to often end up becoming delinquents, and they will commonly be in and out of the system.

The current criminal justice system needs to come up with a way of avoiding these problems that could affect the juveniles. Arguably, finding solutions is an all-inclusive approach that must acknowledge the role of different actors in finding solutions to the existing problems. The research will introduce evidence-based alternatives or options that the juveniles can adopt. These alternatives are not for those that engage in drugs or crimes only, but every youth therein. It aims to create a juvenile justice system aimed at illustrating the role of everyone in the society in guiding the youths to become better individuals in the society.

Significance of the Study

These include early intervention, assessment, and treatment of addiction issues. It could also be better if the was the introduction of criminal justice policies and program responses that are aimed at reducing the involvement of individuals in juvenile crime. The move would also ensure that these youths reduce substance use. Even though the relationship between delinquency and continued substance abuse in adolescents is well documented, there is limited information concerning the continued substance use in juvenile delinquent populations. However, it is widely apparent that the youths who often get into trouble with the law have numerous troubles with the law. It is also apparent that their troubles are caused by the continued involvement in drug and substance use. Gaining a deep understanding of the dynamic flow of these behaviors is essential in ensuring there is a refinement of the approaches used in effectively coming up with prevention measures for the juvenile offenders. The most appropriate method is to ensure the right intervention is adopted and within the right time. All these efforts are focused on ensuring that there is the elimination of the possibility of a lifetime of substance use or any other offending that could lead to a destructive pattern in the juveniles.

Literature Review

Despite the existing evid

Order this paper