u10a1_Andrea Steht

docx

School

Capella University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

5016

Subject

Sociology

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by ProfIceManatee23

Using Technology in Social Work Practice Andrea Steht Department of Public Service, Capella University SWK 5016: Integrative Technology in Advanced Social Work Practice Dr. Griselda Villalobos June 16, 2023

Using Technology in Social Work Practice Social Injustice The juvenile justice system was first developed in the early 19 th century as part of the Progressive Era reforms. Before this, children as young as 7 could be sentenced to prison or even death. In the 1990s less than one-tenth of encounters with police concerned violent crimes. The rest were status crimes and traffic offenses . Some examples of status crimes are running away from home, breaking curfew, underage drinking, and general incorrigibility. Criminal delinquency cases are those that, if committed by an adult, would be a crime ( Juvenile crime, juvenile justice 2001). The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 established programs to evaluate those in juvenile delinquency placements, and to evaluate the programs that existed at that time. In Illinois, the Illinois Coalition for Community Services (ICCS) uses a grant to counsel kids, ages 11-17, who have run away from home, or their parents have locked them out. This is just one program to keep runaway kids out of juvenile detention centers, and away from the justice system’s revolving door. Grants like these need to be talked about so that organizations like ICCS can use them to reach more at-risk youth. The grant used by ICCS is through the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), along with a few other grants they have funding through. The AECF also has the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), whose goal is to reduce the reliance on detention centers. The AECF (2020) found that pretrial juvenile detention increases the odds of felony recidivism by 33% and misdemeanor recidivism by 11%. Juveniles face pretrial juvenile detention to make sure youth are present for court hearings. According to the AECF (2020), in 2018, there were about 750,000 youth referred to juvenile courts nationwide for crimes that broke criminal code, while another 101,000 were referred for status crimes. Of those 851,000 juveniles, 220,000 were adjudicated delinquent (same as guilty

in adult court), and 62,000 were locked-up. According to Buchanan et al. (2020), as of 2018, juvenile courts diverted 43% of cases to community-based services. The number of detained youths dropped 42% since 2010, and approximately one third of adjudicated youths receive out- of-home commitments. The COVID-19 pandemic had an astounding impact on the juvenile justice system. Due to the stay-at-home orders, and adults not working outside the home, youth had more supervision and less opportunities for delinquent behavior. Much of youth delinquency happens in small groups. “Delinquency is a social activity. Social control theories suggest that parental supervision and monitoring are key protective factors against juvenile delinquency (Buchanan et al., 2020).” With schools, retail places, parks, etc. closed and social distancing/stay-at-home orders, youth were forced to stay home, with parents/guardians present to supervise them. There were less encounters with law enforcement, and a dramatic decrease in confinement. The COVID-19 pandemic helped to shed light on the systemic social inequalities and disparities in the privilege to not only avoid the justice system, but COVID-19 as well. Youth who are justice- system involved tend to be in poorer health and at higher risk of infection from the virus. COVID-19 infections in jails and prisons rose rapidly, including those in juvenile confinements. These youth faced quarantines that mimicked solitary confinement; this isolation is known to have long-lasting effects on anyone, especially higher-risk youths. The trauma youth face when they are incarcerated can be slightly decreased by family visits. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic these visits were stopped due to the risk of spreading the virus. Some youths were able to have virtual visits, but many youths did not see family members for a year or more, increasing the trauma experienced. The fear of the COVID-19 pandemic caused some

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

trauma itself, in addition to youth being unable to have visits. This is another reason non-violent youth offenders would fare better with community-based services over confinement. Social Media Tool Facebook is one of the most widely used social media tools. As of April 2023, there are almost 3 billion Facebook users worldwide. According to research.facebook.com, Facebook users are separated by about 3 ½ degrees of separation. This means that Facebook users have about 3 ½ users between them. This is why Facebook is a good tool to spread information regarding social and economic injustices. A Facebook page would be created, in collaboration with the AECF’s JDAI, to inform others of the alternatives to juvenile detention and to inform the public of the impact juvenile detention centers have on the lives of those locked up. It is important to reach the lobbyists responsible for changing laws that require juveniles to be locked up for pretrial reasons. The information being shared would not include personal data from clients. It would be information gathered from peer reviewed articles and research done by the AECF. Social workers must obtain data in a method that assures its dependability and correctness, according to NASW Standard 3.06. The rights of our clients must be protected at all costs. The social worker must get the informed consent of each client before publishing any information about them. The post shouldn't contain any details regarding the client's identity, such as name, age, or physical description, or their date of birth. Having a separate professional account from their personal one on Facebook may be a smart idea for social workers who use it to share information. When a social worker posts on social media, whether on a personal or professional account, that information can not only affect the social worker, but the agency they work for as well. Social workers should have a social media policy they can share with their clients regarding friend

requests and sharing data online, whether the social worker’s agency has a policy or not. When a social worker posts information, they must keep in mind that the information may be shared, copied, or adapted/distorted by others. These posts may also be misinterpreted, misrepresented, or taken out of context. Social workers are better equipped to safeguard the privacy of their clients, avoid parallel connections, and use appropriate and courteous language by developing a social media strategy. Theory of Practice Youth involved in the juvenile justice system have a higher rate of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), or trauma than those in the “normal” population. When they are placed in a detention center, being removed from their family and friends adds on to their trauma. It is for this reason juvenile correctional officers are being trained in trauma-informed care. At Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility (PNJCF) in Pendleton, Indiana, students can ask to be placed in an isolation cell if/when they are feeling overwhelmed, need a break from their unit, or want to talk to a sergeant. They are also often placed in these isolation cells when they display behavioral problems/fighting on the unit. There are time limits on how long they can stay there, and staff are required to keep a log when they check on the student, which is typically every ten minutes. If necessary, students are removed from the isolation cell and moved to separation (known as administrative segregation, or ad seg, in adult prisons) so that they can be better monitored. Due to the increased trauma, staff try to resolve the conflict/behavior while the student is in the unit, or in the isolation cell. The juveniles are referred to as students instead of prisoners/inmates and their cells are referred to their rooms. Corrections officers are Youth Development Specialists. PNJCF is a maximum-security prison and houses Indiana’s youth incarcerated as adults (YIAs). Using different terms in juvenile detention centers is a reminder to staff that, though the youth

have been convicted of serious crimes, they are still children and need to be treated as such. It is also a reminder to use trauma-informed care when dealing with the students you are working with. Trauma-informed care is a method of service planning that incorporates knowledge of the effects and repercussions of trauma into every part of organizational functioning and every intervention. To ensure that every encounter supports the healing process and lessens the risk of retraumatization, all staff members must be aware of how violence affects the lives of the clients they are caring for. Trauma-informed treatment involves a substantial shift in philosophy and methodology (Branson et al., 2017). Stakeholders The stakeholders are potentially everyone, but the main goal is to reach lobbyists and others responsible for changing laws. A status crime is a noncriminal act that is considered a law violation only because of a youth’s status as a minor. Typical status crimes include truancy, running away from home, violating curfew, underage use of alcohol, and general incorrigibility. Though juveniles need consequences for committing status crimes, stakeholders need to be aware of other ways to handle them due to the risk of juveniles entering the revolving door of the justice system. There are grants available in different states so that organizations can better help these youth instead of them going to jail or prison for these status crimes. The high rates of physical and sexual victimization in juvenile detention facilities, abusive behavior by correctional staff, and discriminatory law enforcement tactics like "Stop and Frisk" are all potential sources of trauma in the justice system. All these factors are linked to an increased risk of PTSD symptoms. The court system can make it more difficult for trauma survivors to get help and stop committing crimes (Branson et al., 2017).

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Conclusion The juvenile justice system was designed to separate children who have been adjudicated from adults who have been adjudicated. Children can be adjudicated for misdemeanors, felonies, and status crimes. Many of juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system have lengthy histories of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Adverse childhood experience exposure can happen at any period of development, although compared to puberty, early and middle childhood (ages 5 to 12) are when it happens most frequently. Youth who have higher ACEs are more prone to commit violent crimes, join gangs, use drugs, and participate in general misbehavior. Youth in prison who have experienced more ACEs are more likely to commit crimes again and experience recidivism (Jackson et al., 2022). Many youths often begin their time in the juvenile justice system by being adjudicated for status crimes. It is because of this the juvenile justice system trains correctional officers in trauma-informed care. Using Facebook, it would be possible to make stakeholders aware of this, and the risk of revictimization. Organizations, such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) have worked hard to raise awareness about the dangers of juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system and to find community-based services as an alternative to incarceration. The AECF holds grants that states can access to better support at-risk youth. The stakeholders and the public need to be made aware of the dangers of incarcerating youth, and finding alternatives, in their communities, to incarceration. They also need to be made aware of how status crimes can affect the recidivism rate of at-risk youth.

References The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2020, July 1). Study: Pretrial juvenile detention increases odds of felony recidivism by 33% . The Annie E. Casey Foundation. https://www.aecf.org/blog/study-pretrial-juvenile-detention-increases-odds-of-felony- recidivism-by-33 Bowie, V. (2013). Trauma-informed care. Youth Studies Australia , 32 (4), 81–83. Branson, C. E., Baetz, C. L., Horwitz, S. M., & Hoagwood, K. E. (2017). Trauma-informed Juvenile Justice Systems: A systematic review of definitions and core components. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy , 9 (6), 635–646. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000255 Buchanan, M., Castro, E. D., Kushner, M., & Krohn, M. D. (2020). It’s f**ing chaos: Covid-19’s impact on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice. American Journal of Criminal Justice , 45 (4), 578–600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09549-x Jackson, D. B., Jones, M. S., Semenza, D. C., & Testa, A. (2023). Adverse childhood experiences and adolescent delinquency: A theoretically informed investigation of mediators during middle childhood. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 20 (4), 3202. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043202 McCord, J., Widom, C. S., & Cromwell, N. A. (2001). Juvenile crime, juvenile justice . National Academy Press.

u10a1_Andrea Steht

Related Documents