Assignment 2: RA: Criminal Behavior in Your Community
Assignment 2: RA: Criminal Behavior in Your Community
In Modules 1 and 2, you selected a type of criminal behavior that is of particular interest to you. Use the FBI’s UCR program to further investigate this behavior.
Using the information you have gathered in Modules 1 and 2, prepare a 4 page paper responding to the following using APA style:
Describe the typical perpetrator of this crime with regards to gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status. Compare and contrast the criminal and civil legal systems regarding penalties, burden of persuasion, and key players.
Using the information noted in step 1, explain the causes of this criminal behavior. Justify your answers by integrating at least one historical and two different contemporary psychological theories with your explanation.
Compare and contrast criminal and civil legal systems in general regarding penalties, burden of persuasion and key players.
Please include a minimum of five scholarly peer-reviewed resources in your research.
Submission Details:
By Wednesday, June 7, 2017, save your paper as M3_A2_Lastname_Firstname.doc and submit it to the M3 Assignment 2 RA Dropbox.
The RA is worth 200 points and will be graded according to the following rubric. See Modules 1 and 2 below for your convenience.
Module 1
Description of the Criminal Behavior
The juvenile’s substance abuse has been a common phenomenon in the modern society. It is evident that the high rate of the drug abuse among the adolescents has been steadily improving. When the youth or young individuals in the community engage in alcohol and other substance abuse, it is them, their families, and the entire society who are affected. In some situations, since there is a strong connection between the substance abuse and delinquency, there is an enhanced burden placed on the juvenile justice system (Hickert, et al., 2011).
It is a naked fact that the continuous substance among the adolescents is usually accompanied by an array of challenges, such as the academic difficulties, health-concerned effects, poor peer relationships, mental health issues, as well as the association with the juvenile justice system. Besides, there are also significant effects for the members of the family, the society, and the community as a whole.
Being in possession and using the drugs and other substance are illegal for the youth. Since the substance abuse and delinquency are linked, apprehension, adjudication, and involvement of the juvenile justice system are the unavoidable consequences for many youths who engage in such behaviors. Similarly, substance abuse is also connected with violent and income-generating criminal activities by the adolescents, which enhances society’s level of fear together with the demand for the services from the juvenile and juvenile justice.
The development of this criminal behavior has been linked with the various individual-level risk factors. The individual level factors may include age, sex, pregnancy and delivery complications and substance abuse. Prenatal and perinatal factors have also been the major contributor to the adolescent substance abuse. This is because the prenatal and perinatal risk factors may influence the nervous system, thereby developing vulnerabilities in the child that can result in the abnormal behaviors including the substance abuse.
Target Areas to be addressed
The specific target areas I would like to address the issue of adolescent substance abuse include the risk and protective factors, which can be found in schools, family, and community settings. The goal of dealing with these target areas will be to develop new and strengthen the common protective factors as well as reverse or minimize the risk factors among the youth in their respective society. Typically, I believe that addressing the risks and protective factors among the adolescents and the children will be strategic in reducing these challenges in the community.
Descriptions of the Specific Group Affected by the Criminal Problem
The specific which I will I focus on are the juveniles who have increasingly been associated with criminal behaviors and more especially with the drug and substance abuse. As mentioned earlier, the youths who are using drugs and other substances have high chances of involving in criminal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, youth homicides among other social and penal evils.
Prevention and Intervention Strategies
The appropriate prevention and intervention programs should be implemented in the family, school and the community. In the family, the parents should be taught on the effective family communication skills, proper discipline styles, firm and consistent rule enforcement among other approaches to strengthen the protective factors among the adolescents. On the other hand, the school prevention and intervention programs should focus on the student’s social, and academic skills such as improving peer relationships, self-control, and drug refusal skills. However, the community should ensure that the children are taught the religious, civic, and social importance of substance abuse (Robertson, et al., 2003).
The Effectiveness of the Proposed Prevention
Notably, the three areas or levels, including the school, community and the family, are the key environments in which the youth are mostly engaged at. Therefore, the prevention strategies should focus on the three levels to ensure the problem of juvenile substance and abuse is eradicated or reduced.
References
Robertson, E. B., David, S. L., & Rao, S. A. (2003). Preventing drug use among children and adolescents: A research-based guide for parents, educators, and community leaders. Diane Publishing.
Hickert, A., Becker, E., Prospero, M., & Moleni, K. (2011). Impact of juvenile drug courts on drug use and criminal behavior. Journal of Juvenile Justice, 1(1), 60-74.
Answer preview to Assignment 2: RA: Criminal Behavior in Your Community
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