Juvenile Status Offenses in New York - Essay Example

PINS offender refers to a minor, who leaves home, disobey their parents or skip school. PINS is an acronym for Persons in Need of Supervision. PINS are also called alleged status offenders because the laws that PINS break only apply to minors. New Yorks PINS system is a system that has been established to deal with juveniles who disobey their parents, skip school or leave their parents. There are children who are beyond parents lawful control. In New York State, PINS eligibility is 18 years of age. The PINS system is meant to help families that have problems with their troubled children. PINS offenders can also be defined as minors who violate the PINS system. The PINS system was created with an intention to reduce unnecessary court intervention for children who are troubled (Weingartner et al., 2002).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The New York State justice system deals with PINS offenders through out of home placements,' through the provision of social services and provision of mental health services. In out of home placements, a PINS offender is removed from their home because of concerns about his or her safety. Child parent conflict is a major factor that contributes to out of home placement. Out of home placements are also used to treat a PINS offender serious physical and behavioral conditions that could otherwise not be treated in a family setting. Out of home placements is often the last resort after child welfare services have done their best in trying to resolve issues affecting a minor from a home setting. Child welfare staff often does their best in trying to make sure that children have harmonious relationships in their families by providing the children with appropriate support and services. Children who are in out of home placements are often in custody of the state (Joseph, 2014).

A delinquent offender refers to a minor who is found guilty of taking part in a serious felony. A delinquent offender is often subjected to more profound penalties when compared to penalties that are accorded to a juvenile delinquent. A minor in this case refers to a person who is younger than a statutory age of majority. The statutory age of majority in New York is seventeen years of age. Delinquency is also known as juvenile offending. In New York, there are offenses that are regarded as juvenile offenses. A delinquency offender is a person who takes in an act that would otherwise have been charged as a crime if the person was an adult. Offenses in New York that are regarded as juvenile offenses can also be regarded as juvenile status offenses. A status offense refers to a crime that is only prohibited to individuals who belong to a certain class, but it is mostly applied to minors. In a status offense, an offenders motive is not taken cognizance of when it comes to determining whether a person is guilty. A status offense rests on the fact that a person has a specific character or condition. A juvenile status offense cannot be perpetrated by an adult (Dopp et al., 2017). A delinquency offender is a person who takes part in crimes such as Delinquency offenses include underage drinking, underage smoking, and truancy. There are delinquency offenses that are only dealt with juvenile courts, and there are delinquency offenses that are dealt with the criminal justice system. A delinquency offender may be a repeat offender or an age-specific offender. A delinquency repeat offender is one who persistently takes part in delinquent behavior. An age-specific delinquency offender is one who shows some form of delinquency behavior in adolescence. It is worthy to mention that most teenagers tend to show some form of anti-social behavior during adolescence. Age-specific delinquency is mostly limited to the adolescence stage. There is a tendency for juvenile offenders to be more of the male gender than members of the female gender. Masculinity and aggression could be attributed to high levels of delinquency offenses in males than in females. Few delinquency offenses can be attributed to the fact that society expects females to be docile (Loeber et al., 2013).

The Justice system deals with delinquency offenses by either dealing with them in the juvenile courts or dealing with them in the criminal justice system. Delinquency offenses that are regarded as status offenses are dealt with in juvenile courts. Delinquency offenses that are of a criminal nature are dealt with by the criminal justice system. In New York, juvenile courts handle delinquent offenses by according a juvenile delinquent appropriate supervision, advice or confinement. Juvenile delinquency cases in New York are heard and deliberated upon in New York City Family Court (Dopp et al., 2017).

In New York, children below 17 years of age who commit violent crimes could be treated as adults. Juveniles who perpetrate criminal cases are likely to have their cases listened to in the Supreme Court. A minor who is found guilty in a Supreme Court of perpetrating a crime that is criminal in nature is bound to face more serious penalties when compared to sanctions that a juvenile delinquent would face in a Family Court. A minor who is found guilty of a criminal offense in a Supreme Court is regarded as a juvenile offender (Dopp et al., 2017).

References

Dopp, A. R., Borduin, C. M., White, M. H., & Kuppens, S. (2017). Family-based treatments for serious juvenile offenders: A multilevel meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85, 4, 335-354.

Loeber, R., Capaldi, D. M., & Costello, E. (2013). Gender and the Development of Aggression, Disruptive Behavior, and Delinquency from Childhood to Early Adulthood.

Joseph, J. (2014). Catching Up: How the Youth Court Act Can Save New York State's Outdated Juvenile Justice System with Regard to Sixteen and Seventeen-Year-Old Offenders. Hein Online.

Weingartner, E., Weitz, A., Khashu, A., Hope, R., Golden, M., & Vera Institute of Justice 233 Broadway 12th Floor New York NY 10279. (2002). Study of the PINS System in New York City: Results and Implications. United States of America.