Assignment: Juvenile Supervision

Here's What Happened:

Johnny is a 14-year-old boy whose parents are both working two jobs to provide for their family. Johnny is an only child and remains unsupervised until later in the evenings due to his parents' employment. He is not involved in extracurricular activities and spends a large amount of time with his friends, unsupervised in his home. One day, Johnny is tempted by his friends to shoplift a shirt from a Centervale Mall Department Store after school. He does so and is arrested by the Centervale Police Officer, R. M. Syler. Johnny's parents are contacted; they pick him up from the Centervale Police Department (CPD) where they are notified of a scheduled appointment for them to meet with Centervale Probation and Parole's Juvenile Officer Randy Melton. At the meeting, Johnny admits to stealing the shirt. Johnny enters into a supervision period with Officer Melton.

During the period of supervision, Johnny meets with Officer Melton at CPD. Even though Officer Melton knew that Johnny was required to undergo random urine analysis exams, he had never asked Johnny to provide a urine sample over the three-month period Johnny had been meeting with him. One meeting proved to be different. Johnny was required to undergo a urine analysis and his results revealed positive for marijuana. The results of Johnny's urine analysis test were not surprising to Officer Melton because he had received reports from Johnny's parents and the school that Johnny's grades were dropping and that he was consistently arguing with teachers and his parents because he did not want to follow rules set forth by the school or at home.

Johnny was also not abiding by the rules of the supervision agreement he had entered into with his supervising officer by failing the drug test. Due to the violation of his supervision, he had to appear in front of the juvenile court judge for a status hearing and for them to hear the violation. After the hearing, Johnny's stipulations now included the recommendation to participate in a more intensive program, the Juvenile Drug Court Program. Johnny was not amenable to this decision and reacted by stealing a car. Johnny was arrested and held a pending contact with the juvenile authorities and the judge.

Throughout this course, we have been discussing Juvenile and Adult Supervision. There are clear differences between all of the processes from intake to termination. This assignment focuses on the steps of supervision in a juvenile case that could be transferred to the adult court if it meets specific circumstances.

What You Need to Do:

You need to write a paper (6- to 8-page) for this assignment. Your paper should follow all APA format and citation guidelines. Please utilize 3-5 credible, outside resources in this assignment and document them using in-text citations and properly formatted references. Include a thesis statement in your paper and finalize it with a strong conclusion.

Your paper should include answers to the following questions:

1. Identify what would be the first course of action for Johnny as he enters the juvenile justice system through the intake process.

2. Identify and discuss what offender status Johnny might be classified under upon intake and why Johnny meets that criterion.

3. Identify and discuss what programs and stipulations a Juvenile officer may assign to Johnny and explain how an officer might implement Johnny's supervision. Use information from your textbook and from local programs within your community.

4. Identify the next steps in the juvenile process keeping in mind the new charges brought forth in Johnny's case. For example, discuss why Johnny would remain under supervision, why he would be detained, or why the adjudication process would begin?

5. Determine at which point in this scenario Johnny could be adjudicated and sentenced as an adult.