It is important to understand that status offender comprise youth who have committed offenses that would not fall under the category of the crime if the offender was an adult. Underage drinking, truancy, and non-offenders are examples of status offenders who will not be locked up in jail or juvenile detention centers. Truancy occurs where a child avoids attending school for fear of being caught and returned to parents or due to family problems (Sanna, 2000).
The absence of parental oversight may lead to underage drinking and drug abuse. A non-offender is a juvenile under abuse, parental neglect, or suffering from mental health issues and has not committed an offense. On the contrary, there are exceptions allowing detention of status offenders within 24 hours.
DSO provision aims at eliminating a phenomenon where status offenders are locked up in jail or adult facilities for a long period of time (Sanna, 2000). An alternative course of action is not limited to family therapy or counseling, mentorship program, alternative education, and home treatment.
Family therapy/counseling
The programs focus on altering ways in which families communicate or interact so as to adjust behavioral problems in children. One of the advantages attached to counseling is that it prevents a situation of runaway from happening though it is hard to identify youths at such a risk. Interventions such as training parents on behavior, child social skills training, will help alleviate behavioral problems e. g depression and social problems. The therapy is executed by trained therapists with parents and children in a clinical setting.
Shelter care
Youths who usually run away from their parents land in streets and may become victims to prostitution, IV drug use and other misconducts. It is most likely that the youth find themselves in shelter care before being taken back to their parents or guardians. Such kind of shelter prevents the youth from coming into the streets to break laws of the land. In most situations, family reunification is usually preferred to other living conditions when a child runs away from their homes. Advantage related to shelter care is its ability to provide long term programs for youths who cannot return to their homes. Shelter homes points out to the cause of runaway and subsequently provide good environment for development.
Parent training
Parents and prospective parents can be taught how to manage their homes by learning about pro-social and antisocial behaviours. Parents are then furnished with information on improving problem solving skills. The program can occur in diverse setting including schools, community centres or even in home with instructions programs tailored to meet learner’s needs.
Career Escalation
Research has been conducted to deduce if there is any correlation between status offenders and delinquent youths. It is unlikely that status offenders progress to commit more serious offences. A common feature with status offenders is that they re-offend frequently into the similar status offenses (Howell, 2003). Homicides, gun crimes and sexual abuse are the recent focus on status offenses issues. Slayings in Columbine High School opened up the minds of legislators as to whether status offenders advance to commit high level crimes. It was necessary to strengthen family ties and realigh mentorship programs where children get a chance to lead meaningful live in their respective societies.
Early court intervention to assist delinquents and status offenders in addition to banning secure confinement prevent escalation of a problem. A given society can also invent a career escalation program where social or mental health workers receive accreditation, career advancement an eventually being retained in their respective fields. We must never assume that a child is incapable of committing advance level of crime since it has happened in the past where school children resorts to a shooting spree.
References
Howell, J. (2003). Preventing & reducing juvenile delinquency: A comprehensive framework. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sanna, T., Pollio, D., & Bitner, L. (2000). “Outcomes for Adolescents Using Runaway and Homeless Youth Services.” Journal of Human Behavior and the Social Environment, 3(1):79–97.