Abstract
The cases of juvenile crimes have arisen so much in the UAE that it is now considered as a public crisis. Some of the causes for the rise in juvenile crime rates in the region include: parental neglect and drug abuse among other factors.
The most effective way to deal with the problem is to increase the numbers of the police officers especially in the parts where the problem is most rampant. The proposed strategy is actually less expensive taking into account the damages caused by juvenile criminal activities.
Introduction
There has been a sharp rise in juvenile delinquency in the UAE in the last two decades. For instance, the juvenile crime rate rose by 33% in 2009 alone; the increase should be a great concern since most of the youths carry the crimes into adulthood. It is now evident that more young people than adults in the UAE are increasingly becoming violent and difficult to control (Abiad and Mansoor 303).
Unfortunately, the juvenile justice system has been slow at responding, and the measures that it has put in place to deal with the problem are neither sufficient nor effective in dealing with the crisis (Abiad and Mansoor 304).
Burfeind and Bartusch argue that more teenagers than adults commit serious violent offences (65). For that reason, the criminal justice system in the AUAE needs to divert its attention to the juveniles more than it does with the adults.
The best way to deal with the juvenile delinquency problem is hiring more police officers, who should be allowed to arrest and arraign the young people who commit violent crimes in adult courts (Siegel and Wesh 307). This paper proposes employment of more police officers to help deal with the problem of the rise in juvenile crimes in the UAE.
Methodology
Based on scholarly evidence, this paper proposes increasing police number in the UAE to assist in reducing the juvenile crime rate in the region. The effectiveness of the policing strategy in reducing juvenile crime rate is a topic that has been discussed by many scholars; it is available in several literatures, including peer-reviewed studies.
Consequently, this proposal will rely on literature review to obtain the relevant information about the topic. Several literatures will be evaluated to ensure that the data obtained is reliable and valid.
The fact that there are several scholars who have addressed the problem shows that there is sufficient information about the problem. The information obtained in the literature review will be used to outline the causes of the rise in juvenile crime rates, the most effective strategy that can help the government to deal with the problem, the importance of using the proposed strategy, and the consequences of not implementing it.
Discussion
Causes of Rise in Juvenile Crime Rate in the UAE
There are several factors that have led to the increased juvenile crime rates in the UAE. Firstly, most of the juveniles commit criminal activities as a result of lower intelligence, which is worsened by lack of a proper education (Abiad and Mansoor 304).
The young people who are both unintelligent and uneducated get involved in anti-social activities as a result of uncontrolled aggressive and impulsive behavior. These kinds of young people are also unable to delay gratification, which motivates them to get involved in illegal activities just to get what they want in life (Siegel 240).
Secondly, many young people in the UAE have turned to abusing drugs, which makes them vulnerable to committing criminal offences even without their knowledge. Most juvenile offenders in the UAE use very powerful drugs such as cocaine and bhang.
Researchers reveal that the use of illegal drugs is the most serious cause of the rise in juvenile delinquency in the UAE; for instance, Siegel and Wesh argue that a big number of juveniles who use alcohol often fall victim to juvenile crime (308).
Thirdly, most families have neglected their children and they don’t care about their children’s behavior or the groups they associate with. The lack of good parental care, child abuse and constant parental conflicts are also other factors that push the juveniles to engage in criminal activities. Some of the juveniles also engage in criminal offences as a result of their parent’s lack of social norms and defiance of the main laws (Siegel 241).
Lastly, the UAE police service has for a long time overlooked the juvenile crimes; sometimes they regard the crimes as negligible. The police service has constantly directed most of its efforts to dealing with adult crimes (Siegel 241). The young people have taken advantage of the police’s assumption to commit criminal offences as much as they please (Siegel and Wesh 307).
How to Deal with the Rise in Juvenile Crime Rate in the UAE
Although there could be other strategies of dealing with the rise in juvenile crime rate in the UAE, the most effective one would be to hire more police officers. The extra police officers could be used to create a special branch in the police service whose mandate will be purely be to deal with the case of juvenile offenders (Siegel 243).
The implementation of the proposed strategy will cost the UAE government a significant amount of money. The implementation involves hiring more police officers, training the hired recruits, and providing them with the necessary equipment to enable them carry out their duty.
The implementation expenses will also require the government to avail other funds, which will be used to pay the officers’ salaries and to build residential houses for them.
The implementation process is likely to cost the government of the UAE a total sum of $8 million. The total amount will include: $1 million that will be used to pay the officers who will be carrying out the recruitment, $1.5 million for training the recruited individuals, $3.5 million that will be used to pay the salaries of the newly employed police officers, and $2 million that will be used to build residential houses for the new officers.
Summary of the Budget
Importance of Implementing the Proposed Strategy
The benefits that will come with the implementation of the proposed strategy surpass the costs that will be incurred during the implementation process. The destruction that the juveniles cause in the region through their involvement in criminal activities is just too much and cannot be compared to the implementation cost (Burfeind and Bartusch 66).
The setting of the special branch will certainly improve the police’s functions in relation to juvenile cases. The proposed strategy will enhance the way police officers are expected to do patrols, investigations and other special operations (Elrod and Ryder 155).
Police patrol is one of the main strategies that law enforcement uses to control crime in the UAE. When more police officers are employed and the extra number assigned to look into the juvenile issues, they will help in making the patrol more effective.
Since most juveniles are neither stubborn nor repeat offenders, putting more police officers on patrol is likely to deter them from engaging in criminal offences such break and enter. In addition, the more the police numbers on patrol, the more arrests that will be made; consequently, more juvenile offenders will be arraigned in the UAE courts (Siegel 240).
The employment of extra police officers is also expected to see more intense investigation and rehabilitation of the young offenders. The increase in juvenile crime rates to an extent has been caused by slow investigation due to the lack of enough detectives. When police numbers are increased in the region, there will enough detectives to speed up the investigations involving juvenile cases (Elrod and Ryder 155).
The extra police officers could also offer other special programs such as rehabilitation to less serious juvenile crimes. Such special programs are known to reduce juvenile crime rates, especially those that are caused by the lack of good parental care (Elrod and Ryder 156).
Conclusion
The ever rising cases of juvenile crimes in the UAE region are now a great concern for the UAE government. The rise in juvenile crime rates in the region has been caused by among other factors, parental neglect, family conflicts and child abuse, drug abuse and lack of a good education.
However, the problem can be effectively dealt with by increasing the number of police officers. The implementation of the proposed strategy is actually less expensive when compared to the damages caused by the juvenile’s involvement in criminal activities. The proposed program will cost the government close to $8 million.
Works Cited
Abiad, Nisrine, and Farkhanda Zia Mansoor. Criminal Law and the Rights of the Child in Muslim States: A Comparative and Analytical Perspective. London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2010. Print.
Burfeind, James W., and Dawn Jeglum Bartusch. Juvenile Delinquency: An Integrated Approach. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print.
Elrod, Preston, and Scott Ryder. Juvenile Justice: A Social, Historical, and Legal Perspective. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print.
Siegel, Larry. Introduction to Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.
Siegel, Larry, and Brandon Wesh. Juvenile Delinquency: The Core. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.