Introduction
Probation officers are professional workers serving in the juvenile justice system (courts). Due to ethnic, gender and cultural factors, the probation officers happen to develop a certain attitude and perception towards girls. Varying environmental factors like scarcity of resources and other problems have contributed to the failure of girls to meet their expected behaviors. This has made the probation officers, psychologists and other officers working in the juvenile judicial system to develop a negative perception and hostility over girls.
They view girls as criers, liars and manipulators just as the topic suggests. These conditions have made girls disadvantaged while seeking justice in the juvenile courts and other programs offered. In relation to this, we will be discussing the role of gender, sexuality, age, race and class in the juvenile judicial system. The paper will also explore the presence of gender bias in different stages of crime processing.
The article is about the perception of girls held by juvenile probation officers and other professionals involved in the juvenile court decision making. According to the article, an environment marked with scarcity of resources, racial/ethnic stereotypes and gender leave girls with few options for treatment and services in the juvenile courts. There exists a lot of criticism in the juvenile justice system over inadequate attention to the needs and situations of girls. Due to economic and social forces like homelessness, sexual abuse and immigration restrictions, girls fail to fulfill the expectations of probation officers in terms of behaviors.
The family of Yunior had left Santo Domingo and migrated to United States of America where they were looking for a better life, it was only three years in the United States but major changes could be seen especially on the mother of Yunior who had gained some significant weight. The sister to Yuniors’ mother, Tia, had succeeded in coming to United States and that was a reason enough for celebration because she had made it to the land of opportunities.
Yunior had a problem when he had to travel by his fathers’ car because he would end up vomiting in the car and as a precaution his father had instructed him never to take any food whenever they were going to go for a ride in his car. Temptation to eat some food would land Yunior in to big trouble with his father because he would take stern actions to punish his disobedience, however, the mother believed that it was the environment of America which was causing the condition of her son (Belknap, 2007).
The children had a habit of thanking people who served them with meals and this was the culture which the children in Dominica had always observed and they could still portray even though they had left their country, the food was also prepared traditionally where food served were those that they enjoyed most (Junot, 1997).
Yunior tend to protect his family particularly when it came to matters that involved his mother or father and even though he could be in a position to disclose some information about his fathers affair with another woman he never said a word.
The family of Yunior was one which experienced some conflicts and fights among the members but when in public they would behave themselves very well and they would not portray a negative image of the family.
Migration in the Caribbean
People have always migrated from their home countries for several reasons which include being forced to leave home to go to another country to work as a slave or even where one chooses to leave on their own choice. There have been migration of people from the Caribbean to go to other countries such as those in Europe and America, the lack of job opportunity forced them to leave and go look for jobs where they would be employed as cheap labor. When we compare with the situation now in Caribbean is that the economies have expanded and employment is readily available so people are not migrating in large masses like in the past.
People have also migrated due to object poverty that they face at home country and they try their lack in other countries, people have fled Caribbean in order to go look for greener pastures in other nations although they would often face similar difficulties in those foreign countries. There have been some significant changes where migrants have joined workers unions and these unions have fought for their rights consequently the migrants enjoy some good pay which has alleviated poverty.
People have smuggled from Caribbean to other countries such as United Stated by other people by giving them false hopes, the illegal immigrants end up being deported back to their countries. Some people have legal documents to migrate to other countries and could be professionals who may go and offer their services in other countries (Ferguson, 2003).
The migrants have suffered in foreign countries where some have been subjected to high degree of discrimination in terms of race or gender and even as a minority group, these people have had to endure difficulties operating in the foreign country. Policies have now been put in place to try and accommodate migrants so that they are not discriminated.
References
Belknap, J. (2007). The Invisible Woman: Gender, Crime and Justice. (3 rd Edition) Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Ferguson, J. 2003. Migration in the Caribbean: Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Beyond. New York: Minority Rights Group International Press.
Junot, D. (1997). Down. New York: Riverhead, 1997. Print.