An Essay About Possible Alternatives To Incarceration - 1100 Words

An Essay About Possible Alternatives To Incarceration (Essay Sample) Content: Alternatives to IncarcerationNameInstitutional AffiliationAlternatives to IncarcerationRecent studies point out that almost two million youngsters go through juvenile courts in the United States annually. The juveniles may be detained or incarcerated depending on the seriousness of the offence upon conviction. However, many courts avoid incarcerating delinquents, thus forcing judges to contemplate existing substitutes to imprisonment. This paper examines issues connected to the development of alternatives to juvenile imprisonment. First, it discusses the treatment of delinquents by the justice system throughout history. Secondly, focusses on the economic and historical factors that necessitated alternative rehabilitation. Thirdly, it explains the disparities between the adult and juvenile legal system in the United States. Lastly, it describes alternatives to detention that juvenile courts presently use and the benefits of alternative rehabilitation of juvenile offend ers.Historians estimate that the juvenile justice system began to be distinguished from the adult criminal justice system in 1825 in the United States after the establishment of the New York House of Refuge (Austin, Dedel, Weitzer, 2005). The aims of the pioneer juvenile centers were to safeguard juveniles against the brutal setting of grown-up jails, to protect them from the bad influence of toughened convicts, and to provide essential discipline and guidance to reform vulnerable youths. In addition to delinquents, juvenile institutions also admitted status offenders who committed offences that relate only to children such as escaping from home or truancy and despondent children. Contemporary juvenile courts still have dominion over the above forms of cases. Even though the initial juvenile hospices were privately managed, the late 1800s saw the domination of public reform schools. The first juvenile court with authority over children was however founded in 1899 in Illinois. By 19 25, only two states had not inaugurated juvenile courts. Currently, all states have run their own juvenile courts. (Krisberg and Austin) (1993)Several unique features characterize juvenile courts. First, the public is barred from attending hearings and the criminal histories of the offenders are sealed to a degree, and often completely, from mature courts. This practice emanates from the philosophy that legal guilt does not exist in juvenile courts, but what is found is only a discovery of delinquency. Second, those condemned by juvenile courts are directed to penal facilities detached from adult criminals. Third, a right to judgment by bail or jury does not exist. Moreover, the right to legal counsel is frequently relinquished. The absence of bureaucratic defense for children is because of the casual nature of pioneering childrens courts, which placed more emphasis on the welfare of the youth over justice. While progress towards reinforcement of the level of due process given to ju veniles continues, The Supreme Court still upholds old-fashioned practices of the juvenile court (Krisberg and Austin (1993).Alternatives to confinement are required for a number of reasons. Described below is crowding which is an economic factor and the unproven effectiveness of incarceration which is a historical factor. Firstly, in the last two decades, the problem of crowding has been experienced in many detention facilities. The number of delinquency cases that led to incarceration increased by 11 percent between 1990 and 1991 while settled cases involving out-of-home residency multiplied by 24 percent. Consequently, about 39 percent of existing facilities experienced overcrowding. Crowding leads to logistical problems for the facilities as staff find it difficult to educate, feed, and provide beds for the detainees. Crowding increases instances of violence amongst the juveniles and it deprives detainees with mental problems off timely treatment.(Austin et al)(pg 2)Other than c rowding, the next factor is the ineffectiveness of detention. High recidivism rates have been recorded in research on traditional detention institutions. Approximately fifty to seventy percent of previously detained youth are rearrested within 1 or 2 years following their discharge. Between the 1960s and mid-1990s, considerable investigation showed that community-based procedures such as probation and group homes were more effectual than long-established rehabilitation programs in minimizing recidivism and enhancing community adjustment. Even research that yielded unimpressive outcomes proved that community-based rehabilitation produced results close to those of old-fashioned training institutions but at notably lowered costs.(Austin et al)(pg 3)The aforementioned factors have contributed towards the formulation of alternatives to secure detention such as, Residential treatment, community based treatment and therapy programs and intensive supervision programs. Residential treatment involves the use of community housing centers to give twenty-four hour supervision to offenders. An example is Vision Quest, which is a nationwide program that puts juvenile delinquents in outdoor programs for several months after which they spend five months in a communal home. The purpose of the group home is to prime the youth for assimilation into their families. .(Austin et al)(pg 20)The second alternative is community-based treatment and therapy. A form of community-based therapy is Multisystemic therapy. MST is designed for children with critical behavior disorders and it focuses on a variety of factors associated with juvenile illegal habits. The youth stay at home where treatment that focuses on their needs and individual problems is administered.MST also aims at encouraging parental supervision. An example of MST in practice is the Family and Neighborhood Services...

Medicine Paper Describe The Pathogenesis Of Clostridium Difficile - 550 Words

Medicine Paper: Describe The Pathogenesis Of Clostridium Difficile (Essay Sample) Content: CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILEStudents nameInstitution affiliationUnit TitleDateClostridium difficile infection (CDI)Due to rising incidences of diarrhea in patients at hospitals, I began to research about causes of diarrhea. While performing this task, I found out that Clostridium difficile has been one of the major causes of diarrhea and therefore was of a concern for research in order to find out appropriate therapy for preventing, controlling or treating the infection. Poor administration of antibiotics and spread of highly virulent strains have contributed to the rise in the number of cases of Clostridium difficile. This infection is mostly asymptomatic but when symptoms such as diarrhea of more than 20 episodes per day may occur. Other associated symptoms include abdominal pain and fever. Leukocytosis of more than 25000/mm3 is also common (1).C. difficile is an anaerobic gram-positive bacillus bacterium that forms spores. It was first well documented to cause pseudomembr anous colitis in 1978. These bacteria are found mostly in soil, water, vegetables, and meat. Patients who acquire these bacteria come in contact with contaminated food or water. During a period of harsh conditions, this pathogen starts the process of sporulation which leads to the production of spores. The pathogen gets ingested through the mouth to the gut. If the patients take antibiotics or have taken antibiotics recently, the microbiota will be disrupted. This normal microbiota plays a protective role in the host by competing with pathogens for nutrients and signaling immune system to act against microorganisms (2). Antibiotics, therefore, disrupt microbiota in the gut. It is in this disrupted microbiota where spores germinate so as to resist the acidity in the stomach. Bile acids trigger this process of sporulation which results in vegetative overgrowth. The spores proliferate in the colon and produce two main toxins: toxin A and toxin B. These two toxins are taken to cell muco sal epithelia where they colonize. They then stimulate an acute inflammatory response where neutrophils play a key role (3). This leads to diarrhea and formation of a pseudo-membrane which has inflammatory cells, epithelial cell, and an exudate. Ultimately the mucosa is eroded and colon gets damaged (4).About 25% of patients experience recurrent diarrhea after treatment. This requires another treatment. Pathogen features contribute to this recurrence. Drugs like quinolones are resisted by certain strains of C. difficile that have binary toxins (5). In most patients with recurrent infection, it is examined that the gut microbiota does not return to its original state and therefore this is a predisposing factor to reoccurrence after treatment. Since 1979, the hospital vicinity is contaminated with the spores of C. difficile (6). The hands of hospital staffs and patients get contaminated with these spores and this accounts for repeated episodes of diarrhea and colitis in hospitalized p atients (healthcare-associated C. difficile infection). Some asymptomatic patients with this infection transmit it via stool to other patients in the same ward. There are risk factors for developing CDI. These include antibiotic therapy, surgery on the abdomen, proton pump inhibitors, prior hospitalization and old age. Risk factors for developing recurrent infection also include old age and antibiotic use.Complications of this infection when left untreated include risk of developing megacolon, shock, and hypotension. CDI is diagnosed by considering symptoms (unformed loose stool for more than 24 hours) plus a stool test to identify C. difficile organism or enzyme immunoassay to find C. difficile toxin in stool. Treatment is to first stop the offending antibiotic. For a mild infection, metronidazole is used while complicated one is treated with oral vancomycin. Those with recurrent CDI are treated with fidaxomicin (7).Recurrent infection for the second time is treated using a method called fecal transplantation. It involves transferring a stool from a normal individual to gastrointestinal tract of an infected person. This stool contains the normal microbiota that fights other pathogens including Clostridium difficile. This is due to use of antibiotics used to treat the pathogen initially destr...