Rights of Juveniles – Cheap Research Essays

Read: The Country Club Plaza is an upscale dining, shopping, and residential district in Kansas City, Missouri. Residents and nonresidents frequent the entertainment area, and foot traffic is particularly heavy on Friday and Saturday evenings. The presence of juveniles on the Plaza grew considerably on summer weekends in 2010 and 2011, and carloads of youngsters streamed into the area seeking entertainment. Because of the Plaza’s reputation for safety, some parents would drop off their children (many as young as 13) and pick them up later. Kids would call, e-mail, or text friends to come join the festive atmosphere, and they would utilize social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to encourage others to join them at the Plaza.

The unintended consequence was the occurrence of “flash mobs” where large groups of teens would converge on the Plaza, and in doing so, the opportunity for spontaneous violence would increase. Violent, apparently random outbursts occurred during the summer months of 2011 as police estimated between 700 and 900 kids suddenly appeared in the relatively small entertainment district. Business owners expressed frustration as these flash mobs deterred adult patrons from visiting the Plaza on weekend evenings. In response the police department increased the level of officer presence, diverting officers from regular assignments within the urban core and/or paying officers overtime to patrol the upscale entertainment area on weekend evenings. This response put a strain on department resources, making it challenging to offer the same level of service to other parts of the city.

In August 2011, the mayor of Kansas City (along with other civic leaders) went to the Plaza on a Saturday night to take in the activities for themselves, speak to participants about public safety, and encourage antiviolence. Suddenly, gunshots erupted less than 50 yards away from where the mayor was speaking with citizens. The incident, apparently unrelated to the presence of the mayor and civic leaders’ presence, resulted in three teenagers being shot. Shortly thereafter, a summertime curfew for youth was implemented on the Plaza and other entertainment areas within the city. This example is not an isolated event or unique to Kansas City, as similar violent youth flash mob events have been reported in other urban areas (Houston, Seo, Kennedy, & Knight, 2012).

Hypothesized causes of the Plaza flash mobs of 2010 and 2011 are numerous (e.g., lack of safe, accessible alternative hangout spots for youth; kids wanting to express themselves and be seen where other teens are, etc.), but like most violence in America, the police are typically the first element of the criminal justice system to intervene and often the group that is immediately held accountable to promote public safety. Egon Bittner (1967) said that the role of the police is to address “something-that-ought-not-to-be-happening-and-about-which-somebody-had-better-do-something-now,” and often the initial “something” is to increase deterrent presence and/or increase enforcement action. But this also highlights the fact that the police-juvenile relationship is dynamic and historically strained—juveniles represent a special population in which the police interact, and youth typically harbor less favorable attitudes toward and confidence in the police than their adult counterparts. Understanding this relationship is critical in order to identify crime prevention strategies to curb youth violence in America.