Ashlei Lewis

CJUS285
Juvenile Delinquency
Feb 10, 2021

Court Recommendation for Sarah

As a juvenile probation officer, I will help Sarah at this point in her life up
until she turns 18, and help her family, during this difficult time. I will help
Sarah figure out her life plan and continue to help her get the help she
needs even after she becomes an adult.

Sarah's life has been very challenging, losing her parents at a young age,
the early-on exposure to juvenile delinquency due to her cousins.
Early stressors that caused Sarah to turn to delinquent behaviors and
become dependent on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes at a young age.

Her toxic relationship with her ex boyfriend CC.

And her ultimate descent into self-destructive behaviors that caused her to
be put into a facility to get the help she needs.

All this caused Sarah to become a delinquent and then subsequently get
the help she so desperately needed.

One theoretical explanation of her behaviors would be family and

delinquency. Her cousins who had a lot of influence on Sarah were
delinquent, on top of Sarah already hating the fact that she had to live in
such a strained environment where she got little to no positive attention
from her family. And finding ways to destress in unhealthy ways, led her to
being a delinquent.
Sarah experienced trouble at home, poor grades at school and not very
good influences from her "friends" which in turn caused Sarah to become
more prone to delinquency then someone that came from a loving
environment, with good grades and friends that wanted to travel the world
instead of doing drugs.

As a juvenile probation officer, my recommendation to the court for the time

leading up to Sarah's 18th birthday, I would recommend that Sarah and her
family continue with family counseling or therapy, whichever was appointed
by the court.

Sarah also needs to continue her rehabilitation program in the facility in

which she is placed, and continue her own group and personal counseling
while in the facility.

As for when she turns 18, I recommend that the state help Sarah by giving
her some money for an apartment of her own, and helping Sarah find a job
that will suit her while she continues going to school until she graduates. At
that point, I recommend bimonthly check-ups to make sure that Sarah is
still alive and doing well, and hasn't returned to drugs and alcohol at all.

After about 6 months to a year, depending on what the judge sees as fair,
Sarah can live her life without supervision, provided that she continues her
counseling outside of the facility with help from the government for funds
until she finds insurance. Keeps a job for a minimum of 3 months, and is
able to keep a residence outside of Emily and Fergus' home for a period of
6 months.