Citizens for Responsible Education Reform
Juvenile Crime Control and
Delinquency
Prevention Act (H.R. 1818)
Focus on Prevention of Juvenile Crime
Issue Description
The purpose of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act is to assist state and local governments in
their efforts to reduce juvenile crime through the funding of
prevention programs and activities which hold juveniles
accountable for their actions. The Act also provides technical
assistance, research and dissemination of information on effective programs for combating juvenile crime to state and local governments. Additionally, the Act provides assistance to state and local governments to help address the problems of runaway and homeless youth, in particular crisis residential care, and assists in the development of programs for the recovery of missing and exploited children.
The Act expired in 1996. The purpose of the current effort is to reform the program to provide states and local communities with greater flexibility in how they address juvenile crime. H.R. 1818 streamlines the current formula grant program, and consolidates all remaining discretionary grant programs into one flexible prevention block grant to the states.
Rep. Frank Riggs (R-CA), the bill's sponsor, and a former law enforcement officer, believes the best remedy is a locally-oriented approached to juvenile crime, with a balance of punishment and prevention. "I know there is no 'one size fits all' method that is going to have a significant impact on reducing youth crime and delinquency," said Riggs. "The best thing we can do in Washington is to facilitate and encourage local solutions. That is what this bill will ccomplish."
CRER Analysis and Position
In this instance, CRER supports the statement of Rep. Riggs (see above). CRER believes states and local communities are much better able to determine where the problems exist and how best to solve them. As a result, block grants make sense. One size does not fit all...crime prevention programs that work in urban environments may not be needed in rural states, and would only prove inefficient in the extreme.
This bill is a compliment to the Juvenile Crime Control Act, H.R. 3, passed by the House earlier this year (May 8). This is the get tough on crime measure.
CRER supports giving states more flexibility to meet the four federal mandates regarding how juveniles are treated from the time they enter the system. The strict rigid mandates in place currently make the system less effective, especially in rural areas.
Core Requirements to Receive Block Grant Funding
- Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders. In order to minimize the number of juvenile delinquents who are locked-up for minor offenses, current law requires a judge to receive a report from public youth agency that addresses the immediate needs of the youth held in custody before ordering that a status offender--a juvenile accused of committing a crime that would not be considered a crime if the act was committed by an adult (e.g., underage drinking, curfew violations, truancy, runaways)--be detained in a secure lock-up facility overnight.
H.R. 1818 still mandates that a public agency make recommendations for the juvenile's needs, but eliminates the requirement that a judge receive the report prior to issuing a valid court order that allows the juvenile to be detained in a lock-up facility overnight.
- Sight and Sound Separation. The bill prohibits "regular" and incidental unsupervised contact between juveniles and adults in lockup facilities. Current law prohibits all contact between juvenile offenders and adult offenders. The change allows limited casual contact between adult and juvenile offenders (e.g., passing in the hall on the way to the rest room). The bill also allows adult detention staff to work with juveniles as long as the staff has received special training to work with juvenile offenders. Current law prohibits staff that care for
adult offenders from working with juvenile offenders.
- Disproportionate Minority Incarceration. The bill clarifies that states must not impose numerical standards or quotas in order to meet the federal requirement that states reduce the number of minorities that are incarcerated if it is disproportionate to the general population. A state is termed to have a disproportionate number of minorities incarcerated if the proportion of minorities in the state judicial system exceeds the proportion of minorities in the general population. Some members have expressed concern that current law may be interpreted to require states to release minority violent juvenile offenders in order to meet the federal mandate.
- Removal of Juveniles from Adult Lockups. H.R. 1818 allows juveniles to be held in facilities that also hold adult offenders up to 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) prior to their first court appearance. Current law allows juveniles to held in the same facility as adults for a maximum of 24 hours prior to a court appearance. The bill provides an exemption to the 48-hour time limit for rural areas that do not have an alternative placement facility as long as (1) the parent or guardian agrees, (2) the court grants prior approval, and (3) the exemption is
reviewed every five days.
For additional information on this issue, visit the
House
Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Send
comments and mail to CRER
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Last updated by Citizens for Responsible Education Reform on 10/18/97
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