NCJ Number
139229
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The Congressional Research Service analyzed background and current issues related to the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.
Abstract
Two bills submitted to reauthorize the Act would increase funding for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), while a third would reduce funding for the Act by eliminating the formula grant program. Three phases of reform at the State-level juvenile justice and court system are identified. In the initial phase, from the late 19th century until the early 1960's, a separate court system for juveniles was created with the goal of rehabilitating juvenile offenders. The second phase, in the 1960's and 1970's, focused on addressing new problems and correcting abuses of the previous system. The final phase, beginning in the late 1970's, sought to implement stricter responses to juvenile delinquency. The current debate over the reauthorization of the 1974 Act involves debate over several policy issues. They revolve around continuing funding for State removal of juveniles from adult lockups, maintaining a punitive rather than a rehabilitative approach toward juvenile delinquents, addressing the detention of proportionately more minority juveniles, and questioning the detention of juveniles in psychiatric hospitals. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 22 references