NCJ Number
82851
Date Published
1982
Length
228 pages
Annotation
Recommendations are presented from a project that developed policies relating to the police handling of juveniles for these New England police departments.
Abstract
The study aimed at (1) determining the feasibility of implementing the provisions of national juvenile justice standards that would guide police decisions on intervention, diversion, referral, and other aspects of the handling of juvenile problems and cases; (2) formulating local policies for police handling of juvenile problems that are based on national juvenile justice standards, but that also consider local problems and needs; and (3) implementing selected policies on the police handling of juveniles in the Stamford Police Department (Conn.). Policies are formulated in the following areas: how the departments are organized to respond to juvenile problems, the nature of police authority to intervene in selected juvenile problems and the nature of initial intervention, the options available to the police once there has been an intervention and the relative priority given these options, the procedures to be used once the police proceed formally with a juvenile case, the recordkeeping system in each department, the relationship of the police to other juvenile justice and youth-serving agencies, and the role of nonpolice agencies to which juvenile referrals are or should be made. Six recommendations are presented and discussed. Tabular data are appended.