deraneyesq — 6 years ago
September 9th, 2018 – An Update on the Juvenile Justice System
In 1974, Congress enacted the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act (Pub. L. No. 93-415, 42 U.S.C. § 5601 et seq.). This landmark legislation established the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to support local and state efforts to prevent delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system.
From 1974 to 2002, the OJJDP have focused their policy and practices including: the Formula Grants program, separation requirement, deinstitutionalization of status offenders requirement, prevention and treatment policy, jail removal requirements, addressing disproportionate minority confinement, adding programs to address gender bias, emphasize family strengthening, emphasize graduated sanctions, risk-need assessments, and so forth.
In related legislation, the Congress also passed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, The Adoption Promotion Act of 2003, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvements Act, Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, National Police Athletic League Youth Enrichment Act of 2000, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003,
PROTECT Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act of 1998, Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act, Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act of 2000, and
Violence Against Women Act of 2000.
For decades the OJJDP has been a vital part of the criminal justice system including limiting the number of children behind bars. However, the racial disparity has been dramatically worsening with black youth several times more likely than their white counterparts to be incarcerated.
Under the Drumpf Administration, Caren Harp, the head of the OJJDP, is dissolving its research arm and will cut back on its oversight of the States’ attempts to reduce what is called ‘disproportionate minority contact.’ It will slash the kinds of data that local agencies must collect. It will rescind multiple training manuals to improve racial disparity – a move which AG Jeff Sessions was a correction of unnecessary regulation.
Youth advocates and organizations state that minority children get into fights, steal property, carry weapons, use/sell drugs, and commit crimes at the same rates as caucasian children. However, they get disproportionately policed for it.
Harp and the new OJJDP will farm out its research to the National Institute of Justice and look at these issues through the lens of public safety and offender accountability. Harp said of the Juvenile Justice System, “it went a little too far to the side of providing services.” The Agency issued new language instructing the use of the word ‘offenders’ in replace of children and/or youth. It places the onus on the states to collect data and confer with other states in a “peer-to-peer training” approach.
Another official has said of the OJJDP’s new approach, “Hey Mississippi, if you don’t want to do anything about this race thing anymore, that’s OK with us.” More Information Here.
