A bill to amend and authorize appropriations for the continued implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.

Summary

Amends the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (the Act) to revise provisions with respect to the operation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Establishes a direct reporting relationship between the Administrator of the Office and the Attorney General. Makes the Administrator directly responsible to the Attorney General. Bars the Attorney General from delegating specified powers, duties, or functions. Repeals a provision directing the Administrator, in carrying out his functions, to consult with the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Directs the Administrator to: (1) assist Federal agencies that have direct responsibilities for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency in the development and promulgation of regulations, guidelines, requirements, criteria, standards, procedures, and budget requests in accordance with the policies, priorities, and objectives that the Commission establishes; (2) conduct and support evaluations and studies of the performance and results achieved by Federal juvenile delinquency programs and activities and of the prospective performance and results that might be achieved by alternative programs and activities supplementary to or in place of those currently being administered; and (3) develop for each fiscal year, and publish annually in the Federal Register for public comment, a proposed comprehensive plan describing the particular activities that the Commission intends to carry out. Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) request a Federal department or agency that engages in activity involving any Federal juvenile delinquency prevention program to provide the Administrator with programmatic and other information, and the head of such department or agency to comply with such request; and (2) make grants and enter into contracts with public or private nonprofit agencies, organizations, institutions, and natural persons to carry out the Act. Directs the Administrator to review: (1) the programs and practices of Federal agencies and report to the President and the Congress on the degree to which Federal agency funds are used for purposes that are either consistent or inconsistent with provisions of the Act; and (2) the reasons why Federal agencies take juveniles into custody and make recommendations regarding how to improve Federal practices and facilities for holding juveniles in custody. Revises reporting requirements to cover specified activities, including a description of exemplary delinquency programs for which assistance is provided under the Act, with particular attention to community-based alternatives to juvenile incarceration that involve and assist families of juveniles. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants for State and local programs with public and private nonprofit agencies for the development of more effective programs of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention and treatment (currently, with public and private agencies for the development of more effective education, training, research, prevention, diversion, treatment, and rehabilitation programs in the area of juvenile delinquency and programs to improve the juvenile justice system (system)). Increases allocations for State formula grants. Revises provisions with respect to the composition and functions of the advisory group required under each State plan. Specifies that such advisory group shall consist of not more than 30 members: (1) who have training, experience, or special knowledge concerning the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency or the administration of juvenile justice; (2) including at least one locally elected official representing general purpose local government, representatives of law enforcement and juvenile agencies, public agencies concerned with delinquency prevention or treatment, private nonprofit organizations, volunteers who work with delinquents or potential delinquents, youth workers involved with programs that are alternatives to incarceration, persons with special experience and competence in addressing problems related to school violence, vandalism, and alternatives to suspension and expulsion, and in addressing problems related to learning disabilities, emotional difficulties, child abuse and neglect, and youth violence; (3) a majority of whom (including the chairperson) shall not be full-time employees of the Federal, State, or local government; (4) at least one-fifth of whom shall be under age 24 at the time of appointment; and (5) at least three of whom have been under the jurisdiction of the system at some time. Sets forth additional requirements with respect to such advisory group. Earmarks funds for programs and services such as: (1) community-based alternatives to incarceration and institutionalization, including specified programs and services for youth who can remain at home with assistance, need temporary placement, and need residential placement; (2) community-based programs and services to work with parents and other family members to strengthen families, including parent self-help groups, so that juveniles may be retained in their homes; (3) comprehensive juvenile justice and delinquency programs that meet the needs of youth through the collaboration of the many local systems before which a youth may appear, including schools, courts, and specified agencies and services; (4) educational programs or supportive services for delinquent or other youth, provided equitably regardless of sex, race, or family income, designed to encourage them to remain in school; (5) expanded use of home probation; (6) programs and projects designed to provide for the treatment of youths' dependence on or abuse of alcohol or other drugs; (7) law-related education programs and projects for delinquent and at-risk youth; and (8) programs for positive youth development that assist delinquent and other at-risk youth in obtaining a sense of safety and structure, of belonging, of self-worth, of independence and control over one's life, of closeness in interpersonal relationships, and of competence. Extends through 1997 (currently, 1993) the requirement that the Administrator promulgate regulations which make exceptions to a prohibition against the detention or confinement of juveniles in any jail or lockup for adults with respect to the detention of juveniles accused of non-status offenses who are awaiting an initial court appearance pursuant to an enforceable State law requiring such appearances within 24 hours after being taken into custody, subject to specified limitations. Requires State plans to provide assurance that youth in the system are treated equitably on the bais of gender, race, family income, and mentally, emotionally, or physically handicapping conditions. Provides for the reduction of funds by 25 percent for each paragraph with respect to which noncompliance with requirements of the Act occurs. Revises provisions with regard to ineligibility of such States to receive allotments. Includes among the purposes of the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to provide appropriate training for prosecutors and defense attorneys. Authorizes the Administrator to provide such training. Directs the Comptroller General, not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, to conduct studies with respect to: (1) juveniles waived to adult court; (2) admissions of juveniles for behavior disorders to private psychiatric hospitals and to other residential and nonresidential programs that serve such juveniles; (3) gender bias within State juvenile justice systems; (4) the Native American pass-through grant program that reviews the cost-effectiveness of the funding formula utilized; and (5) access to counsel in juvenile court proceedings. Sets forth reporting requirements. Requires the Administrator to provide for the establishment or support of programs and services that encourage the improvement of due process available to juveniles in the system and the quality of legal representation for such juveniles. Specifies that the competitive process regarding consideration of grant applications shall not be required if the Administrator makes a written determination that apply to programs to be carried out in areas with respect to which the President declares under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that a major disaster or emergency exists (but repeals other exceptions, and reporting requirements related to such exceptions, to the competitive process). Directs the Administrator to establish and support programs and activities that involve families and communities in: (1) the prevention of youth gangs through programs that are designed to: target elementary school students, with the purpose of steering students away from gang involvement; provide individual and family crisis intervention and counseling to students and their families who are particularly at risk of gang involvement; develop and support community education about gangs and gang activity with the intent of involving the community in dealing with the problems associated with gangs; and include a special location within a school or housing project for program activities; and (2) crisis intervention and rehabilitation of youth gangs. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants, in the amount of ten percent of the amount of the State allocation, for challenge activities in which the State participates in such activities. Defines "challenge activity" as a program maintained for one of specified purposes, such as: (1) developing and adopting policies and programs to provide: basic health and appropriate education services for youth in the system as specified in standards developed by the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention prior to October 12, 1984; access to counsel for all juveniles in the justice system to ensure that juveniles consult with counsel before waiving the right to counsel; and secure settings for the placement of violent juvenile offenders with capacities of no more than 50 youth with ratios of staff to youth great enough to ensure adequate supervision and treatment; (2) increasing community-based alternatives to incarceration by establishing programs and developing and adopting objective criteria for the appropriate placement of juveniles in detention and secure confinement; (3) developing and adopting policies to prohibit gender bias in placement and treatment, and establishing programs to ensure that female youth have access to the full range of health services, treatment for physical or sexual assault and abuse, education in parenting, education in general, and other training and vocational services; (4) establishing and operating a State ombudsman office for children, youth, and families to investigate and resolve complaints relating to action, inaction, or decisions of providers of out-of-home care to children and youth that may adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or rights of resident children and youth; (5) developing and adopting policies and programs designed to remove, where appropriate, status offenders from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court; (6) developing and adopting policies and programs designed to serve as alternatives to suspension and expulsion from school; (7) increasing aftercare services for juveniles involved in the justice system; and (8) developing and adopting policies to establish a State administrative structure to coordinate program and fiscal policies for children who have emotional and behavioral problems and their families among the major child serving systems and a statewide case review system which meets specified requirements. Revises findings with respect to runaway and homeless youth. Specifies that runaway and homeless youth centers funded by grants under the Act shall serve as alternatives to the law enforcement, child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice systems. Provides for increases in the allocation to a State or territory under such provisions. Repeals a provision authorizing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide on-the-job training to local runaway and homeless youth center and other personnel in recognizing and providing for learning disabled and other handicapped juveniles. Modifies eligibility requirements with respect to such grants. Includes among such requirements that an applicant propose to establish, strengthen, or fund a locally controlled project (currently, facility) providing temporary shelter. Requires that, to qualify for such assistance, the applicant submit a plan to the Secretary including assurances that the applicant shall: (1) develop an adequate plan for assuring proper relations with health and mental health care personnel; and (2) keep adequate statistical records profiling the family members which it serves, including youth who are not referred to out-of-home shelter services. Authorizes appropriations for grants for a national communication system to assist runaway and homeless youth in communicating with their families and with service providers. Gives priority to grants smaller than $250,000 (currently, $150,000) for runaway and homeless youth centers. Requires applicants, to be eligible for transitional living grant assistance, to submit to the Secretary a plan in which such applicant agrees, as part of such project: (1) to provide services including training in money management, budgeting, consumer education, and use of credit to homeless youth; and (2) not to disclose records maintained on individual homeless youth without the consent of the individual youth (currently, and parent or legal guardian) to anyone other than an agency compiling statistical records or a government agency involved in the disposition of criminal charges against youth. Repeals provisions with respect to grants for technical assistance and training, authority to make grants to research, demonstration, and service projects, and coordination with the activities of health agencies in the Department of HHS. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and provide technical assistance to public and nonprofit private entities (and combinations of such entities) to establish and operate street-based services to runaway, homeless, and other street youth. Requires an applicant, to be eligible for such assistance, to propose to establish, strengthen, or fund a street-based services project and submit to the Secretary a plan in which the applicant agrees, as part of the project, to: (1) identify and frequent areas in which such youth congregate, making contact and forming relationships with such youth; (2) assess the problems and service needs of such youth and provide appropriate services or information and referral for these services; (3) cause its staff to work in teams with on-street supervision or backup and off-street clinical supervision, develop referral relationships with agencies and organizations, and help integrate and coordinate such services for youth; (4) submit to the Secretary an annual report and an annual budget; (5) implement such accounting procedures and fiscal control devices as the Secretary may require; (6) keep adequate statistical records profiling the youth that it serves and not disclose the identity of individual street youth in documents based on such records; (7) not disclose records maintained on street youth without the consent of the individual youth to anyone; and (8) provide to the Secretary such other information as the Secretary may reasonably require. Directs the Secretary to: (1) give priority in selecting eligible applicants to entities that have experience in providing direct services to street youth; and (2) make grants to State, regional, and other nonprofit organizations (and combinations of such organizations) to provide technical assistance and training to eligible groups for the purpose of establishing and improving the operation of programs for street youth. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States, localities, and private entities (and combinations of such entities) to carry out research, demonstration, and service projects designed to increase knowledge concerning, and to improve services for, street youth. Requires the Secretary to give priority to applicants that have knowledge of or experience in working with runaway and homeless youth, and special consideration to proposed projects meeting specified criteria. Directs the Secretary, with respect to matters relating to health, education, employment, and housing, to coordinate the activities of health agencies in the Department of HHS with those of other divisions of that department and other public and private entities, and encourage coordination with other departments. Sets forth additional reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Sets forth priorities in the use of appropriated funds. Authorizes appropriations for grants relating to locating missing children. Creates a new title V of the Act, which may be cited as the Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs Act. Sets forth provisions regarding the duties and functions of the Commission. Authorizes the Commission to make grants to a State for delinquency prevention programs and activities for youth who have had, or who are likely to have, contact with the system, including the provision to children, youth, and families of recreation services, tutoring and remedial education, assistance in the development of work awareness skills, child and adolescent health and mental health services, alcohol and substance abuse prevention services, and leadership development activities. Sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) eligibility requirements; (2) priorities in considering grant applications; (3) innovative ways to involve the private nonprofit and business sector in delinquency prevention activities; and (4) developing or enhancing a statewide subsidy program to local governments that is dedicated to early intervention and delinquency prevention. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the General Accounting Office, after such program has been funded for two years, to prepare and submit to the Congress a study of the effects of the program in encouraging States and units of general local government to comply with requirements of the Act. Creates a new title VI of the Act, which may be cited as the Justice System Enhancement for Abused and Neglected Children Act. Directs the Administrator, subject to specified limitations, to: (1) issue such rules as are necessary or appropriate to carry out such title; (2) make such arrangements as necessary and appropriate to facilitate coordination and policy development among all civil and criminal justice system improvement activities funded through the Department of Justice, as well as with other Federal agencies (including the Inter-Agency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect), relating to abused and neglected children (including the preparation of an annual comprehensive plan for facilitating such coordination and policy development); and (3) provide adequate staff and agency resources necessary to properly carry out responsibilities pursuant to such title. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to and enter into contracts with public agencies or privte nonprofit organizations (or combinations thereof) for research or demonstration and system improvement projects designed to: (1) identify effective approaches to the handling of child abuse and neglect cases in the criminal and civil justice systems so that such approaches can serve as models to other jurisdictions; (2) research issues concerning the legal system's reponse as a whole to child abuse and neglect; (3) improve the response of the criminal and civil justice systems to the special needs and sensitivities of children who have been abused or neglected; and (4) enhance coordination between the civil and criminal justice systems in child abuse and neglect cases (as well as coordination between these systems and the social services, mental health, health, and education systems that are also involved) and the availability of, and access to, child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment services for child victims, their family members, and the perpetrators. Directs the Assistant Attorney General, in considering grant applications, to give priority to applicants that demonstrate ability in: (1) conducting research and disseminating findings with respect to civil and criminal justice system cases involving child abuse, child neglect, or child maltreatment-related fatalities; (2) developing model approaches for responding to such cases; and (3) coordinating responses to such cases. Requires the Administrator, in considering grant and contract applications under such title, to endeavor to ensure that cases of child abuse and neglect in family settings, in the community, and within residential institutions are all given an adequate focus. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants and enter into contracts with public agencies or private nonprofit organizations (or combinations thereof) for training, technical assistance, and service programs designed to educate prosecutors and defense attorneys in the criminal justice system, judges in the civil and criminal justice systems, and practitioners in the civil justice system about the experiences of children who are abused or neglected and their families and improve skills and responses in handling child abuse and neglect cases. Sets forth priorities in considering applications for such grants. Directs the Administrator to establish annual priorities for making grants and contracts for research or demonstration and system improvement projects and criteria based on merit for making such grants and contracts, and to publish in the Federal Register for public comment a statement of such proposed priorities and criteria before establishing such priorities and criteria. Authorizes appropriations.

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Documents

5 official files

• Reported to Senate (text)

  Reported to Senate · EN

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• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN

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• Indefinitely postponed in Senate

  summary · EN · 25 September 1992

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• Reported to Senate with amendment(s)

  summary · EN · 8 September 1992

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 21 May 1992

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