Constitutional Law

Juvenile Justice Law Undercut By States' Noncompliance

A number of states are failing to comply with a federal law aimed at reforming the juvenile justice system. States, including Mississippi, South Carolina, Washington and Wyoming, are ignoring key parts of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, The Associated Press reports.

The law’s provisions are intended to satisfy three primary goals:

·         Juveniles should be incarcerated separately from adult prisoners.

·         Juveniles should not be jailed for age-dependent offenses, such as alcohol and tobacco possession or running away.

·         Minority youth should not be incarcerated at higher rates than other kids.

The law currently provides that Congress may withhold federal dollars from states failing to comply. However, unlike federal highway dollars withheld from states with a drinking age below twenty-one, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act provides far less grant money. Weighing the penalties of noncompliance against the cost of building and operating independent juvenile lock-ups, some states find obeying the federal law fiscally unmanageable.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to reauthorize the 34-year old act with bipartisan support in 2008, but it never received a vote in the full Senate. Advocates see reauthorization by the new congress as an opportunity to improve the law’s enforcement mechanisms. 

“It’s frustrating for us sometimes that we can’t fine the states or we can’t get every state into compliance,” Greg Thompson, a Justice Department administrator working with states on compliance, told the AP. 

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 09, 2009 (boomark / email).