Senate to Reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act

April 6, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

Senator Patrick Leahy, D. Vt., recently introduced a bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), a law that was designed to reduce juvenile crime and protect children in the juvenile justice system.

Congress initially passed the JJDPA in 1974 to keep children from having contact with adults in jails and prisons and establish rules under which juvenile offenders can be detained.

However, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice, an average of 7,500 juveniles are incarcerated in adult jails every day because the JJDPA doesn't apply to children who are being tried as adults. The new bill will strengthen restrictions on the pretrial detention of juveniles in adult jails and the detention of children who commit offenses like truancy or breaking curfew.

The majority of youth in detention centers across the country are African American or Latino, even though the law was amended during a previous reauthorization in 1994 to require states to find out why disproportionate numbers of minority juveniles are detained.

The new bill also provides federal funding for programs that prevent child delinquency and reduce crime and recidivism among youths