[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1604 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1604

    To improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
requirements regarding separate detention and confinement of juveniles, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 1996

   Mr. Kohl introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
requirements regarding separate detention and confinement of juveniles, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Juvenile Jail Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) current Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
        rules and regulations concerning the separation of adults from 
        juveniles during short periods of detention or confinement have 
        proven unduly burdensome for rural law enforcement;
            (2) altering requirements concerning the length of stay 
        permitted in a State-approved portion of a county jail or 
        secure detention facility, while retaining the separation of 
        juveniles from adults, would diminish these burdens without 
        harm to juveniles;
            (3) the requirement of completely separate staffing during 
        these short stays also creates large burdens yet yields little 
        benefit for juveniles; and
            (4) experience with shared staff indicates that juveniles 
        are not harmed by the use of shared staff, so long as the staff 
        members are appropriately trained and certified, and juveniles 
        do not have regular contact with adults.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF CONTACT RULES.

    Section 223(a)(14) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)(14)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``1997'' and inserting ``2001'';
            (2) by striking ``pursuant to an enforceable State law 
        requiring such appearances within twenty-four hours after being 
        taken into custody (excluding weekends and holidays)'' and 
        inserting ``and permit the detention or confinement of 
        juveniles in a State approved portion of a county jail or 
        secure detention facility for up to 72 hours''; and
            (3) by striking ``such exceptions are'' and all that 
        follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting the 
        following: ``such exceptions--
                    ``(A) are limited to areas that are in compliance 
                with paragraph (13) and--
                            ``(i) are outside a Standard Metropolitan 
                        Statistical Area; and
                            ``(ii) have no existing acceptable 
                        alternative placement available that is easily 
                        accessible;
                    ``(B) permit the same staff members to oversee both 
                juveniles and adults only if such staff members have 
                been properly trained and certified to supervise 
                juveniles; and
                    ``(C) ensure that juveniles have no regular contact 
                with adult persons who are incarcerated because they 
                have been convicted of a crime or are awaiting trial on 
                criminal charges;''.
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