[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 704 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 704

 To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 
 with respect to the separate detention and confinement of juveniles, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 1997

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 
 with respect to the 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) 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, if--
                    (A) the staff members are appropriately trained and 
                certified;
                    (B) the staff members do not deal directly with 
                both juveniles and adults during the same shift; and
                    (C) 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 not more than 72 hours''; and
            (3) by striking ``such exceptions are'' and all that 
        follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting the 
        following: ``those 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 acceptable alternative 
                        placement available that is easily accessible;
                    ``(B) permit the same staff members to oversee both 
                juveniles and adults, only if those staff members--
                            ``(i) have been properly trained and 
                        certified to supervise juveniles; and
                            ``(ii) do not interact directly with both 
                        adult and juvenile prisoners during the same 
                        shift; and
                    ``(C) ensure that juveniles have no regular contact 
                with adult persons who are incarcerated because they 
                have been convicted of a criminal offense or are 
                awaiting trial on criminal charges;''.
                                 <all>