[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6934 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6934

 To amend and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
                  Act of 1974, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2008

  Ms. Solis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
                  Act of 1974, 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 Justice Reform Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 103 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5603) is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (25) to read as follows:
            ``(25) the term `contact' means any sight or sound 
        interaction between a juvenile in a secure custody status with 
        an adult inmate;'',
            (2) in paragraph (28) by striking ``and'' at the end,
            (3) in paragraph (29) by adding ``and'' at the end, and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(30) the term `juvenile justice stakeholders' means 
        individuals and representatives of agencies, institutions, and 
        organizations with interest in the activities and outcomes of 
        the juvenile justice system, including--
                    ``(A) youth and family members of youth who have 
                had contact with the juvenile justice system;
                    ``(B) youth and families of color;
                    ``(C) defense attorneys for youth, prosecutors for 
                the juvenile court, and juvenile court judges; and
                    ``(D) representatives of school systems, law 
                enforcement agencies, juvenile detention and 
                corrections, juvenile probation departments, and 
                community-based providers of gender-specific services 
                and services to youth of color and juvenile justice-
                involved youth.''.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT.

    Section 207(1) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5617(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B) by inserting ``, ethnicity,'' after 
        ``race'',
            (2) in subparagraph (E) by striking ``and'' at the end,
            (3) in subparagraph (F) by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and'', and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(G) how State plans are meeting the requirement 
                under section 223(a)(7)(B)(i).''.

SEC. 4. STATE PLANS.

    Section 223(a) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii)--
                    (A) in subclause (VII) by striking ``and'' at the 
                end,
                    (B) in subclause (VIII) by adding ``and'' at the 
                end, and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                                    ``(IX) individuals with special 
                                experience or competence in addressing 
                                the needs of girls or implementing 
                                gender responsive services;'',
            (2) in paragraph (7)(B)--
                    (A) in clause (iii) by striking ``and'' at the end,
                    (B) in clause (iv) by adding ``and'' at the end, 
                and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(v) a plan for providing easily 
                        accessible, community-based and operated, 
                        culturally and linguistically appropriate 
                        services to youth at-risk or in contact with 
                        the juvenile justice system;'',
            (3) in paragraph (11)--
                    (A) by striking ``shall,'',
                    (B) in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) in clause (i) by striking the semicolon 
                        at the end,
                            (ii) by striking ``excluding--'' and all 
                        that follows through ``(i)'' and inserting 
                        ``excluding'',
                            (iii) by striking clauses (ii) and (iii), 
                        and
                            (iv) by striking ``and'' at the end, and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) not later than 3 years after the effective 
                date of this subparagraph, or sooner if possible, no 
                exceptions to this paragraph shall be permissible in 
                relation to--
                            ``(i) juveniles who are charged with or who 
                        have committed a violation of a valid court 
                        order; and
                            ``(ii) juveniles who are held in accordance 
                        with the Interstate Compact on Juveniles as 
                        enacted by the State; and
                    ``(D) efforts shall be made to care safely for 
                juveniles described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) by 
                utilizing staff-secure and other community-based 
                alternatives to secure detention, including the Runaway 
                and Homeless Youth Act programs administered by the 
                Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Administration 
                for Children and Families of the Department of Health 
                and Human Services;'',
            (4) in paragraph (12)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ``and'' at the 
                end,
                    (B) in subparagraph (B) by adding ``and'' at the 
                end, and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) not later than 3 years after the effective 
                date of this provision, or sooner if possible, 
                juveniles awaiting trial or any other legal process and 
                who are treated as adults for purposes of prosecution 
                in criminal court shall not have contact with adult 
                inmates when held in the custody of the criminal 
                court;'',
            (5) in paragraph (13)--
                    (A) by inserting after ``adults'' the 1st place it 
                appears the following:
        ``, and provide that not later than 3 years after the effective 
        date of this bill, or sooner if possible, juveniles treated as 
        adults for purposes of prosecution in criminal court and 
        juveniles prosecuted as adults in criminal court may not be 
        held in any jail or lockup for adults while awaiting trial on a 
        criminal charge,'', and
                    (B) in subparagraph (A) by adding ``and'' at the 
                end,
            (6) in paragraph (15) by inserting ``ethnicity,'' after 
        ``race,'',
            (7) by striking paragraphs (22) and (23),
            (8) by redesignating paragraphs (14) through (28) as 
        paragraphs (15) through (27), respectively, and
            (9) by after paragraph (13) the following:
            ``(14) implement policy, practice, and system improvement 
        strategies at the State, territorial, local, and tribal levels 
        to identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities among 
        youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system 
        by--
                    ``(A) establishing coordinating bodies to oversee 
                and monitor State, territorial, local, or tribal 
                efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, 
                composed of juvenile justice stakeholders at the State, 
                territorial, local, or tribal levels, including 
                community leaders and service providers from 
                communities in which youth of color are 
                disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice 
                system;
                    ``(B) identifying and analyzing key decision 
                points, and the criteria used to make those decisions, 
                in State, territorial, local, or tribal juvenile 
                justice systems, to determine which points create 
                racial and ethnic disparities among juveniles who come 
                into contact with the juvenile justice system and the 
                causes of those disparities;
                    ``(C) developing and implementing State, 
                territorial, local, or tribal data collection and 
                analysis systems to identify where racial and ethnic 
                disparities exist in the juvenile justice system and to 
                track and analyze such disparities using descriptors 
                disaggregated, as appropriate, by factors including 
                race, ethnicity, sex, geography, offense, delinquency 
                history, and age;
                    ``(D) developing and implementing a work plan that 
                includes measurable objectives for policy changes, 
                practice changes or other system changes, based on the 
                needs identified in the data collection and analysis 
                under subparagraph (B) and designed to reduce any forms 
                of bias, differential treatment of youth of color or 
                disparities found to be associated with race and 
                ethnicity, including provision of culturally and 
                linguistically competent services; and
                    ``(E) tracking and publicly reporting, on an annual 
                basis, the efforts and progress made in accordance with 
                subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D).''.

SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION.

    Section 251 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5661) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B) by--
                    (A) in clause (x) by striking ``and'' at the end,
                    (B) in clause (xi) by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting ``; and'', and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(xii) juveniles treated as adults for purposes of 
                prosecution in criminal court.'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Assessment of Treating Juveniles as Adults.--The 
Administrator shall--
            ``(1) not later than 3 years after the effective date this 
        subsection, assess the effectiveness of the practice of 
        treating juveniles as adults for purposes of prosecution in 
        criminal court; and
            ``(2) not later than 6 months after making the assessment 
        required by paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) submit to the Speaker of the House of 
                Representatives, the Speaker pro tempore of the Senate, 
                and the President a report containing the findings, 
                conclusions, and any recommended changes in law 
                identified as a result of such assessment; and
                    ``(B) make such report available to the public.''.

SEC. 6. INCENTIVE GRANTS FOR LOCAL DELINQUENCY PREVENTIONS PROGRAMS.

    Section 504(a) of the Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency 
Prevention Programs Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 5784(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7) by striking ``and'' at the end,
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (8) as paragraph (9), and
            (3) by inserting the following after paragraph (7) the 
        following:
            ``(8) gender specific services that address the above 
        purpose areas; and''.

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
the 1st day of the 1st fiscal year that begins after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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