110 HR 6934 IH: Juvenile Justice Reform Act of
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-09-17
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Juvenile Justice Reform Act of
2008
.
2.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.
.
3.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).
.
4.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).
.
5.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 adultsThe 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.
.
6.Incentive grants
for local delinquency preventions programsSection 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
.
7.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.