[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 130 (Thursday, July 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39210-39211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16696]


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COORDINATING COUNCIL ON JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION

 [OJP (OJJDP) Docket No. 1524]


Request for Public Comments

AGENCY: Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention.

ACTION: Notice of request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention (Council) requests public comments in connection with its 
assessment of Federal policy and practice that affect children, youth, 
and families. Interested individuals and organizations are invited to 
submit ideas, insights, reflections, and suggestions grounded in 
experience in and with Federal support as to Federal policies and 
practices that either support or act as a barrier related to juvenile 
justice outcomes. The Council has identified four priority issue areas 
for this close examination: (1) Education and At-Risk Youth, (2) 
Juvenile Reentry and Transitions into Adulthood, (3) Racial/Ethnic 
Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related Systems, and (4) Tribal 
Youth and Juvenile Justice. Please note that the deadline for comments 
is thirty days (instead of the customary sixty days) after the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register--this is due to the 
scheduling needs of the Council.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 9, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments electronically via http://www.regulations.gov. Search for `Juvenile Council' to get to the docket 
for this notice. The Council prefers to receive comments through http://www.regulations.gov where possible; however, you may also mail them to 
Robin Delany-Shabazz, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention, 810 Seventh Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531. To ensure 
proper handling, in the lower left hand corner of the envelope and in 
your correspondence clearly reference ``OJP (OJJDP) Docket No. 1524.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Visit the website for the Council at http://www.juvenilecouncil.gov; call the Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention at 202-307-5911 (this is not a toll-free 
number); or e-mail your inquiry to [email protected] (please 
submit any comments through http://www.regulations.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Posting of Public Comments

    Please note that all comments received are considered part of the 
public record and may be made available in their entirety for public 
inspection online at the Council's website and http://www.regulations.gov. Publicly available information in posted comments 
includes personal identifying information (such as name and address) 
voluntarily submitted by the commenter.
    If you wish to submit personal identifying information (such as 
your name, address, etc.) as part of your comment, but do not wish for 
it to be posted online, you must include the phrase ``PERSONAL 
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph of your comment. You 
also must locate all the personal identifying information you do not 
wish to be posted online in the first paragraph of your comment and 
identify what information you would like redacted.
    If you wish to submit confidential business information as part of 
your comment but do not wish for it to be posted online, you must 
include the phrase ``CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION'' in the first 
paragraph of your comment. You also must prominently identify 
confidential business information to be redacted within the comment. If 
a comment has so much confidential business information that it cannot 
be effectively redacted, all or part of that comment may not be posted 
online.
    Personal identifying information and confidential business 
information identified and located as set forth above will be placed in 
the Council's public docket file, but not posted online. If you wish to 
inspect the docket file in person by appointment, please see the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT paragraph.

II. Overview of Coordinating Council

    The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention, established pursuant to Section 3(2)A of the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2) works to carry out its 
advisory functions under Section 206 of the Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. 5601, et seq.
    The Council membership is composed of the Attorney General (Chair), 
the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention (Vice Chair), the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, the 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office 
of National Drug Control Policy, the Chief Executive Officer of the 
Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement. Affiliate agencies are the Departments of Defense, the 
Interior, and Agriculture and the Substance and Mental Health Services 
Administration of HHS. Other Federal agencies may take part in Council 
activities. Up to nine additional members are appointed by the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives, the Senate Majority Leader, and the 
President of the United States.
    The Council has initiated cross-department teams of Federal 
employees and others organized around four priority issues:
     Education and At-Risk Youth
     Tribal Youth and Juvenile Justice
     Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood
     Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System 
and Related Systems
    The issue teams are assessing and identifying policies, practices, 
regulations, and where applicable, legislation, that foster or hinder 
ways to improve access to, use of and coordination of Federal resources 
by Tribes, states, localities, organizations and individuals toward the 
goal of improving Federal practice and, by extension, the well being of 
children and families. Resulting recommendations may be incorporated

[[Page 39211]]

by the Council in its 2010 Annual Report to Congress.

III. Brief Descriptions of Priority Issues

1. Education and At-Risk Youth

    The best way to keep young people out of trouble is to keep them in 
school. Without structure and supervision that school provides, young 
people often turn to delinquent or criminal behavior during school 
hours and end up in the juvenile justice system, with most not 
completing high school. A number of factors contribute to the failure 
of young people to complete schooling including: Chronic truancy, 
educational instability, ``push out,'' issues of access, co-occuring 
factors, school connectedness, and the absences of positive activities 
for afterschool times.

2. Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood

    Young people reentering the community from juvenile residential 
facilities often lack the support they need to change the course of 
their lives and avoid the destructive cycle of recidivism. The multiple 
needs of these young people (schooling, stable housing, skills to 
obtain meaningful employment, physical and mental health problems, 
etc.) require coordination of services, supervision, and support at the 
local level to help ensure each youth a successful transition back home 
and to adulthood. Youth aging out of foster care and youth who are 
homeless have similar needs for transitional support. A number of 
Federal policies, practices, programs, and legislation affect local and 
state capacity to provide solid support through transition.

3. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related 
Systems

    Disproportionate contact of minorities (DMC) in juvenile justice 
has been a challenge for policymakers for decades. DMC is not an issue 
specific to the justice system; it is connected with inequities in 
other youth-serving systems and requires exploration of the 
relationship between child welfare, education, and youth's 
socioeconomic status. The team seeks to identify Federal legislation 
and practices that both assist States and those that function as 
barriers in reducing disparities in juvenile justice, child welfare, 
and education.

4. Tribal Youth and Juvenile Justice

    Tribal youth face a host of challenges--poverty, child abuse and 
neglect, exposure to family violence, substance abuse, the highest rate 
of suicides among all youth, and a weak educational system. Without 
intervention and remediation these issues can lead to additional 
negative outcomes including delinquency. Multiple Federal agencies have 
specific responsibility for working with Indian Country, notably, the 
Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing 
and Urban Development, and Interior. The overlapping mosaic of 
policies, regulations, guidelines and programs can challenge 
achievement of desired results.

IV. Guiding Questions for Commenters

    The Council's issue teams have identified a number of questions to 
focus their examination, and the Council is particularly interested in 
receiving comments addressing some or all of these questions. The first 
question for three of the topic areas is listed by topic as follows:
    Education and At-Risk Youth: What is the Federal role in preventing 
youth from entering the juvenile justice system and successfully 
graduating from high school prepared for adulthood?
    Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood: What is the Federal 
role in helping ensure youth graduate and successfully transition back 
home and into adulthood (from juvenile facilities, out of the foster 
care system, and in returning home and to their communities from 
runaway/thrown away/homeless status)?
    Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related 
Systems: How do you view the Federal role with regard to racial and 
ethnic disparities?
    For these first three topic areas, all of the questions below also 
apply:
    a. What does the Federal government do well? What needs to be 
changed?
    b. Are there Federal practices, policies, legislation, and/or 
regulations that support or restrict the successful education of youth; 
reentry and/or transitions to adulthood; or addressing of racial/ethnic 
disparities in the juvenile justice and related systems? What role does 
technical/training support have in redressing restrictions?
    c. Are there legislative challenges affecting this issue that 
should be brought to the attention of the Federal agencies? What ought 
Federal agencies do about them?
    d. What results and/or consequences might occur from the enacted 
recommendations?
    e. Is there anything else the Federal government should be aware of 
concerning this topic?
    The Council's Tribal Youth issue team requests public comments 
addressing the following questions:
    a. How do you view the Federal role with regard to tribal youth and 
their families?
    b. What does the Federal government do well for tribal youth? What 
needs to be changed?
    c. Describe what Federal practices, policies, or regulations 
support or fail to support Tribal youth and their families. What comes 
to mind when you think of barriers? Alternatively, areas of good 
practice (to meeting the needs for belonging, mastery, independence and 
generosity)?
    d. Are there legislative challenges affecting issues related to 
Tribal youth and juvenile justice that should be brought to the 
attention of the Federal agencies? What ought Federal agencies do about 
them? Who are the key people to help with this issue?
    e. What results and/or consequences might occur in Indian Country 
from enacted recommendations? Are there individuals, agencies or 
systems that might not welcome the recommendations or changes in 
policies (Tribal Youth, Tribes, and Agencies)?
    f. Is there anything else the Federal government should be aware of 
concerning tribal youth justice, specifically in the areas of youth 
prevention, intervention, detention and reentry?

Robin Delany-Shabazz,
Designated Federal Official, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-16696 Filed 7-7-10; 8:45 am]
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