Facilitating State JJDPA Compliance and Advancing Juvenile Delinquency Prevention

A new report by Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) presents the findings from the Survey of the State Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) Compliance Challenges and Successes, administered by the CJJ and the Justice Policy Institute in 2008. Fifty-five of 56 states and territories currently voluntarily adhere to the standards of care and custody laid out by the 1974 legislation, though challenges with compliance were expressed in the survey. The report outlines these findings and makes recommendations to key stakeholders for support state efforts. Findings include:

• After 35 years, states remain committed to goals and purposes of the JJDPA.
• Overall, the President, OJJDP and Congress continue to provide bipartisan leadership and resources to support the mandates of the JJDPA.
• States embrace OJJDP as a critical partner to provide training, technical assistance, research and evaluation in support of JJDPA compliance and best practices around juvenile justice.
• Dramatic decreases in federal JJDPA appropriations threaten states’ abilities to maintain compliance with the JJDPA, and OJJDP’s ability to support states in those efforts.
• States need special assistance from OJJDP and other knowledgeable partners to better safeguard status offenders, achieve measurable reductions in DMC (Disproportionate Minority Contact) and increase compliance successes in Native American and rural/frontier communities.
• The JJDPA is at a pivotal moment, and renewed commitments from the President, Congress and other JJDPA stakeholders are critical to sustaining the success and enhancing the future of the JJDPA.

Policies to reduce juvenile detention.