NCJ Number
136852
Date Published
Unknown
Length
23 pages
Annotation
In recent years, there has been increasing public attention paid to the problems of runaway and homeless youth. These concerns are being heard in the public policy arena where there is considerable controversy over the impact of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 and subsequent deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DSO).
Abstract
The Act delineated three primary goals including the removal of status offenders from secure detention, the removal of juveniles from adult facilities, and the creation of community-based alternatives to replace the traditional use of secure detention and correctional facilities for juveniles. Achievement of these goals would be the result of an approach combining deinstitutionalization and diversion. However, the reform actually had three unintended effects of widening the net of social control by police: releasing to parents, referring to the juvenile court, and referring to DSO or diversion programs. This author examines the current status of runaways in San Francisco and in Los Angeles by analyzing quantitative data collected from police reports and conducting qualitative interviews with law enforcement and youth service officers. She concludes that the police operate under considerable legal constraints and that it is doubtful that police can be faulted either for neglecting youthful runaways or for exerting excessive control over them. 2 tables, 2 notes, and 27 references