NCJ Number
74160
Date Published
1980
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The impact of New Jersey's 1974 status offender legislation of juvenile court processing, predispositional care, and out of home commitments is assessed in five rural counties after 5 years of the code's implementation.
Abstract
In 1974, New Jersey enacted a new juvenile code (based on the congressional act of the same year) which established a separate category for status offenses (i.e., for conduct illegal only for children -- habitual incorrigibility, running away, truancy and ungovernability). Status offenders were designated as juveniles in need of supervision (JINS), and counties were required to develop special shelter facilities for JINS, separate from the more restrictive detention facilities for delinquents. Of five counties with low numbers of status offenders, two developed their own shelters while the remaining three used foster home care and temporary shelters in neighboring counties. Data were obtained from the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Department of Corrections and the Division of Youth and Family Services. It was found that community shelters served as effective alternatives to detention facilities but that status offender legislation did not result in decreased court complaints. The development of predispositional care facilities resulted in an increase in the number of children placed in such facilities. Training school commitments also increased, while use of other dispositional alternatives such as residential facilities decreased. However, the code made no substantial impact on the manner in which status offenders were processed through the juvenile justice system. Although no longer institutionalized together with offenders, they continued to be treated like delinquents. Children in need of placement outside their homes had to be labeled as offenders in order to be eligible for services. Tabular data and footnotes containing references are included.