NCJ Number
93298
Date Published
1984
Length
24 pages
Annotation
The National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention suggests the Federal Government redirect its efforts to focus on the serious, violent, chronic delinquent and move away from programs to deinstitutionalize status offenders, separate juveniles from adult offenders, and prevent juveniles at risk from becoming delinquents.
Abstract
Although a very small number of youths account for a very large proportion of serious juvenile crime, little Federal money spent since 1974 has been directed at controlling the chronic, serious delinquent. The Juvenile Justice Act as now worded diverts most Federal funding to objectives such as community-based alternatives to institutionalization, diversion, and school programs that have little relation to the criminal aspects of delinquency. Moreover, the mandates that shaped the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's programs were based on faulty notions about how best to prevent and control delinquency. The 1974 Act is based on a perception of the delinquent as a victim who is not really responsible for his or her acts, but 10 years of experience and current evaluations demonstrate that prevention and deinstitutionalization programs based on this concept have not produced a cure. Evidence also shows that delinquency is prevented by caring parents with strong values and tightly-knit communities, areas where government programs have little impact. Finally, custodial treatment does not seem to make worse criminals out of delinquents but reduces their criminal activities; school dropouts are not more prone to delinquency than their counterparts who remain in school; and early probation of offenders does not label them and lead to more crime but seems to retard delinquency. The report recommends the Federal Government concentrate on chronic juvenile offenders, provide research, training, and dissemination functions, and encourage innovation and diversity. This initiative should include all offenders classified as juveniles, even if prosecuted in the adult system. The report supplied 20 footnotes.