Federal Report Calls for Juvenile Justice Reforms

WASHINGTON — The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice released its annual report calling for various reforms to the juvenile justice system in the United States. 

 

The FACJJ Annual Report 2010 is distributed to members of congress and the executive branch providing recommendations as to the federal government’s role in the juvenile justice system, which falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which oversees the committee. FACJJ members are made up if juvenile justice professionals from every state.

 

Among the recommendations in the report were funding for various preventative programs as well as a priority be given to the importance of reentry in all areas of juvenile justice programming. The report states the viewpoint that effective reentry planning should begin upon system entry and should directly involve the youth, appropriate family members, positive peer support and an array of community assets such as mentoring to ensure that effective connections are in place upon a juvenile’s exit from custody.

 

The FACJJ report urged Congress and the President provide funding to the OJJDP to conduct comprehensive research on youth in the juvenile justice system that have a history of abuse and neglect, and to indentify successful programs to prevent children that have experienced abuse, neglect or other trauma from entering the juvenile justice system.

 

The report also called for the strengthening of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, to identify and develop resources for crossover youth.

 

FACJJ also recommended that the No Child Left Behind Act be amended to encourage schools to seek alternatives when dealing with disruptive students other than referring them to the juvenile justice system.

 

To read the entire FACJJ report, visit www.facjj.org/annualreports.html