The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act: Federal Leadership in State Reform
The policies advanced by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, while generally viewed as a success, are seen by some as a failure that may even abet juveniles in the commission of crime. After tracing the evolution of federal juvenile justice legislation and examining arrest and treatment data, the authors confront the criticisms aimed at the Act, and find reason for considerable optimism. Nationwide, the number, proportion, and rate of juvenile arrests have fallen more than the juvenile population, and many states appear to have made substantial progress in improving the processing and treatment of juveniles. The authors conclude that the Act is a continuing source of federal leadership for state innovation.
The Future of Juvenile Justice Policy and Research
One of the most striking developments in juvenile justice over the past twenty years has been the increasing rapidity and the widening scope of change in theories, goals, and knowledge about delinquency and its prevention or control. Many competing biological, psychological, social, and cultural theories of delinquency have emerged in the last two decades, yet none is sufficient to account for the rate and forms of delinquency today.
Rethinking Juvenile Justice
Data on juvenile arrests, court processing, and admissions to juvenile correctional facilities offer important information to help rethink juvenile justice policy directions of the last decade. Most striking is the progress in reducing the involvement of status offenders within the juvenile justice system between 1974-1979. Less encouraging is that similar progress was not achieved in the case of delinquent offenders. Moreover, the primary consequence of the removal of status of fenders from the juvenile justice system is the large decline in female admissions to public correctional facilities whereas male admissions were either stable or actually increased from 1974-1979. Also interesting is the levelling off of rates of Part 1 juvenile arrests from 1974-1979: this directly contradicts public perceptions of a steady and alarming increase in serious youth crime.