Active Legislation
On March 24, 2009, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Member Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced Senate Bill 678, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). The bill, titled the “Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009,” can be viewed in its entirety at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.678:.
Last summer Senators Leahy, Specter and Kohl introduced S. 3155, the JJDPA reauthorization bill for the 110th Congress and moved the bill through markup with strong bipartisan support. This year, these senior Senators are joined by Senator Richard Durbin, Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, and an equally strong supporter of children and youth issues.
Similar to S. 3155, S. 678 is responsive to many of the recommendations made by the ACT4JJ Campaign. As introduced, S. 678 incorporates all of the amendments added to S. 3155 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to:
Last summer Senators Leahy, Specter and Kohl introduced S. 3155, the JJDPA reauthorization bill for the 110th Congress and moved the bill through markup with strong bipartisan support. This year, these senior Senators are joined by Senator Richard Durbin, Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, and an equally strong supporter of children and youth issues.
Similar to S. 3155, S. 678 is responsive to many of the recommendations made by the ACT4JJ Campaign. As introduced, S. 678 incorporates all of the amendments added to S. 3155 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to:
- Encourage states to make critical improvements to juvenile justice systems, including the avoidance of dangerous practices and the adoption of evidence based practices;
- Give states authority to retain delinquent offenders under juvenile jurisdiction after they have reached the age of majority, in keeping with state law;
- Place common sense limits on the pretrial detention of juveniles in adult jails;
- Create a meaningful approach for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice by strengthening the disproportionate minority contact (DMC) core requirement;
- Dramatically increase federal authorizations for core juvenile justice programs;
- Create new incentives for improving mental health and substance abuse assessment, treatment and diversion, as well as for improving case management and re-entry services; and
- Reaffirm the federal-state partnership by supporting states’ efforts to comply with JJDPA core requirements, strengthening research and technical assistance to be conducted by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Policy (OJJDP), and increasing transparency on the part of OJJDP and the states.
In addition, S. 678 proposes new strengthening amendments, including:
- a heightened focus on increased coordination, screening and diversion to better meet the mental health and substance abuse needs of youth; and
- increased emphasis on OJJDP developing and/or supporting relevant research, evaluation and data collection efforts to ensure that policies and practices are cost-effective and evidenced-based.
The ACT4JJ Campaign has developed a two-page summary of the bill as introduced. Click below to view.
Act4JJ summary of S. 678