CODDLED YOUTHS INCREASE CRIME
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Government
statistics show violent crimes among adults are declining, while violent
crimes by juveniles are increasing. Legislation has been introduced
in Congress that would curb federal mandates that now impede states trying
to control juvenile crime.
According to analysts, the rise in
juvenile crime stems in part from the federal regulations, which were created
under the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act. The act conditioned
federal grants to states on meeting four anti-confinement mandates meant
to protect juveniles from confinement with adult criminals.
- Youths may not be detained by police for status offenses, such as truancy, running away or being caught with alcohol.
- Youths may not be served food by anyone who has served adults and may not walk past a corridor where an adult is being interrogated -- thus requiring states to maintain duplicate and expensive detention facilities.
- Youths tried in a juvenile system may not be locked up in a facility serving adults.
- Minority populations may not be overrepresented in detention facilities relative to their percent of the general population.
Legislation has been introduced in both
the Senate and House to loosen the relationship between federal grants
and the four mandates. In the House, the Juvenile Crime Control and
Delinquency Prevention Act (H.R. 1818), sponsored by Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Calif.),
would:
- Allow states to receive half of their grant funding without meeting any of the four federal mandates.
- Promote family reunification by allowing longer detention of runaways.
- Relax sight and sound segregation between adults and juveniles.
- Extend to 48 hours the time a youth can be detained, and allow confinement with adults in rural facilities -- provided the courts and parents agree.
- Prohibit numerical standards or quotas for confinement of minority youths.
Morgan O. Reynolds (National Center for Policy Analysis), “Getting Washington Out of Juvenile Crime,” Washington Times, December 16, 1997.
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