Washington, DC – Today the
Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to vote on S. 3155, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2008 (JJDPA), a bill setting standards and providing funding to protect the rights of juveniles in the justice system.
The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
“For more than 30 years, the
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act has provided states and localities with standards and funding for improving juvenile justice. The
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention plays a valuable role in promoting the rights of juveniles in the justice system.
“The Senate bill updates and improves on the current law. A new provision calls for standards of practice for attorneys representing children. The ACLU has seen that juvenile courts routinely permit children to waive their right to counsel. In some jurisdictions in Ohio, children waive their rights to counsel in up to 90% of the cases in which they are charged with criminal wrongdoing.
“The bill is strong but could do more to strengthen juvenile justice and encourage greater accountability for states and local grants. The bill should close the loophole that results in the incarceration of truants, runaways and youths who violate curfew. The committee should support an amendment that protects juveniles with non-criminal offenses from incarceration where they are exposed to unsafe conditions.
“Federal funds must provide incentives to use best practices in prevention and intervention programs, rather than programs that are not evidence-based. For example, law enforcement officers patrol middle and high school hallways. The deployment of “school resource officers” has significantly increased the number of school-based arrests. If the federal government continues to fund these practices, programs should be evaluated for effectiveness both before and after implementation.”
