Juvenile Crime Control and Community Protection Act of 1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Reform of Existing Programs

Title II: Incentive Grants for Accountability-Based Reforms

Title III: Reform of Federal Juvenile Justice System

Title IV: General Provisions

Juvenile Crime Control and Community Protection Act of 1997 - Title I: Reform of Existing Programs - Revises Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (the Act): (1) findings to specify that juvenile delinquency requires action by Federal, State, and local governments (currently, the Federal Government); and (2) purposes to include assisting State and local governments in promoting public safety by improving the openness of the juvenile justice system to the public and by encouraging the identification of violent and hard-core juveniles and transferring them into adult criminal court jurisdiction.

(Sec. 103) Requires the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to develop objectives, priorities, and a long-term plan, and implement overall policy and a strategy to carry out such plan, for all Federal juvenile delinquency programs and activities relating to punishment and to submit such plan to the Congress. Replaces certain requirements regarding the Administrator's duties with a requirement that he reduce duplication among Federal juvenile delinquency programs and activities. Repeals requirements that the Administrator: (1) consult with the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and (2) require certain Federal agencies to submit annual juvenile delinquency development statements to the Council.

(Sec. 104) Requires the Administrator to submit to the President, specified congressional leaders, and the Governor of each State a report containing data and analysis regarding the rate at which juveniles are taken into custody, the numbers of juveniles taken into custody, repeat offenders, juveniles using weapons, and juvenile and adult victims of juvenile crime, and trends.

(Sec. 105) Amends Act provisions regarding block grants for State and local programs to authorize the Administrator to: (1) make grants to charitable and religious organizations and for specified purposes such as initiatives for holding juveniles accountable for acts of delinquency and improving juvenile court and law enforcement records; and (2) use specified sums to establish and maintain a clearinghouse to disseminate to the States information on juvenile delinquency prevention, treatment, and control, and to provide training and technical assistance.

(Sec. 106) Repeals a requirement that a State plan for carrying out a State's purposes applicable to a three-year period under such Act be amended annually to include new programs and challenge activities subsequent to State participation. Rewrites provisions regarding an advisory group to require that it include: (1) members who have training, experience, or special knowledge concerning the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, the administration of juvenile justice (including law enforcement), and the representation of the interests of the victims of violent juvenile crime and their families; and (2) as members at least one locally elected official representing general purpose local government.

Requires the State plan to provide assurances that, in each secure facility located in the State, there is no commingling in the same cell or community room or any other regular, sustained physical contact between a juvenile and an adult offender.

(Sec. 107) Repeals various Act programs, including provisions regarding the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, special emphasis prevention and treatment programs, State challenge activities, treatment for juvenile offenders who are victims of child abuse or neglect, mentoring, boot camps, and the White House Conference on Juvenile Justice.

Title II: Incentive Grants for Accountability-Based Reforms - Amends the Act to direct the Administrator to provide juvenile delinquent accountability grants to States that have: (1) policies and programs that ensure that juveniles who commit an act after attaining age 14 that would be a serious violent crime if committed by an adult are treated as adults for prosecution purposes, unless on a case-by-case basis, as a matter of law or prosecutorial discretion, the transfer of such juveniles for disposition in the juvenile system is determined to be in the interest of justice (but the juvenile's age alone shall not be determinative of whether such transfer is in the interest of justice); (2) graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders; and (3) a specified system of records relating to juveniles under age 15 who are adjudicated delinquent for conduct that if committed by an adult would constitute a serious violent crime. Makes such records available to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the courts, and school officials.

Subjects school officials to the same standards applicable to law enforcement and juvenile justice system employees under Federal and State law for handling and disclosing such information.

Makes such States eligible for additional sums upon demonstrating compliance with specified accountability-based youth violence reduction practices, such as mandatory victim and community restitution (including statewide programs to reach restitution collection levels of not less than 80 percent), public access to juvenile court delinquency proceedings, zero tolerance for truancy and for deadbeat juvenile parents, and specified recordkeeping and fingerprinting requirements for juveniles under age 14 who commit acts which, if committed by an adult, would constitute a felony under Federal or State law.

Title III: Reform of Federal Juvenile Justice System - Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to promulgate, or amend existing, guidelines to provide that offenses contained in the juvenile record of an adult defendant shall be considered as adult offenses in sentencing determinations if such juvenile offenses would have constituted a felony had they been committed by the defendant as an adult.

(Sec. 302) Amends: (1) the Federal criminal code to provide for the release of juvenile records as necessary to meet inquiries from officials of a school, school district, or any postsecondary school where the individual who is the subject of the record seeks, intends, or is instructed or ordered to enroll (school officials); (2) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to authorize the referral of children with disabilities to juvenile and criminal authorities when such a child commits a criminal act; (3) the Federal judicial code to authorize the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identification Division, to provide, upon request, certain information received under the Act to school officials; and (4) the Act to require the prosecution of a juvenile defendant age 14 or older as an adult if such juvenile is charged with specified offenses, including murder, robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, forcible rape, certain serious drug offenses, and a third or subsequent occasion on which such juvenile engages in conduct for which an adult could be imprisoned for a term exceeding one year, with exceptions.

Title IV: General Provisions - Modifies the Act to authorize appropriations through FY 2002 for the Office, for block grants for State and local programs, and for incentive grants for accountability-based reforms. Specifies that the source of such appropriations may be the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.