Juvenile Justice Amendments of 1977

(Conference report filed in House, H. Rept. 95-542)

Juvenile Justice Amendments - Amends the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to provide that the term "juvenile delinquency program" includes prevention programs for delinquent youth, neglected, abandoned, or dependent youth, and other youth who would benefit from prevention programming.

Amends administrative provisions of the Act to change the title of the head of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention from Assistant Administrator to Associate Administrator. Sets forth the duties and responsibilities of the Associate Administrator.

Requires appropriate coordination between Law Enforcement Assistance Administration activities funded under Title II of the Act and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare programs funded under the Runaway Youth Act.

Adds the Commissioner of the Office of Education and the Director of ACTION as members of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Authorizes the Council to review Federal agency programs and to report on the degree to which funds are used for purposes consistent with the deinstitutionalization and separation mandates of the Act. Assures the Council of staff support consistent with its needs.

Expands the persons eligible for membership on the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency to include (1) youth workers involved with the alternative youth programs, and (2) persons with special experience and competence with problems of school violence, vandalism and learning disabilities. Provides that at least three of the seven youth members of the Committee must have been or be now under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system. Assures the Committee of staff support consistent with its needs.

Defines the term "local government" to mean units of general local government or combinations thereof.

Increases the minimum State formula grant allocation to $225,000, and increases the minimum allocation for the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to $56,250. Provides that financial assistance extended under the formula grant program shall be 100 percent of the approved costs of any programs, effective October 1, 1978. Requires that five percent of the minimum annual formula grant to a State be made available to the State advisory group.

Mandates the participation of the State advisory group in the development as well as the review of the State's juvenile justice plan. Provides for the participation of youth workers, the private business sector, and persons with special experience with school violence, vandalism and learning disabilities, on the State advisory group. States that three of the seven youth members of such group must have been or now be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system. Gives such group advisory and monitoring roles in the formulation and implementation of juvenile-related State projects. Exempts funds made available to such group from the requirement that 66 percent of such funds be expended through programs of local government.

Provides that programs developed from a State's detailed study of its delinquency, treatment, and system improvement needs, may be funded as advanced technique programs provided they meet the criteria for such programs. Exempts funds made available to the State advisory group from the 75 percent advanced technique requirement. Adds, as advanced techniques, programs designed to encourage a diversity of alternatives, such as 24-hour intake screening and home probation, in preventing and treating delinquency. Deletes from the list of advanced technique programs language regarding drug and alcohol abuse programs, and substitutes programs aimed at protecting youth rights. Adds as advanced technique programs to establish standards for the improvement of juvenile justice within the State.

Provides one additional year, for a total of three years, after initial plan submission, for State to achieve compliance with the deinstitutionalization requirement (juveniles accused or convicted of status offenses shall not be placed in juvenile detention or correctional facilities). Provides that status offenders may not be confined in an institution in which they might have regular contact with adult convicts or criminal defendants.

Forbids the use of formula grant funds to supplant State and local programs.

Requires that the State planning agency receive and consider the advice and recommendations of the State advisory group prior to the approval of the State plan.

Provides that a State's failure to achieve compliance within the three-year time limit terminates any State's eligibility for formula grant funding unless the Administrator and the Associate Administrator determine that 75 percent of deinstitutionalization has been achieved, and that the State will achieve full deinstitutionalization within two additional years. Requires the Administrator to make reallocated grant funds available on a preferential basis to States complying with the deinstitutionalization requirement.

Authorizes the Administrator to make grants and enter into contracts with public and private agencies and organizations to: (1) develop neighborhood courts and increase victim satisfaction while providing alternatives to incarceration for delinquents; (2) develop programs aimed at improving services for and protecting the rights of youth impacted by the juvenile justice system; (3) develop programs for youth employment; (4) improve the juvenile justice system to conform to the standards of due process; (5) develop programs designed to encourage State legislatures to further the purposes of the Act; and (6) develop programs relating to juvenile delinquency and learning disabilities.

Increases the share of special emphasis fundings from 20 to 30 percent.

Prohibits the use of formula grant funds to match LEAA funds. Specifies that the Administrator's authority to require a matching contribution extends to grants for the concentration of Federal efforts, and to grants for programs of the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Provides the Administrator with new authority with regard to grants to Indian tribes and reallocation of reverted funds.

Provides for the confidentiality of program records containing the names of individual juveniles.

Authorizes the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to assist, by training, State advisory groups or other comparable groups in the accomplishment of their objectives. Authorizes the Institute to assess, with respect to the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, the effects of: (1) family violence; (2) sexual abuse or exploitation; (3) media violence; (4) interstate placement of juvenile offenders; (5) disparate treatment in the juvenile justice system on the basis of sex; and (6) any constructive experience with recreation and the arts.

Directs the Advisory Committee to the Administrator on Standards for Juvenile Justice to refine its recommended standards for the administration of juvenile justice at the State and local levels.

Assures that persons involved with law-related education projects, youth workers and citizens groups are eligible participants in funded training activities.

Authorizes appropriations of $150,000,000, $175,000,000 and $200,000,000 for fiscal years 1978, 1979 and 1980, respectively.

Provides that this Act shall be effective on October 1, 1977.

Amends the Runaway Youth Act to permit funding for short-term training or to encourage the coordination of relevant programs. Permits funding to deal with youth who are involuntarily homeless.

Requires that proper consent precedes the release of the records of youth served by a runaway house funded by the Act.

Provides that after April 30, 1978, the President may provide Congress with a reorganization plan. Requires under any such plan that an Office of Youth Assistance be established within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Justice Department or be integrated into ACTION.

Authorizes an appropriation of $25,000,000 for the fiscal years 1978, 1979, and 1980.

Requires closer coordination between the Office of Youth Development and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Permits a court to inform the victim of any act of juvenile delinquency, or if the victim is deceased, the immediate family of such victim, of the final disposition of that case if such information is requested.

Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to require that two members of the State advisory group be appointed to the State planning agency supervisory board.

Requires that the LEAA annual report be submitted to the House Committee on Education and Labor, and that such report include a summary of State compliance with the deinstitutionalization and separation mandates and other areas of State activity in carrying out juvenile-related programs under the comprehensive State plan.