Glossary

Congress passed the JJDPA in 1974 and reauthorized it with changes in 1980. Its purpose is to protect youth who have become involved with the juvenile justice system. The JJDPA specifies four requirements for states in order that they may receive their full allotment of Federal funds. Those requirements are 1) no incarceration for status offences only; 2) incarcerated juveniles must be in kept in sight and sound separation from incarcerated adults; 3) juveniles may not be detained in adult facilities except under rare circumstances; and 4) states must address the problem of minority overrepresentation of minorities in the juvenile justice system. Judges and magistrates get around the first provision by issuing court orders to attend school; when youths violate those court orders they can be incarcerated for failing to obey the court order without violating the JJDPA. To date there is no research evaluating the effectiveness of juvenile detention for status offenders.