I am pleased to present the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG) Program Report to Congress for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. During my time as Administrator, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and its partners at the State and local levels have instituted many improvements to the program; one of our most important achievements was the introduction and implementation of a system to measure the performance of local accountability efforts. In 2003, OJJDP introduced a series of JABG performance measures to better determine how well local accountability-based...

Although youth suicide in the community has been identified as a major public health problem, juvenile suicide in confinement has received scant attention. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded a contract to National Center on Institutions and Alternatives to conduct the first national survey on juvenile suicide in confinement. The primary goal was to determine the extent and distribution of juvenile suicides in confinement (i.e., juvenile detention centers, reception centers, training schools, ranches, camps, and farms). The survey gathered descriptive...

The death of any child is tragic, but when a child dies suddenly and unexpectedly, it becomes the responsibility of law enforcement investigators to determine whether any criminal activity may have been involved. Thorough, professional investigations of child fatalities in which abuse or neglect is in question ensure that the innocent are not falsely accused and that the guilty are held accountable for their crimes. Conducting these crucial investigations involves unique issues for law enforcement. This guide provides concise, practical information to assist law enforcement officers in...

In the early 1990s, the prevailing belief was that serious juvenile crime was out of control and bound to get worse. These projections, although credible at the time, failed to materialize. On the contrary, serious juvenile crime rates have been declining over the past decade and, as of 2001, were at their lowest level since 1983 (Snyder, 2003). Nevertheless, the rate at which youth have been placed in confinement in the United States nearly doubled between 1979 and 2001. The causes of these apparently contradictory trends are complex, and the end result is troubling: most youth housed in...

Court officials must balance the interests of public safety with the needs of youth when making decisions about which program to place a juvenile offender and which level of restriction is required. Juvenile offenders who commit serious and/or violent crime may require confinement to protect public safety and intensive supervision and intervention to become rehabilitated. On the other hand, many offenders can be effectively rehabilitated through community-based supervision and intervention. Secure detention differs from secure confinement both in terms of the reasons a youth is being held and...

"Ombudsman" is derived from the Swedish word meaning agent or representative. It has come to denote a trusted commissioner or agent who looks after the interests or legal affairs of a particular group. In the United States, public ombudsman offices have been created-through legislative, executive, or judicial authorization-as independent agencies that monitor the delivery of services for certain populations (e.g., children, the elderly, incarcerated adults, university students, government workers). The American Bar Association (ABA) defines "ombudsman" as "a government official who hears and...

OJJDP supports the development and adoption of policies and programs that: - Provide access to quality (not cursory) legal counsel for all youth in the juvenile justice system. - Ensure that juveniles consult with counsel at the outset of the juvenile justice process (before waiving their right to counsel) and at every subsequent step, through postdisposition. The right to counsel for juveniles was established in 1967 with the landmark case In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1428 (1967). In Gault, Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas wrote, "under our Constitution the condition of being a boy...

OJJDP supports the development and adoption of policies and programs that: - Provide access to quality (not cursory) legal counsel for all youth in the juvenile justice system. - Ensure that juveniles consult with counsel at the outset of the juvenile justice process (before waiving their right to counsel) and at every subsequent step, through postdisposition. The right to counsel for juveniles was established in 1967 with the landmark case In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1428 (1967). In Gault, Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas wrote, "under our Constitution the condition of being a boy...

The biennial Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement provides the nation with a detailed picture of juveniles in custody-age, race, gender, offenses, adjudication status, and more. Conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the census surveys both public and private juvenile residential placement facilities in every state. This Bulletin presents the latest available national and state-level data from the census, portraying the 134,011 youth held in 2,939 facilities on October 27, 1999. Because the census does not survey adult...

Administrators of Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) must possess a number of skills, including knowing how to conduct an evaluation. This resource book, written expressly for CAC administrators, is designed to give administrators who have varying amounts of evaluation experience the knowledge they will need to conduct either one-time or ongoing evaluations. This manual can also be used by those who contract with an external evaluator; it will be helpful in educating external evaluators about the issues surrounding a CAC evaluation. Evaluation is essential. It is the only way to ensure that a...