Autumn, 1997, Vol. 4, No. 1

COMBATING CRIME OR THWARTING JUSTICE?
Current Legislation

By Andrea Havill, SSA second-year administration student

With the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (JJDPA) up for reauthorization, child advocates across the country are up-in-arms about several bills making their way through Congress. To varying degrees, these bills are chipping away at the legal protections that JJDPA provides adolescents. In May, Representatives voted 286-132 to pass The Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997 (H.R. 3) sponsored by Representative McCollum, R. Florida. This bill takes a particularly punitive stance toward adolescent justice by mandating, among other things, that children 14 and older be prosecuted as adults. A similar bill sponsored by Representative Riggs, R. California (H.R.1818) retains some of the original protections from JJDPA but includes many of the punitive provisions from the McCollum bill. This bill passed overwhelmingly 41314, and included the support of many liberal Democrats.

Although the McCollum and Riggs' bills have not reached the Senate, Senator Hatch, R. Utah, has sponsored similar legislation, Senate Bill 10 (S. 10) otherwise known as the Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act. This bill would also significantly increase prosecutorial discretion to remove cases from the juvenile courts. In addition, a provision was added to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which would require out-of-school expulsion for students in possession of drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Equally disturbing, Hatch's bill allows for children who have not committed criminal acts-status offenders, such as truants and runaways,Qto be institutionalized for up to ten days, and allows physical contact between adults and juveniles unless there was "an opportunity for an adult inmate to physically harm a juvenile." As of this writing, S. 10 has not gone to the Senate floor. If it does pass, then it is likely to be conferenced with both the House bills.

Juveniles In Jeopardy
The Children's Defense Fund and the Black Community Crusade for Children have voiced concerns with S .10, which include failing to adequately invest in prevention, endangering children by putting them in adult jails, endangering children who have committed no crimes and forcing children out of school and onto the streets because of possession of drugs, alcohol or tobacco. These organizations refer to a current FBI study that indicates violent crime rates among juveniles fell 9.2% in 1996, marking the second consecutive year that juvenile crime has gone down. They also assert that public perceptions of youth as "super predators" have no quantitative justification but are used to justify shortsighted, punitive legislation.

Child advocates are standing firm in their efforts to defeat the bill, and maintain that if it does survive, they will push even harder for amendments that will improve the outlook for juveniles. For more information on these bills, contact the Library of Congress website at http:// thomas.loc.gov.

Andrea Havill is a second-year administration student at SSA. Her placement is at Voices for Illinois Children.

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