CJJ | Announcement: CJJ RELEASES NATIONAL REPORT IN SUPPORT OF STATE JJDPA COMPLIANCE
September 8, 2009 – The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) is pleased to announce the release of an eye-opening report titled A Pivotal Moment: Sustaining the Success and Enhancing the Future of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. This first-of-its kind national report, based on survey responses from 53 distinct U.S. states and territories, explores the current state of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) and effectively argues for a recommitment by the federal government to nationwide delinquency prevention and justice reform efforts.
[1]
Full Report – A Pivotal Moment: Sustaining the Success and Enhancing the Future of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act[2]
Report Executive Summary[3]
Report Fact Sheet[4]
Report Narrative of Survey Results[5]
[6] "Juvenile Justice at a Pivotal Moment" - November 10, 2009, Roll Call, by David Schmidt, CJJ National Chair and Ward Loyd, CJJ National Vice Chair.With 55 of 56 U.S. states and territories voluntarily adhering to the federal requirements of JJDPA, A Pivotal Moment offers a rare examination of state efforts to comply with the JJDPA, including an examination of the reasons underlying state compliance successes and challenges. The report takes a balanced approach, revealing those areas where support is strong, but also describing with specificity where the federal government and other juvenile justice stakeholders must step up to sustain past successes and take advantage of emerging opportunities.
A Pivotal Moment is a critical component of CJJ’s larger “JJDPA Compliance Successes and Challenges Project,” a policy and practice project that was launched in February 2008 to clearly identify state compliance challenges, analyze those challenges and craft recommendations designed to help all relevant stakeholders work together to improve state compliance and the compliance monitoring process.
The release of A Pivotal Moment coincides with the 35th Anniversary of the JJDPA, which was first signed into law by President Ford on September 7, 1974. Principal findings of the report include:
- After 35 years, states remain committed to goals and purposes of the JJDPA.
- Overall, the President, OJJDP and Congress continue to provide bipartisan leadership and resources to support the mandates of the JJDPA.
- States embrace OJJDP as a critical partner to provide training, technical assistance, research and evaluation in support of JJDPA compliance and best practices around juvenile justice.
- Dramatic decreases in federal JJDPA appropriations threaten states’ abilities to maintain compliance with the JJDPA, and OJJDP’s ability to support states in those efforts.
- States need special assistance from OJJDP and other knowledgeable partners to better safeguard status offenders, achieve measurable reductions in DMC (Disproportionate Minority Contact) and increase compliance successes in Native American and rural/frontier communities.
- The JJDPA is at a pivotal moment, and renewed commitments from the President, Congress and other JJDPA stakeholders are critical to sustaining the success and enhancing the future of the JJDPA.
For more information about A Pivotal Moment or the CJJ Compliance Project, please feel free to contact the project director, Tara Andrews, CJJ Deputy Director for Policy & Programs, at [7] andrews@juvjustice.org.
[1]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_265.pdf
[2]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_266.pdf
[3]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_268.pdf
[4]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_264.pdf
[5]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_264.pdf
[6]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources//resource_315.pdf
[7]: mailto:andrews@juvjustice.org