Photo Credit: Nick Postorino
Federal Juvenile Justice Update | June 2017
Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA) Passes in the House!
On May 23rd, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1809, the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2017, by voice vote. This bill will strengthen and update the 1974 Act, which was most recently reauthorized in 2002. The Act was introduced by Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minnesota) and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), and co-sponsored by House Ed and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and a bi-partisan group of 20 additional House members.
The Senate’s version of the bill, S. 860, has been introduced and is sponsored by Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and has 9 other bipartisan co-sponsors. Advocates are hopeful that the bill will soon be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
Juvenile Justice Funding
On May 23, 2017, the Administration released their budget proposal for 2018. The President’s budget reduces overall spending on juvenile justice from $273 million in FY17 to $229.5 million for FY18. This funding chart shows how dramatically funding for juvenile justice has declined since 2002. Yet the President’s budget makes even deeper cuts to many of the programs that low-income and vulnerable children and families rely on, such as afterschool and summer programs, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and rental assistance. We will continue to advocate for increased funding for juvenile justice programs as well as the many other programs that serve our most vulnerable youth, and will keep you updated on congressional action on funding.
NJJDPC’s Recommendations for the 115th Congress
The National Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Coalition’s (NJJDPC) Recommendations for the 115th Congress were recently released. These recommendations were edited by the broad coalition of organizations which comprise the NJJDPC, including NJJN, and are a useful document to share with congressional members and their staff when discussing juvenile justice issues.
CONNECT Act Reintroduced
On May 8, 2017, Senators Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reintroduced S. 1067, the Childhood Outcomes Need New Efficient Community Teams (CONNECT) Act. This legislation would amend Title IV of the Social Security Act to allow the Dept. of Health and Human Services to award grants to enhance the collaboration between state child welfare and juvenile justice systems in order to address the needs of youth involved in both systems.