NCJ Number
129169
Date Published
1987
Length
33 pages
Annotation
The results of the fourth Census Questionnaire on the DHSS Intermediate Treatment Initiative are presented for the period from July 1 to December 31, 1986. It provides information on young people who continue to enter custody or attend the DHSS funded alternative.
Abstract
Data are provided on the number of male and female juveniles in categories of findings of guilt, custody, care orders, race, principal offenses, and previous disposal. Statistical information on attendance at DHSS funded projects covers court disposal, principal offenses, and antecedent histories of those attending. Major findings show a national trend in the reduction of the number of juveniles being prosecuted. From 1985 to 1986, the Initiative projects reduced the number of custodial decisions from 578 to 248 for boys, and from 8 to 5 for girls, and for the first time the number of offenders receiving disposals to attend projects was greater than the number sentenced to custody and care. Recommendations deal with comprehensive juvenile justice monitoring systems, lower-tariff sentences coupled with voluntary social work, stricter implementation of safeguards of juvenile offenders' rights in the Criminal Justice Act, and expansion of existing procedures to include offenders accused of burglary. 19 tables and 1 reference