NCJ Number
164195
Journal
Policy Statement Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 1-17
Date Published
1996
Length
17 pages
Annotation
A speech by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno provides an overview of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious Violent and Chronic Juvenile Offenders; and a speech by Christine Todd Whitman, the Governor of New Jersey, focuses on her State's corrections and juvenile justice policies.
Abstract
The strategy for violence and delinquency prevention profiled by Attorney General Reno provides for a cooperative relationship between the Federal, State, and local governments in tailoring community-based programs to the needs of basic community institutions such as the family, school, and community services. Attention to the family involves addressing child abuse, domestic violence, foster care, and parenting education. Attention to the school involves the development of educational services that meet student's needs and prepare them to achieve vocational aspirations and become responsible citizens. She also discusses community-based delinquency efforts. Governor Whitman profiles her State's efforts to devise and implement a corrections policy that balances incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. This has led to a "graduated" corrections system that incapacitates violent, hard-core offenders and provides an array of community-based sanctions and rehabilitation programs for other offenders. Efforts to improve the juvenile justice system have included a rewriting of the State's Juvenile Justice Code to give judges options to render dispositions in the interests of public safety and holding juveniles accountable for their behavior, while providing appropriate rehabilitation options. A State commission has been established to coordinate juvenile justice policy throughout the State and develop partnerships with local communities in the development of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs.