Statement of Peter B Edelman on September 28, 1977 Concerning Implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (From Implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 - Hearings, P 208-212, 1978 - See NCJ-79016)

• NCJ Number: 79019
• Author(s): P B Edelman
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: New York State Office of Children and Family Services
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-79016.

Annotation

New York State's progress in removing status offenders from detention and correctional facilities in accordance with the requirements of the 1974 Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act is reported.

Abstract

In the 1976-77 fiscal year, New York's Division of Criminal Justice Services made $1.7 million in Federal funds available to develop alternatives to institutionalization for status offenders. Later that year, the legislature went a step further and banned the placement of status offenders in training schools. As the year progresed, new group homes opened and youth development centers expanded the number of beds. Ninety beds were added for family foster care, and 75 openings were developed in independent living programs. Hundreds of miscellaneous placements classified as 'day service' provided for youth to stay in their own homes while receiving intensive services of various kinds during the day. An extensive study shows that there are too many secure detention beds in the State, both because removal of alleged status offenders will decrease bed needs and because of over-detention of alleged delinquents. Each of the seven localities operating secure detention facilities either has or shortly will have a grant for starting up a nonsecure program.