Statement of William Treanor on October 25, 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 257-260, 1978 - See NCJ-79016)

• NCJ Number: 79026
• Author(s): W Treanor
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-79016.

Annotation

An overview of the community-based youth services that have emerged over the last 10 years, the types of services they provide, factors that make them successful, and some of the difficulties they encounter are discussed.

Abstract

Over the last 10 years, various youth services have emerged as alternatives to the traditional public and private youth service system. Concerned citizens have responded to a growing need for youth crisis services, particularly for youth involved with drugs, youth with family problems, youth in difficulty with the law, and runaways. The traditional jurisdiction of the juvenile courts over status offenders has made these courts the determiners of how status offenders should be handled. Institutionalization of these youth has been the frequent pattern. While juvenile courts, particularly under the incentives offered by the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, are moving away from institutionalization of status offenders toward the use of community-based services, this trend could be enhanced further by removing status offenders from the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts altogether. Social service agencies and private service organizations would then be free to innovate and coordinate services for troubled youth. One measure of success for such community-based programs is that youth seek the services voluntarily. This is due largely to staffing by both professionals and volunteers who are more interested in helping youth undergo positive change rather than in needlessly restraining or punishing them. Some principal needs of such programs are long-term funding and the availability of training and technical assistance, particularly in the planning and initial implementation periods. The development and coordination of a national youth policy is also needed to give direction to a generally fragmented and uncertain approach to the problems of youth.