NCJ Number
77188
Date Published
1979
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This testimony on the abuse of children in institutions presents the Justice Department's perception of this issue, their investigation procedures, and their methods of dealing with it.
Abstract
The Justice Department has participated in cases involving children under 18 who are confined in extended care institutions, including facilities for the mentally ill and mentally retarded, and juvenile detention facilities. For example, in Gary W. and the United States v Steward, the Federal District Court found that Louisiana had placed delinquent and dependent children in inadequate or harmful private care facilities in Texas. The court order required that Louisiana assure that out-of-state facilities meet minimum standards of care and treatment and ordered the State to remove children from the worst facilities. In Halderman, et al. v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, et al., the Department found evidence of residents' severe skill regression, loss of IQ points, and loss of basic physical abilities, such as walking. As amicus curiae in Morales v. Terman, the Department presented court evidence on its findings of a climate of brutality, repression, and fear in Texas State juvenile reformatories in which minors adjudged delinquent were involuntarily committed. The Department investigates each suspect institution and employs experts to give opinions about what needs correcting and what can or should be done; the question of remedy is approached on a case-by-case basis. The Department supports legislation which would authorize the attorney general to initiate suits where they are most needed rather than having to wait until private litigants have brought suits in which the Department can seek to participate.