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Juvenile Justice System Required To Be Separate

1974

Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act, new federal regulations require states to keep the juvenile justice system segregated from the adult justice system, and prohibits states from housing in secure detention facilities juveniles arrested for “status” offenses (such as curfew violations or truancy from school). The law creates the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Justice Department to administer grants for programs combating juvenile crime, compile national statistics, fund research on juvenile crime, and implement the federal mandates requiring juveniles to be kept in custody separate from adults.