Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Law & Legal Definition

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 is a U.S. federal law to shape the content of state policy on the juvenile court system. The Act provides funds to states that follow a series of federal protections, known as the "core protections," on the care and treatment of youth in the justice system. The four "core protections" of the Act are Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO), sight and sound, jail removal, and Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC). The "DSO" and "Sight and Sound" protections were there in the original law of 1974. Later, it was in response to the youth incarceration in adult facilities which resulted in a high suicide rate, physical, mental, and sexual assault, inadequate care and programming, negative labeling, and exposure to serious offenders and mental patients, that the “Jail Removal" provision was added in 1980. The "DMC" requirement was added in the Act in 1992. The state’s compliance to the Act is monitored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.