[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8626 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8626
To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to
eliminate the use of valid court orders to secure lockup of status
offenders, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 5, 2024
Mr. Cardenas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
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A BILL
To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to
eliminate the use of valid court orders to secure lockup of status
offenders, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Prohibiting Detention of Youth
Status Offenders Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.), Congress recognized the
need to set clear standards and protect juveniles across the
United States by, among other things, providing that States
should not place youth in secure detention for status offenses,
which are offenses that would not be criminal offenses if
committed by an adult.
(2) In 1980, Congress amended the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.) to
create an exception that permits judges to place a youth in
secure detention if the youth violates a valid court order
(referred to in this section as ``the VCO exception''). The VCO
exception has led to thousands of youth being placed in secure
detention for noncriminal status offenses.
(3) Placing a child charged with a noncriminal status
offense in secure confinement with children who have been
accused of serious criminal offenses can expose the child to
negative influences and behaviors that could contribute to that
child returning into the status offense system or the
delinquency system.
(4) The 5 most common juvenile status offense include
skipping school, drinking while underage, running away from
home, violating curfew, and acting out.
(5) In 2019--
(A) 11 percent of formally processed juvenile court
cases were for a status offense; and
(B) although most petitioned status offense cases
involved white youth (61 percent), Black youth and
American Indian and Alaska Native youth were
overrepresented among petitioned status offenses cases
relative to their population size.
(6) Girls are more often sent to the justice system for
less serious offenses, such as status offenses, than boys. In
2019, the female share of formally processed status offense
cases (44 percent) was greater than the share of female
delinquency cases (28 percent).
(7) Girls often engage in status offense behaviors in
response to abuse or trauma and may, for example, run away to
escape abuse at home or in a foster care placement.
(8) Anyone under the age of majority, which, in most
States, is the age of 18, is subject to status offense charges,
but teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 comprise most
status offense cases.
(9) Most youth who engage in status and other minor
offenses never progress to more serious behavior and will age
out of the behavior without court intervention.
(10) Since 1980, more than half of States have recognized
the dangers of placing youth in secure detention for
noncriminal status offenses and have stopped using the VCO
exception.
(11) While the number of status offenses petitioned in
courts decreased by 53 percent between 2005 and 2019, during
2021, there were still approximately 1,400 instances of a youth
being detained in response to a status offense.
(12) Congress recognized the need to reform the VCO
exception under the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018 (115-
385; 132 Stat. 5123), which, among other things, limited the
time that a juvenile could be detained under a VCO exception to
not more than 7 days.
(13) Congress must now act to eliminate the VCO exception
and fully return to the original intent of the Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11101 et
seq.), which originally provided that no youth should be held
in secure detention for a noncriminal status offense.
SEC. 3. DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION OF STATUS OFFENDERS.
Section 223 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11133) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (11)(A)(i)(III), by inserting ``a
runaway'' before ``held''; and
(B) in paragraph (23)--
(i) in subparagraph (C)(iii)--
(I) in subclause (I)(dd), by
striking ``7'' and inserting ``3''; and
(II) in subclause (II), by striking
``and'' at the end;
(ii) in subparagraph (D)--
(I) by striking ``7'' and inserting
``3''; and
(II) by adding ``and'' at the end;
and
(iii) by inserting after subparagraph (D)
the following:
``(E) the juvenile may only be held in a secure
detention facility or secure correctional facility if
the detention--
``(i) is pursuant to a court order
described in subparagraph (C)(iii) and the
other conditions set forth in subparagraph (C)
are satisfied; and
``(ii) occurs only 1 time in any 6-month
period;''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Additional Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), not
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
subsection, no State receiving a formula grant under this part
may use a valid court order described in subsection
(a)(23)(C)(iii) to place a juvenile status offender in a secure
detention facility or secure correctional facility.
``(2) Extension.--A State that can demonstrate hardship, as
determined by the Administrator, may submit to the
Administrator an application for a single 1-year extension of
the 1-year period described in paragraph (1) to comply with
paragraph (1), which shall describe--
``(A) the measurable progress and good effort in
the State to reduce the number of juvenile status
offenders who are placed in a secure detention facility
or correctional facility pursuant to a court order
described in subsection (a)(23)(C)(iii); and
``(B) a plan to comply with the requirement
described in paragraph (1) not later than 1 year after
the date the extension is granted.''.
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