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Federal Policy Update
The following are updates on key federal policy and legislative activity in juvenile justice for the the week ending February 28, 2014.

On Feb. 28, Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA-29) introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at protecting court-involved youth, H.R. 4123 and H.R. 4124.

H.R. 4123, the Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act of 2014 would eliminate locked confinement of status offenders. Under the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA), youth who have committed a status offense such as running away from home or skipping school, cannot be placed in locked confinement unless their behavior violates a valid court order. Rep. Cardenas' bill, gets rid of this exception. The bill requires all states, within one year of the legislation's passage, to stop using the valid court order (VCO) exception. States can be granted an additional 12 months to eliminate their use of VCOs if they are able to show hardship. The bill, H.R. 4123, is currently before the House Workforce and Education Committee.

H.R. 4124, the Protecting Youth From Solitary Confinement Act prohibits solitary confinement of individuals who are being held in juvenile facilities, and are under federal custody. The bill further requires that the Director of the Board of Prisons compile and present annual data on the number of juveniles who are placed in solitary confinement at their facilities. The report will include demographic information, and data on why and how long the youth was placed in solitary. H.R. 4124, was sent to the Judiciary Committee for their review.
 

It is high time to meet with members and secure their commitments to request JJDPA funding. For programmatic language requests, contact the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Judiciary and Science by April 11, 2014, or the House Committee on Commerce, Judiciary, and Science by March 31, 2014.  


If you have questions or need more information about this or other federal policy and legislative activity, please contact Naomi Smoot, Policy and Government Relations Associate at smoot@juvjustice.org or (202) 467-0864.

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This is the first in a series of bi-weekly updates while Congress is in session on key federal policy and legislative activity related to juvenile justice. Unless you subscribe, you will receive no further updates. This update is not an exhaustive list of current juvenile justice legislation. 

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