Once children leave the schoolhouse door, they are often vulnerable to dangerous influences. A large percentage of the juvenile crime in the country occurs after the school day ends. And young people who skip school often become involved in crime and drugs. Turning schools into after-hours safe havens can help to prevent violent crime and violent behavior while boosting our children's academic achievement. The President's Strategy takes critical steps to improve the capacity of the juvenile justice system to respond to juvenile offenders.
Violent juveniles pose significant challenges for juvenile court systems.
Most local systems were designed to cope with truancy and delinquency problems, not hardened and repeat juvenile offenders. Moreover, the penalties under many juvenile systems are sometimes inadequate for dealing with today's more violent and dangerous juveniles. The funding will provide grants to make juvenile court systems tougher and smarter by giving them greater flexibility in handling violent juveniles. The grants can be used to expedite dockets for violent juveniles to ensure timely review of cases. Grants can also be used to improve systems for assignment and referral of violent juveniles for adult prosecutions where appropriate.