I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6934 
To amend and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
Act of 1974, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 
Ms. SOLIS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Juvenile Justice Re-
form Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 103 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5603) is amended— 
(1) by amending paragraph (25) to read as fol-
lows: 
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‘‘(25) the term ‘contact’ means any sight or 
sound interaction between a juvenile in a secure cus-
tody status with an adult inmate;’’, 
(2) in paragraph (28) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, 
(3) in paragraph (29) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(30) the term ‘juvenile justice stakeholders’ 
means individuals and representatives of agencies, 
institutions, and organizations with interest in the 
activities and outcomes of the juvenile justice sys-
tem, including— 
‘‘(A) youth and family members of youth 
who have had contact with the juvenile justice 
system; 
‘‘(B) youth and families of color; 
‘‘(C) defense attorneys for youth, prosecu-
tors for the juvenile court, and juvenile court 
judges; and 
‘‘(D) representatives of school systems, law 
enforcement agencies, juvenile detention and 
corrections, juvenile probation departments, and 
community-based providers of gender-specific 
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services and services to youth of color and juve-
nile justice-involved youth.’’. 
SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT. 
Section 207(1) of the Juvenile Justice and Delin-
quency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5617(1)) is 
amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (B) by inserting ‘‘, eth-
nicity,’’ after ‘‘race’’, 
(2) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end, 
(3) in subparagraph (F) by striking the period 
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(G) how State plans are meeting the re-
quirement under section 223(a)(7)(B)(i).’’. 
SEC. 4. STATE PLANS. 
Section 223(a) of the Juvenile Justice and Delin-
quency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii)— 
(A) in subclause (VII) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end, 
(B) in subclause (VIII) by adding ‘‘and’’ 
at the end, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(IX) individuals with special ex-
perience or competence in addressing 
the needs of girls or implementing 
gender responsive services;’’, 
(2) in paragraph (7)(B)— 
(A) in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, 
(B) in clause (iv) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(v) a plan for providing easily acces-
sible, community-based and operated, cul-
turally and linguistically appropriate serv-
ices to youth at-risk or in contact with the 
juvenile justice system;’’, 
(3) in paragraph (11)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘shall,’’, 
(B) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) in clause (i) by striking the semi-
colon at the end, 
(ii) by striking ‘‘excluding—’’ and all 
that follows through ‘‘(i)’’ and inserting 
‘‘excluding’’, 
(iii) by striking clauses (ii) and (iii), 
and 
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(iv) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) not later than 3 years after the effec-
tive date of this subparagraph, or sooner if pos-
sible, no exceptions to this paragraph shall be 
permissible in relation to— 
‘‘(i) juveniles who are charged with or 
who have committed a violation of a valid 
court order; and 
‘‘(ii) juveniles who are held in accord-
ance with the Interstate Compact on Juve-
niles as enacted by the State; and 
‘‘(D) efforts shall be made to care safely 
for juveniles described in subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) by utilizing staff-secure and other com-
munity-based alternatives to secure detention, 
including the Runaway and Homeless Youth 
Act programs administered by the Family and 
Youth Services Bureau of the Administration 
for Children and Families of the Department of 
Health and Human Services;’’, 
(4) in paragraph (12)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ 
at the end, 
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(B) in subparagraph (B) by adding ‘‘and’’ 
at the end, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) not later than 3 years after the effec-
tive date of this provision, or sooner if possible, 
juveniles awaiting trial or any other legal proc-
ess and who are treated as adults for purposes 
of prosecution in criminal court shall not have 
contact with adult inmates when held in the 
custody of the criminal court;’’, 
(5) in paragraph (13)— 
(A) by inserting after ‘‘adults’’ the 1st 
place it appears the following: 
‘‘, and provide that not later than 3 years after the 
effective date of this bill, or sooner if possible, juve-
niles treated as adults for purposes of prosecution in 
criminal court and juveniles prosecuted as adults in 
criminal court may not be held in any jail or lockup 
for adults while awaiting trial on a criminal 
charge,’’, and 
(B) in subparagraph (A) by adding ‘‘and’’ 
at the end, 
(6) in paragraph (15) by inserting ‘‘ethnicity,’’ 
after ‘‘race,’’, 
(7) by striking paragraphs (22) and (23), 
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(8) by redesignating paragraphs (14) through 
(28) as paragraphs (15) through (27), respectively, 
and 
(9) by after paragraph (13) the following: 
‘‘(14) implement policy, practice, and system 
improvement strategies at the State, territorial, 
local, and tribal levels to identify and reduce racial 
and ethnic disparities among youth who come into 
contact with the juvenile justice system by— 
‘‘(A) establishing coordinating bodies to 
oversee and monitor State, territorial, local, or 
tribal efforts to reduce racial and ethnic dis-
parities, composed of juvenile justice stake-
holders at the State, territorial, local, or tribal 
levels, including community leaders and service 
providers from communities in which youth of 
color are disproportionately represented in the 
juvenile justice system; 
‘‘(B) identifying and analyzing key decision 
points, and the criteria used to make those de-
cisions, in State, territorial, local, or tribal juve-
nile justice systems, to determine which points 
create racial and ethnic disparities among juve-
niles who come into contact with the juvenile 
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justice system and the causes of those dispari-
ties; 
‘‘(C) developing and implementing State, 
territorial, local, or tribal data collection and 
analysis systems to identify where racial and 
ethnic disparities exist in the juvenile justice 
system and to track and analyze such dispari-
ties using descriptors disaggregated, as appro-
priate, by factors including race, ethnicity, sex, 
geography, offense, delinquency history, and 
age; 
‘‘(D) developing and implementing a work 
plan that includes measurable objectives for pol-
icy changes, practice changes or other system 
changes, based on the needs identified in the 
data collection and analysis under subpara-
graph (B) and designed to reduce any forms of 
bias, differential treatment of youth of color or 
disparities found to be associated with race and 
ethnicity, including provision of culturally and 
linguistically competent services; and 
‘‘(E) tracking and publicly reporting, on 
an annual basis, the efforts and progress made 
in accordance with subparagraphs (B), (C), and 
(D).’’. 
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SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION. 
Section 251 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5661) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B) by— 
(A) in clause (x) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, 
(B) in clause (xi) by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(xii) juveniles treated as adults for pur-
poses of prosecution in criminal court.’’, and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) ASSESSMENT
OF TREATING JUVENILES
AS 
ADULTS.—The Administrator shall— 
‘‘(1) not later than 3 years after the effective 
date this subsection, assess the effectiveness of the 
practice of treating juveniles as adults for purposes 
of prosecution in criminal court; and 
‘‘(2) not later than 6 months after making the 
assessment required by paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(A) submit to the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, the Speaker pro tempore of 
the Senate, and the President a report con-
taining the findings, conclusions, and any rec-
ommended changes in law identified as a result 
of such assessment; and 
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‘‘(B) make such report available to the 
public.’’. 
SEC. 6. INCENTIVE GRANTS FOR LOCAL DELINQUENCY 
PREVENTIONS PROGRAMS. 
Section 504(a) of the Incentive Grants for Local De-
linquency Prevention Programs Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 
5784(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (7) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end, 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (8) as para-
graph (9), and 
(3) by inserting the following after paragraph 
(7) the following: 
‘‘(8) gender specific services that address the 
above purpose areas; and’’. 
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 
take effect on the 1st day of the 1st fiscal year that begins 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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