Dear Colleague Letter: Civil Rights in Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities
Author: Lhamon, Catherine
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Civil Rights,Juvenile Justice,Institutionalized Persons,Correctional Education,Equal Education,Educational Opportunities,Correctional Institutions,Letters (Correspondence),Public Officials,Federal Legislation,Racial Discrimination,Social Discrimination,Laws,Federal Aid,Educational Legislation,Elementary Secondary Education,School Districts,Educational Needs,Disabilities,English Language Learners,Academic Support Services,Mental Health,Health Services,Civil Rights Legislation,Access to Education,Career Education,Technical Education,Discipline,Violence,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Assistive Technology,Communication (Thought Transfer),Parents

Although the overall number of youth involved in the juvenile justice system has been decreasing, there are still more than 60,000 young people in juvenile justice residential facilities in the United States on any given day. With the support of grants administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), juvenile justice residential facilities provide educational services to hundreds of thousands of students over the course of each year. Both of the Departments are committed to working with juvenile justice residential facilities to ensure that all students have equal educational opportunities, while supporting these facilities in preparing these students for successful reentry into their communities, so that they are ready to return to their local schools and graduate, to continue or begin a postsecondary program, or enter employment. As a part of those efforts this publication presents a letter written by Catherine E. Lhamon, Assistant Secretery for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, and Vanita Gupta, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice, to employees of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, to remind them that the Federal civil rights laws, regulations, and guidance that prohibit race, color, national origin, sex, religion, and disability discrimination against students in traditional public schools also apply to educational services and supports offered or provided to youth in juvenile justice residential facilities. ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and DOJ's Civil Rights Division and Office of Justice Programs enforce a number of Federal civil rights laws that apply to juvenile justice residential facilities receiving Federal funds from the respective Departments. Juvenile justice residential facilities and any other entities that receive Federal funds from the Departments--either directly or indirectly through another State or local agency--and that provide educational services in such facilities are subject to the Federal civil rights laws and the specific legal obligations discussed in this letter. This includes, but is not limited to, educational services supported by Title I, Part D of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended, which requires, among other things, that State agencies and school districts that serve youth in juvenile justice residential facilities provide services designed to meet the educational needs of such youth. Youth in confinement, many of whom are students with disabilities and English learner students, are often the students in the greatest need of academic, emotional, and behavioral supports. The letter briefly addresses a few of the subjects that have arisen in the juvenile justice context.