[Federal Register: July 8, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 130)]
[Notices]
[Page 39210-39211]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08jy10-50]
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COORDINATING COUNCIL ON JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
[OJP (OJJDP) Docket No. 1524]
Request for Public Comments
AGENCY: Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention.
ACTION: Notice of request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (Council) requests public comments in connection with its
assessment of Federal policy and practice that affect children, youth,
and families. Interested individuals and organizations are invited to
submit ideas, insights, reflections, and suggestions grounded in
experience in and with Federal support as to Federal policies and
practices that either support or act as a barrier related to juvenile
justice outcomes. The Council has identified four priority issue areas
for this close examination: (1) Education and At-Risk Youth, (2)
Juvenile Reentry and Transitions into Adulthood, (3) Racial/Ethnic
Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related Systems, and (4) Tribal
Youth and Juvenile Justice. Please note that the deadline for comments
is thirty days (instead of the customary sixty days) after the
publication of this notice in the Federal Register--this is due to the
scheduling needs of the Council.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 9, 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments electronically via http://
www.regulations.gov. Search for `Juvenile Council' to get to the docket
for this notice. The Council prefers to receive comments through http:/
/www.regulations.gov where possible; however, you may also mail them to
Robin Delany-Shabazz, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 810 Seventh Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531. To ensure
proper handling, in the lower left hand corner of the envelope and in
your correspondence clearly reference ``OJP (OJJDP) Docket No. 1524.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Visit the website for the Council at http://
www.juvenilecouncil.gov; call the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention at 202-307-5911 (this is not a toll-free
number); or e-mail your inquiry to juvenilecouncil@usdoj.gov (please
submit any comments through http://www.regulations.gov).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Posting of Public Comments
Please note that all comments received are considered part of the
public record and may be made available in their entirety for public
inspection online at the Council's website and http://
www.regulations.gov. Publicly available information in posted comments
includes personal identifying information (such as name and address)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter.
If you wish to submit personal identifying information (such as
your name, address, etc.) as part of your comment, but do not wish for
it to be posted online, you must include the phrase ``PERSONAL
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph of your comment. You
also must locate all the personal identifying information you do not
wish to be posted online in the first paragraph of your comment and
identify what information you would like redacted.
If you wish to submit confidential business information as part of
your comment but do not wish for it to be posted online, you must
include the phrase ``CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION'' in the first
paragraph of your comment. You also must prominently identify
confidential business information to be redacted within the comment. If
a comment has so much confidential business information that it cannot
be effectively redacted, all or part of that comment may not be posted
online.
Personal identifying information and confidential business
information identified and located as set forth above will be placed in
the Council's public docket file, but not posted online. If you wish to
inspect the docket file in person by appointment, please see the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT paragraph.
II. Overview of Coordinating Council
The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, established pursuant to Section 3(2)A of the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2) works to carry out its
advisory functions under Section 206 of the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. 5601, et seq.
The Council membership is composed of the Attorney General (Chair),
the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (Vice Chair), the Secretary of Health and Human Services
(HHS), the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, the Chief Executive Officer of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Assistant
Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. Affiliate agencies are the Departments of Defense, the
Interior, and Agriculture and the Substance and Mental Health Services
Administration of HHS. Other Federal agencies may take part in Council
activities. Up to nine additional members are appointed by the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, the Senate Majority Leader, and the
President of the United States.
The Council has initiated cross-department teams of Federal
employees and others organized around four priority issues:
Education and At-Risk Youth
Tribal Youth and Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System
and Related Systems
The issue teams are assessing and identifying policies, practices,
regulations, and where applicable, legislation, that foster or hinder
ways to improve access to, use of and coordination of Federal resources
by Tribes, states, localities, organizations and individuals toward the
goal of improving Federal practice and, by extension, the well being of
children and families. Resulting recommendations may be incorporated
[[Page 39211]]
by the Council in its 2010 Annual Report to Congress.
III. Brief Descriptions of Priority Issues
1. Education and At-Risk Youth
The best way to keep young people out of trouble is to keep them in
school. Without structure and supervision that school provides, young
people often turn to delinquent or criminal behavior during school
hours and end up in the juvenile justice system, with most not
completing high school. A number of factors contribute to the failure
of young people to complete schooling including: Chronic truancy,
educational instability, ``push out,'' issues of access, co-occuring
factors, school connectedness, and the absences of positive activities
for afterschool times.
2. Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood
Young people reentering the community from juvenile residential
facilities often lack the support they need to change the course of
their lives and avoid the destructive cycle of recidivism. The multiple
needs of these young people (schooling, stable housing, skills to
obtain meaningful employment, physical and mental health problems,
etc.) require coordination of services, supervision, and support at the
local level to help ensure each youth a successful transition back home
and to adulthood. Youth aging out of foster care and youth who are
homeless have similar needs for transitional support. A number of
Federal policies, practices, programs, and legislation affect local and
state capacity to provide solid support through transition.
3. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related
Systems
Disproportionate contact of minorities (DMC) in juvenile justice
has been a challenge for policymakers for decades. DMC is not an issue
specific to the justice system; it is connected with inequities in
other youth-serving systems and requires exploration of the
relationship between child welfare, education, and youth's
socioeconomic status. The team seeks to identify Federal legislation
and practices that both assist States and those that function as
barriers in reducing disparities in juvenile justice, child welfare,
and education.
4. Tribal Youth and Juvenile Justice
Tribal youth face a host of challenges--poverty, child abuse and
neglect, exposure to family violence, substance abuse, the highest rate
of suicides among all youth, and a weak educational system. Without
intervention and remediation these issues can lead to additional
negative outcomes including delinquency. Multiple Federal agencies have
specific responsibility for working with Indian Country, notably, the
Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing
and Urban Development, and Interior. The overlapping mosaic of
policies, regulations, guidelines and programs can challenge
achievement of desired results.
IV. Guiding Questions for Commenters
The Council's issue teams have identified a number of questions to
focus their examination, and the Council is particularly interested in
receiving comments addressing some or all of these questions. The first
question for three of the topic areas is listed by topic as follows:
Education and At-Risk Youth: What is the Federal role in preventing
youth from entering the juvenile justice system and successfully
graduating from high school prepared for adulthood?
Juvenile Reentry and Transitions to Adulthood: What is the Federal
role in helping ensure youth graduate and successfully transition back
home and into adulthood (from juvenile facilities, out of the foster
care system, and in returning home and to their communities from
runaway/thrown away/homeless status)?
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice and Related
Systems: How do you view the Federal role with regard to racial and
ethnic disparities?
For these first three topic areas, all of the questions below also
apply:
a. What does the Federal government do well? What needs to be
changed?
b. Are there Federal practices, policies, legislation, and/or
regulations that support or restrict the successful education of youth;
reentry and/or transitions to adulthood; or addressing of racial/ethnic
disparities in the juvenile justice and related systems? What role does
technical/training support have in redressing restrictions?
c. Are there legislative challenges affecting this issue that
should be brought to the attention of the Federal agencies? What ought
Federal agencies do about them?
d. What results and/or consequences might occur from the enacted
recommendations?
e. Is there anything else the Federal government should be aware of
concerning this topic?
The Council's Tribal Youth issue team requests public comments
addressing the following questions:
a. How do you view the Federal role with regard to tribal youth and
their families?
b. What does the Federal government do well for tribal youth? What
needs to be changed?
c. Describe what Federal practices, policies, or regulations
support or fail to support Tribal youth and their families. What comes
to mind when you think of barriers? Alternatively, areas of good
practice (to meeting the needs for belonging, mastery, independence and
generosity)?
d. Are there legislative challenges affecting issues related to
Tribal youth and juvenile justice that should be brought to the
attention of the Federal agencies? What ought Federal agencies do about
them? Who are the key people to help with this issue?
e. What results and/or consequences might occur in Indian Country
from enacted recommendations? Are there individuals, agencies or
systems that might not welcome the recommendations or changes in
policies (Tribal Youth, Tribes, and Agencies)?
f. Is there anything else the Federal government should be aware of
concerning tribal youth justice, specifically in the areas of youth
prevention, intervention, detention and reentry?
Robin Delany-Shabazz,
Designated Federal Official, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-16696 Filed 7-7-10; 8:45 am]
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