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Juvenile Justice Funding Trends
Kristin Finklea
Specialist in Domestic Security
January 6, 2015
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
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Juvenile Justice Funding Trends
Summary
Although juvenile justice has always been administered by the states, Congress has had
significant influence in the area through funding for grant programs administered by the
Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974, P.L. 93-415, was the first
comprehensive juvenile justice legislation passed by Congress. Since 1974, the act has undergone
several key amendments, including a significant reorganization enacted by P.L. 107-273 in 2002.
The juvenile justice appropriation includes funding allocated within the purview of the JJDPA, as
well as other grant programs that are administered by OJJDP but that are not within the JJDPA.
After the restructuring of juvenile justice grant programs in 2002, their funding, which had
generally been above $500 million, began to decline. For FY2010, the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117) provided $424 million for juvenile justice programs
within DOJ. This was the largest amount appropriated to juvenile justice programs since FY2003.
Since FY2010, juvenile justice funding has declined each subsequent fiscal year. Most recently,
through the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235),
Congress appropriated $251.5 million for juvenile justice programs for FY2015.
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Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Juvenile Justice Legislation and Grant Programs ............................................................................ 1
State Formula Grant................................................................................................................... 1
Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Block Grant Program ........................................................... 2
Developing, Testing, and Demonstrating Promising New Initiatives and Programs
(Challenge Grants) ................................................................................................................. 2
Juvenile Mentoring Program ..................................................................................................... 2
Gang-Free Schools and Communities Grant ............................................................................. 2
Title V Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention ..................................................... 3
Victims of Child Abuse Act Grant ............................................................................................. 3
Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG) ......................................................................... 3
Juvenile Justice Appropriations ....................................................................................................... 3
Historical Appropriations by Account ....................................................................................... 5
Figures
Figure 1. Juvenile Justice Appropriations ........................................................................................ 5
Tables
Table 1. Juvenile Justice Appropriations by Program, FY2004-FY2015 ........................................ 7
Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 10
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Introduction
The federal government has no juvenile justice system of its own. Instead, starting in the 1960s,
the federal government began establishing federal juvenile justice entities and grant programs in
order to influence the states’ juvenile justice systems.1 Eligibility for some of these grant
programs is tied to certain mandates that the states must adhere to in order to receive federal
funding. This report provides a brief overview of the juvenile justice grant programs and the
overall appropriation administered by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
Juvenile Justice Legislation and Grant Programs
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) was first passed by Congress in
19742 and was most recently reauthorized in 2002 by the 21st Century Department of Justice
Appropriations Authorization Act.3 The JJDPA’s provisions are currently unauthorized, having
expired in FYs 2007 and 2008, although Congress continues to provide appropriations for some
of the act’s activities. The JJDPA as originally enacted had three main components: it created a set
of institutions within the federal government that were dedicated to coordinating and
administering federal juvenile justice efforts; it established grant programs to assist the states with
setting up and running their juvenile justice systems; and it promulgated core mandates that states
had to adhere to in order to be eligible to receive grant funding. While the JJDPA has been
amended several times over the past 30 years, it continues to feature the same three components.
The JJDPA has been a primary channel through which the federal government provides juvenile
justice funding to the states; nonetheless, other congressionally authorized and administratively
established programs, administered by OJJDP, have contributed to the overall package of federal
juvenile justice funding. The following section outlines various congressionally authorized
juvenile justice grant programs, including those authorized by the JJDPA.
State Formula Grant
The JJDPA authorizes OJJDP to make formula grants to states that can be used to fund the
planning, establishment, operation, coordination, and evaluation of projects for the development
of more effective juvenile delinquency programs and improved juvenile justice systems.4 Funds
are allocated annually among the states on the basis of relative population of people under the age
of 18, and states must adhere to certain core mandates5 in order to be eligible for funding.
1 For more information on the legislative history of juvenile justice, refer to CRS Report RL33947, Juvenile Justice:
Legislative History and Current Legislative Issues, by Kristin Finklea.
2 P.L. 90-415.
3 P.L. 107-273.
4 42 U.S.C. §5631.
5 There are currently four core mandates with which – unless for specified exceptions – states must generally comply:
states must deinstitutionalize their status offenders (such as truants); states cannot detain or confine juveniles in
facilities in which they would have contact with adult inmates; juveniles cannot be detained or confined in any jail or
lockup for adults; and states must show that they are working to address the issue of disproportionate minority
confinement within their juvenile justice systems.
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Authorization for this program expired in FY2007; however, Congress has continued to provide
appropriations in each subsequent fiscal year.
Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Block Grant Program
The Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Block Grant Program is a discretionary grant program that
replaced a number of smaller grant programs in the 2002 JJDPA reauthorization. The JJDPA
authorizes OJJDP to make funding available to carry out a broad range of activities in purpose
areas designed to prevent juvenile delinquency.6 Grant funding is allocated to the eligible states
based on the proportion of their population that is under the age of 18. This grant program has not
received appropriations to date; rather, the annual appropriation for OJJDP has continued to
follow the pre-2002 structure, and funds have been appropriated in each subsequent fiscal year
for some of the grant programs that were repealed in 2002. The authorization for this program
expired in FY2007.
Developing, Testing, and Demonstrating Promising New
Initiatives and Programs (Challenge Grants)
The JJDPA authorizes OJJDP to make grants to state, local, and tribal governments and private
entities in order to carry out programs that will develop, test, or demonstrate promising new
initiatives that may prevent, control, or reduce juvenile delinquency.7 Authorization for this
program expired in FY2007. Further, the Challenge Grants last received appropriations in
FY2010.
Juvenile Mentoring Program
This grant program was repealed in 2002 by the 21st Century Department of Justice
Reauthorization Act (P.L. 107-273); however, it has continued to receive appropriations each
subsequent fiscal year. These grants are awarded to local educational agencies (in partnership
with public or private agencies) to establish and support mentoring programs.
Gang-Free Schools and Communities Grant
The Gang-Free Schools and Communities Grant program was repealed in 2002 by the 21st
Century Department of Justice Reauthorization Act (P.L. 107-273); however, funding for gang
resistance education and training has continued to receive appropriations in each subsequent
fiscal year. These grants are used to fund a wide variety of prevention or accountability based
gang projects. Funding has been included as a part of appropriations for the Title V Incentive
Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention.
6 42 U.S.C. §5651.
7 42 U.S.C. §5665.
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Title V Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention
The JJDPA authorizes OJJDP to make grants to states, which are then transmitted to units of local
government, in order to carry out delinquency prevention programs for juveniles who have come
into contact with, or are likely to come into contact with, the juvenile justice system.8
Authorization for this program expired in FY2008; however, Congress continues to provide
appropriations.
Victims of Child Abuse Act Grant
The Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-647) authorizes OJJDP to fund technical
assistance, training, and administrative reforms for state juvenile and family courts in order to
improve the way state juvenile justice systems handle cases of child abuse and neglect.9 This
program has been unauthorized since FY2005 but has continued to receive appropriations.
Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG)
The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant (JABG) program was originally created by the FY1998
DOJ Appropriations Act (P.L. 105-119) and was appropriated each subsequent fiscal year. The
JABG program was subsequently codified by the 21st Century Department of Justice
Reauthorization Act (P.L. 107-273).10 Although the JABG program does not reside within the
JJDPA, it is nevertheless administered by OJJDP. The JABG program authorizes the Attorney
General to make grants to states and units of local government to strengthen their juvenile justice
systems and foster accountability within their juvenile populations by holding juveniles
accountable for their actions.11 Authorization for this program expired in FY2009, but Congress
continued to provide appropriations in each subsequent fiscal year through FY2013.
Juvenile Justice Appropriations
Figure 1 shows overall appropriations for juvenile justice programs within DOJ. This juvenile
justice appropriation includes funding allocated within the purview of the JJDPA, as well as other
grant programs that are administered by OJJDP but that are not within the JJDPA. Examples of
these types of non-JJDPA programs include the JABG program and the Victims of Child Abuse
Act grant, which have sometimes been included in different parts of the DOJ appropriation but
nevertheless are tailored to juveniles and administered by OJJDP.
Prior to FY2002, overall funding for juvenile justice within the DOJ appropriation gradually
increased, peaking at $565 million in FY2002. From FY2002 to FY2007, however, overall
juvenile justice funding fell by 38% to $348 million. The majority of this reduction came from
the JABG program. Appropriations for JABG fell from a high of $250 million in FY2002 to $49
8 42 U.S.C. §5781-5784.
9 42 U.S.C. §13021-13024.
10 JABG was codified within the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796ee).
11 The only core mandate of the JABG program is that states must begin to implement a system of graduated sanctions
in order to be eligible for funding.
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million in FY2007. In FY2008, the overall appropriation for juvenile justice programs increased
by about 10% from FY2007 to $384 million. Between FY2007 and FY2010, funding for juvenile
justice programs increased by almost 22% to $424 million in FY2010. During this time, funding
for JJDPA programs increased by 27% from $260 million in FY2007 to $331 million in FY2010.
Funding for juvenile justice programs began to decline once again beginning in FY2011, and that
decline continues through FY2015. The Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2011 (P.L. 112-10) provided $275 million for DOJ’s juvenile justice
programs for FY2011. Of these funds, $199 million was for JJDPA programs. Funding for
juvenile justice programs continued to decline in FY2012. The Consolidated and Further
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L. 112-55) provided $262.5 million for juvenile justice
programs. Of this $262.5 million, $138 million was for JJDPA programs. Additionally, more than
25% of the juvenile justice program funding provided for FY2012 was designated for activities
that had not been funded previously under the juvenile justice programs account (including
funding for missing and exploited children programs, child abuse training programs for judicial
personnel and practitioners, and grants and technical assistance in support of the National Forum
on Youth Violence Prevention).
The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-6) provided $279.5
million for juvenile justice programs for FY2013. Of note, Section 3001 of the act provided for a
series of rescissions of FY2013 budget authority.12 After applying these rescissions and the
sequestration ordered by President Obama on March 1, 2013, DOJ reports that juvenile justice
programs were funded at nearly $261.0 million for FY2013.13 Juvenile justice funding continued
to decline in FY2014; through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76), Congress
appropriated $254.5 million for juvenile justice programs. One notable change to the juvenile
justice funding pattern was an elimination of JABG funding in FY2014. Most recently, through
the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235), Congress
appropriated $251.5 million for juvenile justice programs for FY2015. For detailed juvenile
justice programs account information, see Table 1.
12 Discretionary non-security (as defined at 2 U.S.C. §900(c)(4)(A)) accounts—including the juvenile justice account
within DOJ’s broader Office of Justice Programs account—were subject to a 1.877% rescission. Further, Section 3004
of the act was intended to eliminate any amount by which the new budget authority provided in the act may have
exceeded the FY2013 discretionary spending limits in Section 251(c)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency
Deficit Control Act, as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA, P.L. 112-25) and the American Taxpayer
Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240). Section 3004 required the percentages to be increased if the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) estimated that additional rescissions would be needed to avoid exceeding the limits. Subsequent to
the enactment of P.L. 113-6, OMB calculated that additional rescissions, including 0.2% of non-security budget
authority, would be required. For more information on the Budget Control Act, see CRS Report R41965, The Budget
Control Act of 2011, by Bill Heniff Jr., Elizabeth Rybicki, and Shannon M. Mahan. Pursuant to the BCA, as amended
by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, President Obama ordered that the joint committee sequester be
implemented on March 1, 2013. The accompanying OMB report indicated a dollar amount of budget authority to be
canceled to each account containing non-exempt funds. The sequester was ultimately applied at the program, project,
and activity (PPA) level within each account.
13 FY2013 amount provided by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Figure 1. Juvenile Justice Appropriations
FY2002-FY2015
Sources: FY2002 enacted taken H.Rept. 107-278; FY2003 enacted taken from H.Rept. 108-10; FY2004 enacted
taken from H.Rept. 108-401; FY2005 enacted taken from H.Rept. 108-792; FY2006 enacted taken from H.Rept.
109-272. FY2007 appropriation is based on FY2006 enacted minus a 1.28% rescission, as per P.L. 110-5. FY2008
enacted taken from P.L. 110-161. FY2009 enacted taken from P.L. 111-8. FY2010 enacted taken from P.L. 111-
117. FY2011 enacted based on a CRS analysis of the text of P.L. 112-10. FY2012 enacted taken from P.L. 112-55.
FY2013 amount provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. FY2014 enacted taken from P.L. 113-76. FY2015
enacted funding taken from P.L. 113-235.
Notes: Numbers are rounded. FY2003 includes a 0.65% government-wide rescission pursuant to P.L. 108-7;
FY2004 includes a 0.59% government-wide rescission and a 0.465% DOJ-wide rescission pursuant to P.L. 108-
199; FY2005 includes a 0.80% government-wide rescission and a 0.54% DOJ-wide rescission pursuant to P.L.
108-447; FY2006 includes a 1% across the board rescission pursuant to P.L. 109-148; and FY2011 includes a
0.20% government-wide rescission pursuant to P.L. 112-10. FY2013 amounts reflect rescissions of discretionary
budget authority provided in P.L. 113-6 as specified in Section 3001 of the act. Per Section 3001, a rescission of
1.877% was applied to appropriations for discretionary non-security (as defined at 2 U.S.C. §900(c)(4)(A))
accounts, including juvenile justice. The post-rescission amounts also include an additional rescission, as
calculated by OMB per Section 3004 of the act, of 0.2% for discretionary non-security accounts. The FY2013
funding level also reflects reductions that resulted from the sequestration ordered by President Obama on
March 1, 2013, pursuant to the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25).
Historical Appropriations by Account
Table 1 provides a summary of juvenile justice appropriations by program. The programs
appropriated for juvenile justice have varied somewhat from year to year. For example, the 21st
Century Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-273), among other things,
repealed a number of pre-existing grant programs and consolidated many of their purpose areas
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within the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Block Grant Program.14 As the table shows, however,
this block grant has not been appropriated since its inception. Instead, the appropriators have
continued to fund some of the pre-existing grant programs (chiefly, the Victims of Child Abuse,
Gang-Free Schools and Communities Grant, and Juvenile Mentoring Programs grants) either as
separate line-items or with funding set aside from the Title V Incentive Grants for Local
Delinquency Prevention.
Table 1 also shows that appropriations for specific programs can vary from year to year and that
some programs are specifically appropriated in one year but may not be specifically identified in
other years, such as Project Sentry and Project Child Safe,15 which have received stand-alone
appropriations some fiscal years and have been set aside from the Title V Incentive Grants
program in other years. In addition, some programs receive funding from larger accounts; for
example, OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Program16 has received a set-aside appropriation from the Title V
grant program every year since FY1999.
14 These grant programs were as follows: Victims of Child Abuse; Community Based Gang Intervention; Tribal Youth;
Juvenile Mentoring Programs; and Boot Camps grant programs.
15 Project Sentry provided resources for state and local juvenile justice prosecutors to fund initiatives focusing on gun-
crimes committed by juveniles. Project Child Safe sought to educate children on firearm safety and fund the purchase
of safety locks for firearms.
16 Through this program, OJJDP makes grants to federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native villages for delinquency
prevention, control, and system improvements for tribal youth.
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Table 1. Juvenile Justice Appropriations by Program, FY2004-FY2015
(Dollars in millions)
Program
FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013a FY2014 FY2015
Coordination
4 3 1 1 1 — — — — —
—
—
State
Formula
Grants
84 84 80 79 74 75 75 62 40 41 56 55
Emergency Planning—
— — — — — — — — — — (1) (1)
Juvenile Detention Facilities
Delinquency
Prevention
Block
Grant
— — — — — — — — — — —
—
Research
and
Development
3 10 — — — — — — — — —
—
Chal enge
Grants
80 102 106 105 94 82 91 — — — —
—
Juvenile
Mentoring
Program
Grant — 15 10 10 70 80 100 83 78 84 89 90
Title
V:
Community
Prevention
Grant
80 80 65 64 61 62 65 54 20 19 15 15
Community Gang Prevention
(20) (25) (25) (25) (19) (10) (10) (8) (5) (5) (3) (3)
Tribal Youth Program
(10) (10) (10) (10) (14) (25) (25) (21) (10) (9) (5) (5)
Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws
(25) (25) (25) (25) (25) (25) (25) (21) (5) (5) (3) —
Juvenile Justice and Education
— — — — — — — — — — (5) —
Collaboration Assistance
Big Brothers and Big Sisters
(6) — — — — — — — — — — —
Secure our Schools Act
10
15
15
15
15
—b
—b — — — — —
Juvenile
Accountability
Block
Grant 60 55 50 49 52 55 55 46 30 23 — —
Victims of Child Abuse Act
13
15
15
15
17
20
23
19
18
18
19
19
Project
Sentry
15 — — — — — — — — — —
—
Project Child Safe
5
5
1
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Project Safe Start
10
10
10
10
—
—
5
4
—
—
—
—
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Program
FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013a FY2014 FY2015
Community-Based Violence
— — — — — — 10 8 8 10 6 (6)c
Prevention Initiative
Missing & Exploited Children
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
65d 63 67 68
Child
Abuse
Training
— — — — — — — — 2e 1 2 2
National Forum on Youth Violence
— — — — — — — — 2f 2 1
(1)c
Prevention
Competitive Grants Focusing on Girls
— — — — — — — — — — 1 2
in the Juvenile Justice System
Children of Incarcerated Parents
— — — — — — — — — — 1 1
Web Portal
Total Juvenile Justice
363 394 353 348 384 374 424 275 263 261 255 252
Appropriation
Sources: FY2004 enacted taken from H.Rept. 108-401; FY2005 enacted taken from H.Rept. 108-792; FY2006 enacted taken from H.Rept. 109-272. FY2007 appropriation is
based on FY2006 enacted minus a 1.28% rescission, as per P.L. 110-5. FY2008 enacted taken from P.L. 110-161. FY2009 enacted taken from P.L. 111-8. FY2010 enacted taken
from P.L. 111-117. FY2011 enacted based on a CRS analysis of the text of P.L. 112-10. FY2012 enacted taken from P.L. 112-55. FY2013 amount provided by the U.S.
Department of Justice. FY2014 enacted taken from P.L. 113-76. FY2015 enacted funding taken from P.L. 113-235.
Notes: Numbers in parentheses are non-adds that have been set aside from other grant programs.
a. The FY2013 amounts reflect rescissions of discretionary budget authority provided in P.L. 113-6 as specified in Section 3001 of the act. Per Section 3001, a
rescission of 1.877% was applied to appropriations for discretionary non-security (as defined at 2 U.S.C. §900(c)(4)(A)) accounts, including juvenile justice. The post-
rescission amounts also include an additional rescission, as calculated by OMB per Section 3004 of the act, of 0.2% for discretionary non-security accounts. The
FY2013 funding levels also reflect reductions that resulted from the sequestration ordered by President Obama on March 1, 2013, pursuant to the Budget Control
Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25).
b. For FY2009 and FY2010, funding for programs under the Secure Our Schools Act was appropriated at $16 million under the Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS) account.
c. For FY2015, funding for the Community-Based Violence Prevention Initiative and the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention was appropriated as set-aside
funding from the Title V Community Prevention Grant.
d. Funding for missing and exploited children programs was previously provided under the DOJ account for assistance to state and local law enforcement.
e. Funding for child abuse training programs for judicial personnel and practitioners was previously provided under the DOJ account for justice assistance programs.
f.
The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention was created by the Obama Administration as a context for information sharing regarding best practices in
preventing youth and gang violence. For more information, see http://findyouthinfo.gov/index.shtml.
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Author Contact Information
Kristin Finklea
Specialist in Domestic Security
kfinklea@crs.loc.gov, 7-6259
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