Jailing Juveniles in Florida: The Dynamics of Compliance with a Sluggish Federal Reform Initiative

Abstract

Compliance with the jail removal mandate of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 has been slow and incomplete. The present study examines obstacles to full compliance with requirements of the mandate. Data include interviews with justice officials, direct observations of jail admissions procedures, and individual-level data on all juvenile jail admissions for calendar year 1987. Although there is evidence that commonly recognized impediments to policy reform played a part in Florida's failure to achieve full compliance by the 1988 deadline, our analyses suggest that social conditions neglected by other researchers are of equal or greater importance.

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