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Conclusion
In creating funding incentives to promote accountability in juvenile justice under the JAIBG program, Congress offered State and local governments a general direction rather than a roadmap, a central organizing principle rather than a set of specific instructions to be followed always and everywhere. The idea was not to replicate a one-size-fits-all program all over the country, but to provide communities with resources and flexibility to meet their own special needs. Nevertheless, from the structure of the legislation as a whole -- not only the various "purpose areas" for which funding is authorized, but the eligibility requirements for program participation as well -- the outlines of the reformed juvenile justice system to which Congress is pointing are unmistakable.
Ideally, all of these interrelated changes to be accomplished in the various program purpose areas, important as they are in and of themselves, will add up to something more -- something like a culture of accountability: in which the young shoulder responsibility for their wrongs, but communities embrace responsibility for their young; in which victims and the endangered public feel that the juvenile courts are fundamentally fair, attentive to their legitimate needs, and answerable for their safety; and in which the individuals and institutions that make up the juvenile justice system never lose sight of their accountability to the public at large.
| Developing and Administering Accountability-Based Sanctions for Juveniles | JAIBG Bulletin
· September 1999 |
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