The State Challenge Activities Program
Congress responded to these problems in 1992 by enacting the State Challenge Activities Program under Title II, Part E of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.). This program provides incentives for States participating in the Title II, Part B Formula Grants Program to improve their juvenile justice systems by developing, adopting, or improving policies and programs in 1 or more of 10 specified Challenge areas. State agencies receiving Formula Grants funding are eligible to receive State Challenge Activities Program grants. These agencies may carry out Challenge Activities or award subgrants or contracts to public and private agencies to develop and implement these activities. A total of $10 million has been available for the State Challenge Activities Program each year since fiscal year (FY) 1995, and funds are distributed based on a ratio of Part E funds to available Formula Grants funds. FY 1999 awards to States range from $87,500 to $1,142,000, with American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands each currently receiving $15,000.
The 10 State Challenge Activity areas set forth in Section 285 Part E of the JJDP Act are as follows:
- Challenge Activity A: Basic System Services. Developing and
adopting policies and programs to provide basic health, mental health,
and educational services to youth in the juvenile justice system.
- Challenge Activity B: Access to Counsel. Developing and adopting
policies and programs to provide all juveniles in the justice system
access to counsel.
- Challenge Activity C: Community-Based Alternatives. Increasing
community-based alternatives to incarceration by establishing programs
(such as expanded use of probation, mediation, restitution, community
service, treatment, home detention, intensive supervision, and electronic
monitoring) and developing and adopting a set of objective criteria
for the appropriate placement of juveniles in detention and secure confinement.
- Challenge Activity D: Violent Juvenile Offender Facilities.
Developing and adopting policies and programs to provide secure settings
for violent juvenile offenders by closing down traditional training
schools and replacing them with secure settings (with capacities of
no more than 50 and staff-youth ratios high enough to permit close supervision
and effective treatment).
- Challenge Activity E: Gender-Specific Policies and Programs.
Developing and adopting policies to prohibit gender bias in placement
and treatment and establishing programs to ensure female youth access
to the full range of health and mental health services, including treatment
for physical or sexual assault or abuse, self-defense instruction, parenting
education, general education, and training and vocational services.
- Challenge Activity F: State Ombudsman. Establishing and operating,
directly or by contract, a State ombudsman office for children, youth,
and families. The office would investigate and resolve complaints relating
to the action, inaction, or decisions of those providing out-of-home
care to children and youth.
- Challenge Activity G: Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders.
Developing and adopting policies and programs to remove status offenders
from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, when appropriate.
- Challenge Activity H: Alternatives to School Suspension and Expulsion.
Developing and adopting policies and programs designed to serve as alternatives
to suspension and expulsion.
- Challenge Activity I: Aftercare Services. Increasing aftercare
services for juveniles in the justice system by establishing programs
and developing and adopting policies to provide comprehensive health,
mental health, education, family, and vocational services to youth upon
release from the juvenile justice system.
- Challenge Activity J: State Agency Coordination/Case Review System. Developing and adopting policies to establish a State administrative structure to develop program and fiscal policies for children with emotional or behavioral problems and their families. The structure would coordinate the activities of major child-serving systems and implement a statewide case review system.
Together, the 10 State Challenge Activities seek to foster juvenile justice systems that will support, in a consistent and collaborative manner, the development and implementation of programs that build on youth's strengths, empower parents, strengthen families, provide gender-specific services, and deliver quality community-based prevention, intervention, and aftercare services to youth and their families. The State Challenge Activities Program is designed to go beyond making grants to specific communities and individuals; it is intended to stimulate positive systems change in juvenile justice systems nationwide.
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