Some states routinely violate a 1974 federal law designed to protect youths accused of juvenile offenses because of U.S. Department of Justice lack of oversight and enforcement, Sen. Charles E. Grassley said today.
“Last year, multiple whistleblowers contacted me about the Justice Department’s failure to follow the law,” said Grassley, R-Iowa, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “The whistleblowers allege that it is common knowledge among the states that the Justice Department did not take the four core requirements [of the law] seriously.”
Moreover, Grassley said, whistleblowers also claimed they faced retribution from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Whistleblowers “claimed the states know the Justice Department does not even check if they are submitting accurate reports in their annual application for grants,” he said.
[For more of this story, written by Gary Gately, go to http://jjie.org/senate-hearing...jdp-concerns/108605/]
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