The Will of the People? The Public's Opinion of the Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act of 1997

The article reports the findings of a survey done by the Opinion Research Corporation on public support for the major tenets of a Senate bill that would amend the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention (JJDP) Act. The poll was conducted in February 1998, with a national probability sample of 1,007 adults split evenly by gender. The report finds that more than two-thirds of respondents to the survey oppose the changes proposed to the JJDP Act contained in Senate Bill S. 10, the Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act of 1997. The provisions the authors say run contrary to public opinion include alterations to the rules by which children are separated from adults in jails, rules governing the jailing of status offenders (runaways and curfew violators), the opening of juvenile arrest records to educators, and the funding for construction of new juvenile detention facilities.