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Working Together for Youth: A Guide to Collaboration Between Law Enforcement Agencies and Programs That Serve Runaway and Homeless Youth

NCJ Number
151292
Author(s)
M Posner
Date Published
1994
Length
123 pages
Annotation
In focusing on the importance of interagency collaboration, this guidebook recognizes that the response of law enforcement agencies to runaway and homeless youth varies by community and individual police officer; some police departments perceive runaways as criminals, while other police departments view runaways as victims of family conflict.
Abstract
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 recognizes that social and psychological services, rather than adjudication and incarceration, represent appropriate responses to runaway and homeless youth. This act encourages States to shift responsibility for youth away from law enforcement and juvenile justice agencies and recommends that runaway and homeless youth programs be strengthened, expanded, and professionalized. Nonetheless, law enforcement agencies still come into contact with a significant number of runaway and homeless youth. Parents or other relatives usually turn to the police if a child is missing or has run away. Further, a substantial number of runaway and homeless youth commit criminal offenses. Collaboration between law enforcement and youth-serving agencies is recommended to strengthen services for runaway youth and their families and to reduce unnecessary adjudication and incarceration. Guidelines are presented to facilitate collaboration that focuses on youth-at-risk, services for runaway youth, and benefits and obstacles to interagency cooperation. Case study examples of interagency collaboration in California, Oregon, Arizona, Maryland, New York, Hawaii, Virginia, and Illinois are included. Procedures involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating interagency collaboration activities are described. Resource organizations concerned with runaway and homeless youth, evaluation resources, and sample interagency agreements are appended. 143 references and 49 endnotes