Title 34 › Subtitle Subtitle I— - Comprehensive Acts › Chapter CHAPTER 111— - JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERALLY › § 11103
Defines the key words used in the chapter so people know what each term means. "Community based" — small local homes or services near a youth’s family that involve the community and may include medical, school, job, counseling, and drug or alcohol help. "Federal juvenile delinquency program" — any youth program run or helped by a federal agency, including programs paid for under this chapter. "Juvenile delinquency program" — any work to prevent, control, divert, treat, or study youth crime, including drug and alcohol programs and efforts to build protective skills and reduce risk. "Bureau of Justice Assistance," "Office of Justice Programs," "National Institute of Justice," and "Bureau of Justice Statistics" — the named federal agencies. "Administrator" — the agency leader named elsewhere in the law. "Law enforcement and criminal justice" — activities related to preventing or responding to crime, including police, courts, prosecutors, defenders, corrections, probation, parole, and programs for youth delinquency or addiction. "State" — any U.S. State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. "Unit of local government" — cities, counties, towns and similar local governments, certain law enforcement or judicial districts with independent budget power, or DC or federal agencies that do law enforcement in DC or a U.S. Trust Territory. "Combination" — two or more States or local governments working together on a youth justice plan. "Construction" — buying, expanding, remodeling, altering buildings, and their initial equipment, including architects’ fees but not buying land. "Public agency" — a State, local government, their combinations, or departments or agencies of those. "Secure detention facility" — a public or private place built to restrict movement used to hold a youth accused of an offense temporarily. "Secure correctional facility" — a place built to restrict movement used to hold a youth after they have been adjudicated or an adult after conviction. "Serious crime" — criminal homicide; forcible rape or other felony sex offenses; mayhem; kidnapping; aggravated assault; drug trafficking; robbery; felony larceny or theft; motor vehicle theft; burglary or breaking and entering; extortion with threats of violence; and felony arson. "Treatment" — medical, educational, social, psychological, job, guidance, and other rehabilitative services, including help for addiction. "Valid court order" — an order by a juvenile court judge given after the youth was brought to court and received full constitutional due process. "Council" — the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "Indian tribe" — a federally recognized tribe or an Alaskan Native organization. "Comprehensive and coordinated system of services" — a system that keeps families together when possible, works early with at-risk children, increases agency and family cooperation, and supports public–private partnerships. "Gender-specific services" — services made to meet needs tied to a youth’s gender. "Home-based alternative services" — services given in a youth’s home to avoid incarceration, including home detention. "Jail or lockup for adults" — a secure place used to hold adult inmates. "Nonprofit organization" — an organization that meets 501(c)(3) and 501(a) tax code rules. "Graduated sanctions" — a range of accountability steps, with incentives and treatment, matched to the youth’s actions to hold them responsible and protect the public. "Sight or sound contact" — any clear physical, visual, or verbal contact that is not brief and accidental. "Adult inmate" — someone of full criminal responsibility under state law who is arrested and in custody or convicted, but not someone who was under the state’s juvenile age limit and was placed under juvenile agency care or supervision. "Violent crime" — murder or nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, or aggravated assault committed with a firearm. "Collocated facilities" — facilities in the same building or on the same grounds. "Related complex of buildings" — two or more buildings that share physical features like walls or fences or share specialized services. "Core requirements" — the main requirements listed elsewhere in the law, not including certain data-collection rules. "Chemical agent" — a spray or injection used to temporarily incapacitate, such as oleoresin capsicum spray, tear gas, and 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas. "Isolation" — keeping a youth alone for more than 15 minutes, but not during regular sleep hours, not when part of a licensed treatment program, not if the youth asks for it, and not brief separation in an unlocked place to calm down. "Restraints" — as defined in another federal law. "Evidence-based" — a program shown to work when done properly, based on a tested theory, with measurable youth-justice outcomes, and proven by randomized or comparison-group studies that can be replicated and scaled. "Promising" — a program with positive results from at least one solid independent evaluation and that will be tested further with rigorous studies like those in the evidence-based definition. "Dangerous practice" — any act or program that creates an unreasonable risk of physical injury, pain, or psychological harm to a youth. "Screening" — a quick check to spot youth who may need immediate mental health, behavioral, or substance-use help and further evaluation. "Assessment" — at least an interview and record review by a trained, licensed professional to find significant mental health, behavioral, or substance-use treatment needs during confinement. "Contact" (for one part of the law) — the official points where a youth and the juvenile or criminal justice system meet. "Trauma-informed" — understanding how violence and trauma affect youth, recognizing youth who need help, and responding in ways that avoid re-traumatizing them. "Racial and ethnic disparity" — when minority youth are involved at higher rates than non-minority youth at a decision point in the juvenile system. "Status offender" — a youth charged with an act that would not be a crime if done by an adult. "Rural" — an area not in a metropolitan statistical area as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. "Internal controls" — processes to give reasonable assurance that operations are effective, reporting is reliable, and laws and audit recommendations are followed. "Tribal government" — the governing body of an Indian tribe.
Full Legal Text
Navy — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
34 U.S.C. § 11103
Title 34 — Navy
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73