Interstate Compact for Juveniles

The Interstate Compact for Juveniles (ICJ) offers statutory contractual authority and guidelines for the movement of juveniles across state lines. The aim of the ICJ is to protect communities while also holding juveniles who may have broken the law accountable. ToDay, more than 20,000 juveniles are apprehended in states other than the one in which they were adjudicated, taken into custody, or where they reside. ICJ serves as a mechanism for returning juvenile nonoffenders (minors in need of supervision) and offenders, whether status offenders or delinquents who may have been on parole, probation, or other correctional supervision but who have left their states often by running away, escaping, or absconding. Status offenders are minors who have committed an offense that, had it been done by an adult, would not be a crime (e.g., juvenile curfew violation, truancy, or underage smoking); delinquency refers to an offense by a minor that, if done by an adult would be a crime; for example, robbery. At times, the need for a juvenile to leave a state in which he or she was adjudicated is a legitimate one, such as a need for the juvenile's family to relocate. ICJ serves as a means for shifting the supervisory responsibility to another state or U.S. territory that has adopted the ICJ by documented permission routed through the receiving state's office of ICJ. [Page 743]The agreement requires that a receiving state fulfill the judicial orders of the sending state; see to it that persons are not at risk from the juvenile in the sending and the receiving states; return offenders who have run away from their states if their return is requested; contract with compact states for special services for juveniles as needed; assist other states in locating juveniles and equitably sharing the cost of serving juveniles; data collection; compliance monitoring; and training and education. Compacts have been used in the United States since the 18th century. they are agreements to resolve boundary issues between states, to establish procedures when these issues arise, and to define administrative responsibilities associated with the ICJ.

The current ICJ was preceded by a 1955 compact that was in effect in Washington D.C., all 50 states, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. This compact was problematic to utilize. The problems included different terms and definitions across states, rules that were difficult to follow, a lack of compliance, and a lack of timely exchange of information. An advisory group, the National Interstate Commission for Juveniles, was formed in 2000, which included persons from different states and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to draft the existing compact. In 2003, a draft of the compact was circulated to stakeholders for input. These persons included juvenile and family court judges, defense and prosecuting attorneys, legislators, the American Probation and Parole Association, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. North Dakota was the first state to enact ICJ in 2003, followed by 11 other states that year (Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington). Ten more states enacted in 2004 (Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming) and seven more in 2005 (Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah). In 2006, South Carolina and Wisconsin adopted; in 2007, Maryland and Virginia; and in 2008, Illinois and Tennessee. Each of these states has a commissioner or voting member on the Interstate Compact for Juveniles Commission. This person is appointed by a governor or a state council. The commission has rule-making authority. The National Center for Interstate Compacts serves as a center point for various compacts. The Association of Juvenile Compact Administrators (AJCA) collects data on compact operations. by March 2012, the only states or territories that were not a part of ICJ were Georgia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Marina Islands.

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