The Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention Formula Grant Program: Federal-State Relationships In A Quasi-Regulatory Context*

Abstract

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), created by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, has among its responsibilities the administration of a formula grant program that distributes "conditioned" federal financial assistance to states and local governments. Day-to-day administration of the formula grant program falls to OJJDP's State Relations and Assistance Division, which employs "state representatives" who in turn work with juvenile justice specialists in the states, appointed State Advisory Groups, and designated State supervisory agencies. A recently completed study undertaken by the Administrative Conference of the United States, an independent federal agency within the executive branch, examined in detail the approach used by OJJDP to administer the formula grant program. This paper, prepared by two members of the study's research team, explores 1) the extent to which and in what ways the program operates in a quasi-regulatory mode and 2) whether or not the federal grant requirements have overly restricted state flexibility in achieving the statutory mandates. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-415) was reauthorized and amended (through Public Law 102-586) since the preparation of this article. Several changes in substantive features of the formula grant program were made. Aditionally, some of the same mechanisms previously employed by Congress to assist states in obtaining compliance were continued, while others were enlarged. In effect, however, the authors believe that the changes further demonstrate Congressional willingness to give states maximum flexibility in meeting the Act's quite specific goals.