In juvenile criminal justice, “bootstrapping” refers to the law enforcement practice of detaining juveniles in jail for contempt of court or failure to obey a court order. The practice of bootstrapping is linked to the passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) by Congress in 1974 (Simones & Stone, 2012). According to one provision of the JJDPA, law enforcement and courts were prohibited from incarcerating status offenders in jail unless it was for a few hours before or after a hearing. A status offender is a juvenile that has not committed a crime but has violated a “age-status regulation” such as drinking or smoking under age, violating a curfew, running away from home or truancy (Simones & Stone, 2012). The JJDPA did, however, allow for status offenders to be incarcerated for longer periods of time if they were found to have violated a court order. Which is contempt of court. With bootstrapping, a warning by a court to refrain from re-committing a status violation is considered a court order. Accordingly, any second violation of the status regulations, such as catching a juvenile smoking again; is deemed a contempt of court violation and therefore the juvenile, under the JJDPA can be incarcerated for longer periods of time.
One of the ways that this has played a role in the growing number of young women entering the juvenile justice system is that many of these women are running away from abusive situations in their families or with their boyfriends. Accordingly, on the one hand, returning a young woman to such as situation will most likely lead to her attempt to escape again, which will lead to a bootstrapping violation. On the other hand, some courts, may feel that it is better to impose a bootstrap violation on a young woman rather than have here return to the abusive situation (Simones & Stone, 2012). Consequently, young women are increasingly entering the juvenile justice system as a result, good or bad, of bootstrapping.
References
Simones, A. & Stone, S.S. (2012, Jan.). Status offenders in Georgia’s juvenile justice system. Retrieved from http://www.gahsc.org/nm/2012/181115927-Status-Offenders-in-Georgia-Juvenile-Justice-System.pdf
