Why Is DSO Needed?
The deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DSO) provision of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974, as amended, prohibits (with a few exceptions) the use of secure detention or confinement for status offenders and nonoffenders. The intent of the DSO requirement was for States to divert such youth away from the juvenile justice system, and place them in less restrictive programs that are service intensive and community based. This emphasis on the use of community-based alternatives was a response to problems that surfaced as juvenile justice systems adopted the practice of placing in secure detention or confinement most juvenile offenders (Austin, Johnson, and Weitzer, 2005), regardless of the seriousness of the offense. The problems generally related to crowding in detention and confinement facilities, and to the drawbacks and unproven effectiveness of detention and confinement.
