GAO finds problems in juvenile detention
| Washington
Many states and federal agencies lock up runaway children with juvenile and adult criminals, despite a 9-year-old law outlawing such action, the General Accounting Office found.
The agency said there had been improvements in juvenile detention practices since enactment of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, but it added that problems still exist. The agency investigated juvenile detention practices in Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and North Carolina and found questionable practices in all five.
