Standards on Facilities That House Youth

Passed in 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is the first federal civil statute focused specifically on addressing sexual violence in juvenile facilities, jails, prisons, lockups, and other facilities. PREA established the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which held hearings about sexual misconduct in custody, issued reports on the problem of sexual victimization in secure facilities, and proposed standards for the prevention, detection, and response to sexual misconduct in criminal and juvenile justice settings. The law provided for data collection, technical assistance, early funding to assist states, and periodic reviews of facilities with high and low rates of victimization. PREA required the the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to examine the prevalence of sexual misconduct in juvenile facilities. To meet this requirement, BJS surveyed youth in 195 juvenile confinement facilities across the country. Over one in eight youth reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or facility staff from 2008 to 2009. Finally, PREA required the Department of Justice to issue standards outlining the steps that facilities must take to address sexual misconduct prevention, detection, and response. On June 20th, 2012, the Department of Justice officially published the final standards for four types of facilities: juvenile facilities, adult prisons and jails, lockups, and community confinement facilities. The final standards and the Justice Department commentary are available a