Welfare Reform's Impact on Juvenile Justice.

• Position: Brief Article

Federal welfare reform may end up burdening the country's already stressed juvenile justice system, warns Katherine Hunt Federle, director of the Justice for Children Project, Ohio State University, Columbus. Benefit reductions are expected to place an additional 1,200,000 children below the poverty line. "Given the strong link between poverty and the juvenile courts, it seems inevitable that the problems of child poverty will become the problems of the juvenile court system. We are essentially just moving the problem from welfare to the juvenile courts."

Poor children are more likely to suffer from emotional and behavioral problems that may result in aggression and fighting, even when they have just experienced short-term poverty. Moreover, they are more likely to be criminal victims.

Poor youngsters also suffer in school. They are twice as likely as non-poor kids to drop out of school, repeat a grade, or be expelled. In addition, they may experience a variety of other problems, such as homelessness, that may result in juvenile court intervention. One study in New York City found that one in 10 poor children had spent time in homeless shelters.

Some people have argued that welfare reductions won't increase poverty for children because their...