Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Americans with Disabilities Act
Site providing information and technical assistance on provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Information for Educators on Communicating With Students With Disabilities
A letter (PDF, 2 pages) and accompanying frequently asked questions (PDF, 30 pages) provide guidance that can help schools comply with federal legal requirements for meeting the communication needs of students with disabilities. A fact sheet for parents (PDF, 2 pages) explaining the guidance is also available.
Special Education and the Juvenile Justice System
The Bulletin summarizes the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and analyzes their relevance to the juvenile justice process-from intake and initial interview to institutional placement and secure confinement.
Resource: Youths with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System
This literature review (PDF, 10 pages) summarizes research on intellectual and developmental disabilities of youths who are at risk of or who have come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Professionals working in juvenile justice settings can use this resource to better understand the challenges facing young people. Policymakers can also use the review to inform federal policies that pertain to the treatment of youths with disabilities in the juvenile justice system.
Ending Housing Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals and Families
This HUD website maintains a list of states that enumerate sexual orientation and gender identity in their state fair housing laws. It also provides information and resources to report housing discrimination.
Report: Surviving the Streets of New York: Experiences of LGBTQ Youth, YMSM, and YWSW Engaged in Survival Sex
The Urban Institute released a report (PDF, 94 pages), supported by OJJDP, on involvement in the juvenile justice, criminal justice, and child welfare systems and youth engaging in survival sex who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ); young men who have sex with men (YMSM); and young women who have sex with woman (YWSW). The report offers practice and policy recommendations to repurpose law enforcement-based responses to youth engaged in survival sex and services to meet their needs without system involvement.
Resource: Guidance to Help Schools Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students
This joint guidance (PDF, 9 pages) provides information to help educators ensure all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex. The guidance also addresses the treatment of students’ gender identity, response to harassment, students’ participation in sex-segregated activities, and students’ privacy.
Report: Recommendations of the LGBT Subcommittee: Advancing the Reform Process for LGBQ/GNCT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
This report (PDF, 11 pages) summarizes the recommendations of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Subcommittee of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice to OJJDP on strategies to advance juvenile justice reform for lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning/gender nonconforming, transgender (LGBQ/GNCT) youth. The recommendations are grouped into four categories:
- Policy and program development,
- Training and technical assistance,
- Data collection and research, and
- Federal LGBT juvenile justice coordination.
Native American Traditional Justice Practices
“Expert Working Group Report: Native American Traditional Justice Practices” (PDF, 35 pages) summarizes discussions and recommendations from a meeting about federal efforts to support the use of traditional Native American justice interventions to respond to criminal and delinquent behavior. The meeting was held in April 2013 and included 14 experts from multidisciplinary communities.
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Since its creation in 1987, the mission of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) has been to protect the welfare of America´s children and communities by enforcing federal criminal statutes relating to obscenity and the exploitation of children. The CEOS website includes information and resources on child pornography, child sexual abuse, extraterritorial sexual exploitation of children, child prostitution, and more.
Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States
This OJJDP-sponsored report, released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, aims to strengthen prevention, identification, and response efforts by offering recommendations for the response to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors.
Office of Victims of Crime
The Office of Victims of Crime is committed to enhancing the nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and providing leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime.
Office of Legal Policy
The Office of Legal Policy coordinates the development of the Department’s anti-trafficking policies and is responsible for compiling the Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Assessment of U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Assistant Attorney General serves as the Department’s representative to the Senior Policy Operating Group, an executive-level policy implementation group created to address emerging interagency policy, grants, and planning issues.
Office of Victims of Crime Initiatives
The Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, provides legal assistance for victims of human trafficking and funds the Wrap-Around Victims Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project and the Services for Trafficking Victims Grant Program to sustain services in communities.
Sexually Exploited or Abused Minors Reporting
Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST to report sexually exploited or abused minors or submit a tip online at http://www.cybertipline.org.
IACP Launches No-Cost Online Training on Child Trafficking
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in collaboration with COPS and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section, released “Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers.” This free, self-paced online course will educate frontline officers on how to recognize and respond to victims of child sex trafficking.
Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States
OVC released “Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States” (PDF, 64 pages), a report that documents the progress that federal agencies made during 2013-2014 on each of the 250 action items in the plan related to human trafficking victim service improvements.
Online Training: Five New Modules for Victim Assistance Training (VAT)
VAT Online now offers five new online modules on the following topics: assault, campus/university victims of sexual assault, child abuse, ethics, and human trafficking.
Archived Webinar Series: Human Trafficking
Two webinar series can help professionals better serve survivors of human trafficking:
- Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault: Strategies to Strengthen Community Collaboration to Respond to Survivors' Needs: This five-part webinar series offers strategies, practical tips, case studies, and resources to help domestic violence and sexual assault service providers improve outcomes for human trafficking survivors.
- Capacity Building Webinars for Human Trafficking Service Providers: This series provides information on key strategies for working with survivors of human trafficking. It covers legal issues, confidentiality, communicating with survivors, and helping survivors access employment and housing.
Report: Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade: A National Study
This report (PDF, 166 pages) describes a recent multi-method, multi-site study using interviews with more than 900 youth involved in the sex trade to better understand the lives and needs of these youth.
Report: Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade
This report (PDF, 166 pages) provides an overview of a multi-site study of youth involvement in the commercial sex trade. It includes information from nearly 1,000 youth interviews, arrest patterns, and prosecution and recidivism outcomes for these youth, and findings from interviews with service providers and police officers.
Faces of Human Trafficking Video Series
This video series provides information about sex and labor trafficking, multidisciplinary approaches to serving survivors of human trafficking, effective services, legal needs, and voices of survivors. The sixth video in the series specifically highlights the vulnerabilities, risk factors, and needs of youth, with a focus on the diverse range of professionals who are in a position to identify exploited youth and connect them with appropriate services. Service providers, law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, and others in the community can use this series to learn more about this important issue and their role in preventing and addressing it.