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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10940 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 10940—Establishing the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime

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Thursday, May 11, 1961
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4 min read (765 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (765 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President John F. Kennedy on May 11, 1961, this order concerns Establishing the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. There is hereby established the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime (hereinafter referred to as the Committee). The Committee shall be composed of the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is hereby established the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

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The Committee shall be composed of the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

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Each member of the Committee shall designate an official or employee of his department as an alternate member who shall serve as a member of the Committee in lieu of the regular member whenever the regular member is unable to attend any meeting of the Committee; and the alternate member shall while serving as such have in all respects the same status as a member of the Committee as does the regular member for whom he is serving.

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The Chairman of the Committee shall be the Attorney General.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
39 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
765
4,825 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS, the United States Government has an obligation to maintain and develop programs and policies to promote the welfare of its younger citizens, and WHEREAS, the steady growth, in the incidence of juvenile delinquency and youth crime has long been recognized as a national problem of major concern, and WHEREAS, there is a demonstrated need that the resources of the Federal Government be promptly mobilized to provide leadership and direction in a national effort to strengthen our social structure and to correlate, at all levels of government, juvenile and youth services; that training of personnel for juvenile and youth programs be intensified; and, that research to develop more effective measures for the prevention, treatment, and control of juvenile delinquency and youth crime be broadened:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. (a) There is hereby established the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime (hereinafter referred to as the Committee). The Committee shall be composed of the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Each member of the Committee shall designate an official or employee of his department as an alternate member who shall serve as a member of the Committee in lieu of the regular member whenever the regular member is unable to attend any meeting of the Committee; and the alternate member shall while serving as such have in all respects the same status as a member of the Committee as does the regular member for whom he is serving. The Chairman of the Committee shall be the Attorney General. (b) The Committee may invite representatives of the Judiciary to participate in its deliberations. SEC. 2. The Committee (1) shall review, evaluate and promote the coordination of the activities of the several departments and agencies of the Federal Government relating to juvenile delinquency and youth crime; (2) shall stimulate experimentation, innovation and improvement in Federal programs; (3) shall encourage cooperation and the sharing of information between Federal agencies and state, local and private organizations having similar responsibilities and interests; (4) shall make recommendations to the Federal departments and agencies on measures to make more effective the prevention, treatment, and control of juvenile delinquency and youth crime. SEC. 3. There is hereby established the Citizens Advisory Council (hereinafter referred to as the Council) which shall consist of not less than 12 and not more than 21 members, who shall be persons (including persons from public and voluntary organizations) who are recognized authorities in professional or technical fields related to juvenile delinquency or youth crime, or persons representative of the general public who are leaders in programs concerned with juvenile delinquency or youth crime, and who shall be designated by the Chairman of the Committee after consultation with the Committee and serve at the pleasure of the Committee. The Chairman of the Council shall be designated by the Chairman of the Committee. SEC. 4. The Council shall furnish the Committee advice and recommendations with respect to the matters with which the Committee is concerned under section 2 of this order and any other matters relating to the functions of the Committee on which it may desire information or advice. SEC. 5. The Committee shall make reports to the President from time to time with respect to its activities and shall make recommendations to the President regarding policy, programs and any additional measures including legislation which it deems desirable to further the objectives of this order. SEC. 6. All executive departments and agencies of the Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee and to furnish it such information and assistance, not inconsistent with law, as it may require in the performance of its functions and duties. SEC. 7. Consonant with law, the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Health, Education, and Welfare, shall as may be necessary for the effectuation of the purpose of this order, furnish assistance to the Committee in accordance with section 214 of the Act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). Such assistance may include the detailing of employees to the Committee to perform such functions, consistent with the purpose of this order, as the Chairman of the Committee may assign to them. One of such employees may be designated to serve as Executive Director of the Committee. The necessary office space, facilities and supplies for the use of the Committee shall be furnished by the three departments concerned as they shall agree. JOHN F. KENNEDY

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

May 11, 1961

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,940 (May 11, 1961), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10940-establishing-the-presidents-committee-juvenile-delinquency-and-youth.