JUVENILE ACCOUNTABILITY BLOCK GRANTS PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT

May 18, 2010

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, this bill reauthorizes the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program for an additional 3 years.

I worked with my Republican colleagues in 1997 to develop and pass the legislation that created this important initiative. This program directs the Department of Justice to make grants to States and units of local government to strengthen their juvenile justice systems.

The program allows funds to be used for a broad range of purposes that help reduce juvenile crime, such as establishing programs to assess the needs of juvenile offenders in order to facilitate provision of comprehensive services; establishing programs to reduce recidivism amongst juveniles; hiring juvenile court judges, court-appointed defenders and advocates; and developing systems of graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders.

The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant has been an important part of the Federal Government's funding of juvenile justice programs. When we worked together on a bipartisan basis to develop this program, Members recognized that success in preventing juvenile crime and reducing recidivism by juvenile offenders requires something other than tough-sounding slogans and sound bites.

When it comes to dealing with issues of juvenile justice, we're fortunate that there is more and more information available showing that we need to make sure that we approach this problem based on evidence, and we know that that evidence shows what works and what doesn't work.

Those studies show that comprehensive prevention and early intervention programs directed towards youth at risk of involvement, or those already involved in the juvenile justice system, will significantly reduce crime.

For example, we've seen in this program that this program has funded a chemical dependency program in Idaho serving at-risk youth with mental health issues and substance abuse and related offenses.

And in Ohio, the program funded a system of graduated sanctions that provided alternatives to secure detention for pre-adjudicated youth.

These are just two examples of how the program successfully provides juvenile justice professionals with alternatives they need so that there is not a one-size-fits-all system of sanctions, regardless of the needs and situation of each juvenile.

We extend and strengthen grants to ensure more accountability for juvenile crime, and so we need to make sure that these principles are kept in mind, and we do more to help communities prevent juvenile crime from occurring in the first place.

I am pleased that this program continues to have bipartisan support. This bill is cosponsored by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers); the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith); and the Crime Subcommittee ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.