09.22.16

Scott Statement on House Passage of Bipartisan Bill to Improve & Strengthen Juvenile Justice System

WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the House passed (382-29) H.R. 5963, Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act of 2016, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA):

“I commend my colleagues for the bipartisan work done in support of our nation’s youth. The bipartisan bill we passed today includes necessary improvements to federal policy firmly grounded in facts, proving that public investments—in a continuum of trauma-informed care and alternatives to incarceration and secure detention—produce positive results for at-risk youth. Those results in turn lead to reduced crime and long-term fiscal savings.

“Today’s bill improves the core protections for youth in the system. It requires states to develop plans to address the pathways by which girls are entering the system at higher rates than boys. And, it directs research to study the different paths of entry into the juvenile system, such as school-based arrests, or failure to pay fines and other fees for minor offenses.

“The legislation also includes language modeled after my Youth PROMISE Act that will provide resources to empower local communities to develop comprehensive evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to reduce youth gang involvement and keep at-risk children on the right path.

“The collaborative work on this bill by the Education and the Workforce Committee gives me hope that we can get a full JJDPA reauthorization over the finish line this year. The Senate Judiciary Committee has marked up and passed its version of JJDPA, and I know Senators Grassley and Whitehouse are working hard to get their bill out of their chamber. I am optimistic that bipartisan support for a bill will spur further action and make its way to the President’s desk for a signature.”

Fact Sheet: Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act of 2016

Section-by-Section Summary: Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act of 2016

Press Contact

EdLaborPress@mail.house.gov

202-226-0853