Prepared Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act of 2015
February 11, 2016
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up and pass the bipartisan Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2015 with an amendment at the desk.
I introduced this measure last April with Senator Whitehouse, and it has three main goals:
First, this measure would extend a 1974 law, known as the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, for five more years. The centerpiece of this 1974 law, which Congress last extended in 2002, is its core protections for youth.
There are four core protections. The first calls for states to avoid detaining youth for low-level “status offenses.” The second requires that juveniles be kept out of adult facilities except in rare instances. The third ensures that juveniles will be separated from adult inmates whenever they’re housed in adult facilities. The fourth calls for reducing disproportionate minority contact in state juvenile justice systems. States adhering to these four requirements receive yearly formula grants to support their juvenile justice systems.
Second, this legislation would make important updates to existing law, in order to ensure that juvenile justice programs will yield the best possible outcomes. The authorization for these programs expired in 2007, but they continue to receive appropriations. Nearly fourteen years have elapsed since the last reauthorization, and the programs are long overdue for an update.
Third, this bill would promote greater accountability in government spending. The Judiciary Committee, which I chair, heard from multiple whistleblowers that reforms are urgently needed to restore the integrity of the formula grant program that is the centerpiece of our current juvenile justice law. The Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention administers this formula grant program.
This grant program would be continued for five more years under S. 1169, but the Justice Department would have to do much more oversight if this bill is enacted. S. 1169 also calls for evidence-based programs to be accorded priority in funding. The goal is to ensure that scarce federal resources for juvenile justice will be devoted mostly to the programs that research shows have the greatest merit and will yield the best results with adolescents.
A coalition of over 100 nonprofit organizations, led by the Campaign for Youth Justice and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, worked closely with us on this bill’s development. Others that have endorsed this measure include Fight Crime Invest in Kids, Boys Town, Rights 4 Girls, the National Criminal Justice Association, the National Council on Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the National District Attorneys Association. Senator Whitehouse and I are grateful for their support of this measure.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank our 15 cosponsors, who include not only numerous Judiciary Committee members but also Senators Blunt, Rubio, Ernst, and other non-committee members. This bill is a truly bipartisan effort, and many Senators contributed provisions to strengthen this bill since we introduced it last April.
There are a few provisions of S. 1169 that I especially want to highlight. First, as already mentioned, this bill calls for continued congressional support of existing grant programs that serve at-risk youth. But it also incorporates new language, championed by the organization Rights 4 Girls, which emphasizes Congress’ support for efforts to reduce delinquency among girls. Experts tell us that many girls in the juvenile justice system today have experienced violence, trauma and poverty.
Second, at the urging of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, this bill gives states three years to phase-out the detention of children who have committed so-called “status offenses.” Status offenses are low-level offenses—such as running away from home, underage tobacco use, curfew violations, or truancy—which wouldn’t be crimes if committed by an adult and which would never result in an adult being jailed. Most status offenders are boys, with one exception: girls account for 60% of runaway cases. Many of these girls and boys come from broken homes, and many have experienced trauma or mental health issues in childhood. Research shows that detention tends to make mentally ill status offenders worse. Because some detention facilities are overcrowded, violent, or chaotic, they can be very dangerous places for the low-risk offender. It is very expensive to lock up a status offender, who doesn’t pose a public safety risk. Finally, experts say that the status offender learns negative behavior from high-risk offenders in detention, which greatly increases his risk of reoffending. Researchers call it “peer deviancy training.”
Third, the bill incorporates new provisions designed to rehabilitate and protect juveniles while they’re in custody. It encourages screening of boys and girls who may be exploited by human traffickers as well as those with trauma, mental health or substance abuse issues. It includes language, authored by Senators Cornyn and Schumer, which would end the shackling of pregnant girls in detention. It calls for greater data collection, including reports on the use of isolation on juveniles in state or local detention facilities. And it includes language calling for states to ensure that juveniles will continue their education while in detention.
The measure we are seeking to pass today also includes a minor amendment, at the request of Senator Murkowski, to ensure that the bill’s definition of the phrase “Indian tribes” is the same as existing law. We also have added several new provisions to meet the better needs of Tribal youth, who are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. They include a requirement that GAO report back to Congress on ways to improve prevention and treatment services, as well as a provision encouraging states to notify Indian tribes when tribal youth come into contact with their juvenile justice systems.
I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work so closely with Senator Whitehouse on these key reform provisions in such a bipartisan manner. And I am pleased we have revisited the authorizing statute for some vitally important juvenile justice programs—a statute which is long overdue for an update, to reflect the latest scientific research on what works with at-risk adolescents.
Thank you Mr. President, and at this time, I also seek unanimous consent to include in the Congressional Record some of the letters we have received in support of this bill's passage.
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