On December 17, 2009, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by a roll call vote of 12-7, S. 678, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009 as amended. All Democratic Senators, with the exception of Senator Feinstein (CA), voted in favor of the bill. Senator Grassley (IA) also voted in favor of the bill, while all other Republican Senators voted against it.
[1] Click here to read the public statement released by CJJ on the Judiciary Committee’s passage of S. 678.
Originally sponsored by Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI), Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), and co-sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Al Franken (D-MN), S. 678 strengthens and advances the JJDPA to:
- Encourage states to make critical improvements to juvenile justice systems, to improve conditions of confinement and adopt evidence based practices;
- Give states authority to retain delinquent offenders under juvenile jurisdiction after they have reached the age of majority, in keeping with state law;
- Place commonsense limits on the pretrial detention of juveniles in adult jails;
- Create a meaningful approach for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice by strengthening the JJDPA’s disproportionate minority contact (DMC) core requirement;
- Restore and increase federal authorizations for core juvenile justice programs;
- Create new incentives for improving mental health and substance abuse assessment, treatment and diversion, as well as case management and re-entry services; and
- Reaffirm the federal-state partnership by supporting states’ efforts to comply with JJDPA core requirements, strengthening research and technical assistance to be conducted by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and increasing transparency on the part of OJJDP and the states.
An amendment by Senator Sessions (R-AL) that would have broadened federal juvenile transfer law was defeated by a vote of 13-6.
During the markup, three amendments were approved:
- An amendment by Senator Feingold (D-WI) to attach the PRECAUTION Act, legislation to create a National Commission on Public Safety Through Crime and Delinquency Prevention charged with identifying and disseminating effective crime and delinquency prevention and intervention strategies.
- An amendment by Senator Durbin (D-IL) to establish a new competitive grant program for OJJDP to “make grants to and enter contracts with qualified youth and family serving organizations, or combinations thereof, to provide an integrated continuum of services and programs for the prevention, control, or reduction of juvenile delinquency.” The amendment authorizes $80,000,000 over five years; but the funds are not administered through SAGs.
- The Committee also accepted, by a vote of 10-9, an amendment by Senator Grassley (R-IO) that requires the General Accounting Office (GAO) to evaluate OJJDP and “conduct a comprehensive audit and evaluation of a selected, statistically significant sample of grantees that receive Federal funds under grant programs administered by [OJJDP] including a review of internal controls to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of funds by grantees.”
S. 678 as amended now heads to the Senate floor for final consideration and passage. The likelihood of final passage before the end of this year is slim. The more likely scenario is that the bill will receive floor consideration in the early part of 2010.
Achieving today’s Committee passage of S. 678 by such a strong margin is a great victory and a wonderful testament to the hard work and solid advocacy efforts of CJJ members and allies over the last four years.
Congratulations to everyone for a job well done! Onward and upward!
[1]: http://juvjustice.org/media/resources/public/resource_322.pdf