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On Friday, February 13, 2009, Congressman
Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) and Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE-AL)
re-introduced the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunity Mentoring,
Intervention, Support and Education, or Youth PROMISE Act into the U.S. House of Represenatives (Bill H.R. 1064). Companion legislation was also introduced in the US Senate (Bill S. 435) by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
The Peace Alliance has officially decided to include this piece of legislation as one of the items we are encouraging our network to support. We feel this is the type of legislation that can act as one of the pillars of support towards increased political will for a U.S. Dept. of Peace and making peacebuilding a priority of national investment.
The Youth PROMISE Act implements the best policy
recommendations from crime policy makers, researchers, practitioners,
analysts, and law enforcement officials from across the political
spectrum concerning evidence- and research-based strategies to reduce
gang violence and crime. Under the Youth PROMISE Act, communities
facing the greatest youth gang and crime challenges will each form a
local council called a Promise Coordinating Council ("PCC"). The PCC
will include representatives from law enforcement, court services,
schools, social service organizations, health and mental health
providers and community-based organizations, including faith-based
organizations. The PCC will then develop a comprehensive plan for
implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies.
These strategies will target young people who are at risk of becoming
involved, or who are already involved in, gangs or the criminal justice
system to redirect them toward productive and law-abiding alternatives.
"During my more than 30 years of public service, I have learned that
when it comes to crime policy, we have a choice - we can reduce crime
or we can play politics," Mr. Scott said. "For far too long, Congress
has chosen to play politics by enacting 'tough on crime' slogans whose
impacts range from a negligible reduction in crime to an increase in
crime. As a result, the United States now has the highest average
incarceration rate of any nation in the world and the cost of
incarceration in this country has risen to over $65 billion a year. All
the credible research and evidence shows that a continuum of
evidenced-based prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth
will greatly reduce crime and save much more than they cost. This is
what the Youth PROMISE Act will do," Scott added.
The bill also provides for law enforcement support through "Youth
Oriented Policing Services" (YOPS), and a victim/witness assistance
program. New provisions of the Youth PROMISE Act this year provide
additional grants to high intensity gang localities to reduce or
alleviate the effects of gang violence, and grants to localities to
fund police and community collaborative programs to provide crime
prevention, research, and intervention services designed to prevent
crime by at-risk youth and youth gang members.
"I have long believed that the best way to reduce violence in this
country is through prevention, and the Youth PROMISE Act does just
that," said Rep. Castle. "We must engage youth in positive ways through
education, after school programs, sports, as well as family and
community support to keep kids away from the dangers of gangs and other
violent activities."
The Youth PROMISE Act was supported last Congress by over 200
national and state juvenile justice, civil rights, education and
religious organizations, including Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the
National Juvenile Defender Center, the Justice Policy Institute, the
NAACP Washington DC Office, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and the
Campaign for Youth Justice, among others. We expect that list to
continue to grow this Congress.
Write to your Senators and Representatives now and ask for their support of S. 435 and H.R. 1064.
KEY MATERIAL
You can find much more information on Congressman Bobby Scott's website.
A list of congressional co-sponsors can found here .
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