[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2671 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2671

 To build safer, thriving communities, and save lives by investing in 
               effective violence reduction initiatives.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 23, 2019

 Mr. Booker (for himself, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Harris, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. 
  Klobuchar, and Mr. Durbin) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To build safer, thriving communities, and save lives by investing in 
               effective violence reduction initiatives.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Break the Cycle of Violence Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Gun violence is a significant public health and safety 
        concern nationwide and is a leading cause of death for people 
        in the United States of nearly all ages.
            (2) From 2012 to 2017, over 105,000 people in the United 
        States were murdered. Nearly \3/4\ of these victims were 
        murdered with a gun. Hundreds of thousands more were 
        hospitalized or treated in emergency departments after 
        surviving life-changing gunshot injuries.
            (3) Gun violence has sharply increased in the United States 
        in recent years. Gun homicide rates spiked by 30 percent 
        between 2014 and 2017, driven by large spikes in violence in 
        some cities in the United States.
            (4) Shootings, homicides, and group-related violence are 
        disproportionately concentrated in the poorest and most 
        segregated urban areas of the Nation, and have an enormously 
        disproportionate impact on young people of color in particular. 
        From 2012 to 2017, African-American children and teens were 14 
        times as likely to be shot to death as their White peers. 
        Hispanic children and teens and Native American children and 
        teens were both nearly 3 times as likely to be shot to death as 
        their White peers.
            (5) African-American men make up just 6 percent of the 
        population in the United States, but account for more than 50 
        percent of all gun homicide victims each year.
            (6) Violence is responsible for half of all deaths among 
        young African-American men, ages 15 through 24, as many as 
        every other cause of death combined.
            (7) This violence imposes enormous human, social, and 
        economic costs. Nationwide, the annual societal cost of firearm 
        violence was estimated at $229,000,000,000 per year in 2012. 
        Economists estimate that each firearm homicide generates 
        hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct public costs, 
        including medical care and criminal justice expenses.
            (8) Several evidence-based violence intervention strategies 
        have demonstrated remarkable success at interrupting entrenched 
        cycles of violence, victimization, and retaliation. These 
        strategies reflect the important fact that in most cities, the 
        vast majority of violence is perpetrated by a relatively small 
        number of identifiable groups or individuals that comprise less 
        than 0.5 percent of the city's total population.
            (9) When properly implemented and consistently funded, 
        coordinated, evidence-based strategies focused on interrupting 
        cycles of violence among individuals at highest risk can 
        produce life-saving and cost-saving results in a short period 
        of time without contributing to mass incarceration. Multiple 
        cities have substantially reduced community violence in recent 
        years by implementing such strategies, including the following:
                    (A) Hospital-based violence intervention programs 
                (referred to in this section as ``HVIP''), which work 
                to break cycles of violence by providing intensive 
                counseling, peer support, case management, mediation, 
                and social services to patients recovering from gunshot 
                wounds and other violent injuries. Research has shown 
                that violently injured patients are at high risk of 
                retaliating with violence themselves and being 
                revictimized by violence in the near future. 
                Evaluations of HVIPs have found that patients who 
                received HVIP services were 4 times less likely to be 
                convicted of a violent crime and roughly 4 times less 
                likely to be subsequently reinjured by violence than 
                patients who did not receive HVIP services.
                    (B) Evidence-based street outreach programs, which 
                treat gun violence as a communicable disease and work 
                to interrupt its transmission among community members. 
                These public health-centered initiatives use street 
                outreach workers to build relationships with high-risk 
                individuals in their communities and connect them with 
                intensive counseling, mediation, peer support, and 
                social services in order to reduce their risk of 
                violence. Evaluations have found that these programs 
                are associated with significant reductions in gun 
                violence, with some sites reporting up to 70-percent 
                reductions in homicides or assaults.
                    (C) Strategies, including group violence 
                interventions (referred to in this section as ``GVI''), 
                which are a form of problem-oriented policing that 
                provides targeted social services and support to 
                individuals at highest risk for involvement in 
                community violence, and a process for community members 
                to voice a clear demand for the violence to stop. This 
                approach coordinates law enforcement, service 
                providers, and community engagement efforts to reduce 
                violence among a small, identifiable segment of the 
                population that is responsible for the vast majority of 
                gun violence in most cities. In one evaluation of the 
                GVI program in Boston, researchers found a 63-percent 
                reduction in youth homicides and a 25-percent decline 
                in monthly gun assaults across the city. Other studies 
                have found that GVI programs were associated with 
                homicide reductions of up to 60 percent.
            (10) These strategies are often most effective when local 
        officials and dedicated staff work to coordinate stakeholders, 
        relevant public agencies, and service providers. Mayors in 
        cities like Los Angeles and New York have established city 
        departments that are primarily dedicated to violence 
        prevention, and their offices have played a critical role in 
        ensuring cross-agency collaboration and information sharing.
            (11) These strategies are also most effective when they 
        receive consistent funding. For example, large cuts in funding 
        for violence prevention programs in Chicago in 2008, 2012, and 
        2015 through 2016 corresponded with large spikes in homicides 
        in those years. Similarly, the city of Stockton, California, 
        saw an increase in homicides after discontinuing funding for 
        its highly successful GVI program. When Stockton's funding was 
        restored, homicides decreased.
            (12) A national strategy for reducing gun violence must 
        include substantial and targeted Federal funding to expand and 
        replicate the most effective strategies in communities most 
        impacted by violence.
            (13) At present, however, these strategies are implemented 
        in only a handful of cities and are funded through an 
        unreliable patchwork of discretionary grant programs. The 
        current level of Federal funding to support the scaling of 
        these strategies is woefully inadequate.
            (14) Intentional and sustained investments in evidence-
        based violence reduction strategies can reverse recent crime 
        trends, help to heal impacted communities, and reduce the 
        enormous human and financial costs of violence, without 
        contributing to mass incarceration.

SEC. 3. COMMUNITY-BASED VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM GRANTS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
            (2) Eligible unit of local government.--The term ``eligible 
        unit of local government'' means a unit of local government 
        that--
                    (A) for not less frequently than 2 out of the 3 
                years preceding the grant application, experienced 20 
                or more homicides per year and had a homicide rate that 
                was not less than double the national average; or
                    (B) demonstrates a unique and compelling need for 
                additional resources to address gun and group-related 
                violence within the community of the unit of local 
                government.
    (b) Grants.--The Director shall award Community-Based Violence 
Intervention Program grants to support, enhance, and replicate 
coordinated violence reduction initiatives in units of local government 
that are disproportionately impacted by gun and group-related violence.
    (c) Eligibility.--The Director shall award grants under this 
section on a competitive basis to--
            (1) eligible units of local government; and
            (2) community-based organizations that serve the residents 
        of an eligible unit of local government.
    (d) Use of Funds.--
            (1) In general.--A grant awarded under this section shall 
        be used to implement coordinated violence reduction 
        initiatives, through strategies such as hospital-based violence 
        intervention, evidence-based street outreach, and group 
        violence intervention.
            (2) Requirements.--A coordinated violence reduction 
        initiative implemented using grant funds awarded under this 
        section shall--
                    (A) be primarily focused on providing community-
                based violence intervention services to the small 
                portion of a grantee's community who are, regardless of 
                age, identified as having the highest risk of 
                perpetrating or being victimized by gun or group-
                related violence in the near future; and
                    (B) use strategies that are evidence-based and have 
                demonstrated effectiveness at reducing violence.
    (e) Application Requirements.--Each applicant for a grant under 
this section shall submit a grant proposal, which shall, at a minimum--
            (1) describe how the applicant proposes to use the grant to 
        implement a coordinated violence reduction initiative in 
        accordance with this section;
            (2) describe how the applicant proposes to use the grant to 
        promote or improve coordination between relevant agencies and 
        community organizations in order to minimize duplication of 
        services and achieve maximum impact;
            (3) provide evidence indicating that the proposed violence 
        reduction initiative would likely reduce gun and group-related 
        violence; and
            (4) in the case of a unit of local government applicant, 
        demonstrate strong support within the unit of local government 
        for the proposed violence reduction initiative, such as letters 
        of support from--
                    (A) the mayor or chief executive officer;
                    (B) the chief of police;
                    (C) the local health department director; and
                    (D) the director of one or more community-based 
                organizations that provide services to individuals at 
                high risk of violence in the area.
    (f) Prioritization.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Director shall give preference to applicants whose grant proposals 
demonstrate the greatest likelihood of reducing gun and group-related 
violence in the community of the applicant without contributing to mass 
incarceration.
    (g) Grant Duration.--A grant awarded under this section shall be 
for a 5-year period.
    (h) Grant Award.--The amount of funds awarded to an applicant under 
this section shall be commensurate with the scope of the proposal of 
the applicant and the demonstrated need for additional resources to 
effectively reduce gun and group-related violence in the community of 
the applicant.
    (i) Matching Funds Required.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and 
        (3), the Federal share of each grant awarded under this section 
        shall be 75 percent of the eligible costs incurred by the grant 
        recipient.
            (2) Exemption from requirement.--Paragraph (1) shall not 
        apply to a grant awarded to community-based organization under 
        subsection (c)(2).
            (3) Waiver.--The Federal share of a grant awarded to a unit 
        of local government under subsection (c)(1) may be up to 100 
        percent if the Director determines there is good cause to waive 
        the Federal share requirement in paragraph (1) of this 
        subsection.
    (j) Community Partnerships.--Each unit of local government awarded 
a grant under this section shall distribute not less than 50 percent of 
the grant funds received under this section to--
            (1) one or more community-based organizations that provide 
        services to individuals at high risk of perpetrating or being 
        victimized by violence; or
            (2) a public agency or department that is not a law 
        enforcement agency, but that is an agency or department 
        primarily dedicated to the prevention of violence or community 
        safety.
    (k) Reports.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the 
first 5-year grant period under this section ends, the Director shall 
publish a report identifying best practices for cities implementing 
evidence-based violence intervention initiatives.
    (l) Rewarding Success.--
            (1) In general.--The Director may reserve not more than 10 
        percent of the funds appropriated for a fiscal year under 
        subsection (o) for supplemental incentive funds to be 
        distributed to grantees outside the competitive grant process 
        in accordance with paragraph (2).
            (2) Distribution of additional funds.--The Director may 
        distribute amounts reserved under paragraph (1), in the 
        discretion of the Director, to a grantee under subsection (b) 
        that has--
                    (A) implemented the grant for not less than 2 
                years;
                    (B) demonstrated exceptional commitment and 
                progress toward implementing the violence reduction 
                initiatives of the grantee; and
                    (C) shown that the grantee would likely achieve 
                more substantial reductions in violence with additional 
                Federal funding.
            (3) Federal share.--Subsection (i) shall not apply to any 
        amounts distributed to a grantee under this subsection.
            (4) Explanation of distribution.--Upon distributing 
        supplemental incentive funds to a grantee, the Director shall 
        publish a statement on the website of the Bureau of Justice 
        Assistance that clearly explains the basis for the decision to 
        award these funds to a particular grantee.
    (m) Evaluation and Technical Assistance.--The Director may reserve 
not more than 8 percent of the funds appropriated for a fiscal year 
under subsection (o) for the purpose of--
            (1) contracting with or hiring technical assistance 
        providers with experience implementing community-based violence 
        reduction initiatives; and
            (2) contracting with independent researchers to evaluate 
        the performance and impact of selected initiatives supported by 
        the Community-Based Violence Intervention Program grant, and 
        such evaluations shall be made publicly available on the 
        website of the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
    (n) Nonsupplanting Clause.--A grantee receiving a grant under this 
section shall use the grant to supplement, and not supplant, the amount 
of funds the grantee would otherwise dedicate to reducing gun and 
group-related violence in the community of the grantee.
    (o) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in addition to any 
amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated or made available to 
the Bureau of Justice Assistance, $65,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2020 through 2029.

SEC. 4. HOSPITAL-BASED VIOLENCE INTERVENTION GRANTS.

    (a) Grants.--The Director of the National Institutes of Health 
(referred to in this section as the ``Director'') shall award grants on 
a competitive basis to support hospital-based or hospital-linked 
violence intervention programs that work to interrupt cycles of 
violence and reduce risk of violent injury and retaliation among 
patients identified as being at highest risk for involvement in 
community violence.
    (b) Eligibility.--Grants shall be made available under this section 
to private and public hospitals that treat at least 250 patients 
annually for firearm assault or stabbing injuries, and to community-
based organizations that operate violence intervention programs in such 
hospitals.
    (c) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the Director 
shall give priority to nonprofit hospitals that serve communities with 
the highest incidence of violent injury and injury recidivism, and 
community-based organizations that operate violence intervention 
programs in such hospitals.
    (d) Grant Requirements.--
            (1) In general.--Each grant awarded under this section 
        shall be used to implement or enhance a hospital-based or 
        hospital-linked violence intervention program, to reduce risk 
        of violent injury and retaliatory violence among patients 
        identified as being at highest risk for involvement in 
        community violence.
            (2) Other requirements.--Any program supported by this 
        grant shall be evidence-informed and implemented in accordance 
        with standards prescribed by the Director, in consultation with 
        the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention.
    (e) Application Requirements.--Each application for a grant under 
this section shall describe--
            (1) how the applicant proposes to use the grant to 
        implement or enhance a hospital-based or hospital-linked 
        violence intervention program in accordance with this section; 
        and
            (2) how the applicant plans to coordinate its violence 
        intervention program with other relevant stakeholders or 
        violence intervention programs in the community, if any, to 
        maximize impact and minimize duplication of services.
    (f) Grant Duration.--A grant awarded under this section shall be 
for a 5-year period.
    (g) Evaluation and Technical Assistance.--The Director may reserve 
not more than 10 percent of the funds appropriated under subsection (i) 
for the purpose of contracting with or hiring technical assistance 
providers with experience implementing hospital-based or hospital-
linked violence intervention initiatives, and for the purpose of 
contracting with independent researchers to evaluate the performance 
and impact of selected programs supported by grants awarded under this 
section. Such evaluations shall be made publicly available on the 
internet website of the National Institutes of Health.
    (h) Nonsupplanting Clause.--An entity receiving a grant under this 
section shall use such grant to supplement, and not supplant, funds 
otherwise available to support violence intervention programs of the 
entity.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated, in addition to any amounts 
otherwise made available to the National Institutes of Health, 
$25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2029.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENT 
              CRIME.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) hospital-based and hospital-linked violence 
        intervention programs have shown effective results as a 
        strategy in reducing violently injured crime victims' risk of 
        injury recidivism and retaliation; and
            (2) young men of color are disproportionately victimized by 
        violent crime and gun and group-related violence in particular, 
        but are frequently underserved by the victim services field.
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