[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 26, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         COMMUNITY PROSECUTION

  (Mr. BLAGOJEVICH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, this morning President Clinton 
allocated $16 million for juvenile drug courts. That is an innovative 
investment in our fight against crime. I am here today, Mr. Speaker, to 
talk about another powerful new strategy in crime fighting: Community 
prosecution.
  With my bill to create a $10 million nationwide pilot program, we can 
put prosecutors in neighborhoods across the country to devise creative 
solutions that can attack conditions that breed crime.
  For example, in Portland, OR, neighborhood prosecutors organized 
teams of residents to patrol business districts and areas plagued by 
car thefts. Car thefts have declined. When Portland's residents feared 
a burned-out building would become a gang hangout, Portland 
neighborhood prosecutors made sure the landlords rebuilt. Gangs 
dispersed.
  These successes in Portland indicate that community prosecution is 
more than just a good idea. It works. We should expand on this Portland 
model and apply it nationwide.

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