[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FUNDING AND JUVENILE JUSTICE

  (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, in many communities across our country, 
people are living in Hobbesian states of nature where life is nasty, 
beastly, brutish and, all too often, very, very short. The reason is 
that there is a dramatic rise in juvenile crime across this country.
  The number of homicides committed by juveniles increased five times 
the rate of homicides committed by adults. Arrests for juveniles 
committing violent crimes will more than double during the next 15 
years.
  The need to address this problem clearly requires a comprehensive 
approach, yet the juvenile justice bill that is being attempted to be 
passed here in Congress only provides money for 12 States to address 
this problem, 12 States that include Wyoming and Vermont.
  In America, Mr. Speaker, one-third of juvenile crimes occur in four 
cities: in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Yet under this 
bill, while Wyoming and Vermont receive funding to address juvenile 
crime, cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles receive not a 
dime. It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, if we are going to address juvenile 
crime in a comprehensive way, we ought to apply our funding from sea to 
shining sea and do it in the places where juvenile crime occurs.

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