[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5254-S5256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ASHCROFT:
  S. 825. A bill to provide for violent and repeat juvenile offender 
accountability, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.


                 the protect children from violence act

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, yesterday's Washington Post reported a 
decrease in crime nationwide. The Post

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also reported that Attorney General Reno and President Clinton quickly 
stepped up to take credit for this news.
  But in this same article James Alan Fox, dean of Northeastern 
University's college of criminal justice, suggested that the decreasing 
crime numbers were more a function of demographics. According to Dean 
Fox, ``The aging of a large segment of the population has played a key 
role in the decline. Adults tend to be less violent than juveniles.'' 
But if crime statistics are, indeed, a function of demographics, then 
the demographics suggest that the juvenile crime rates will continue to 
rise. As Dean Fox indicated, the juvenile population will grow over the 
next decade.
  The available numbers confirm that the rate of violent juvenile 
crimes is increasing. The Washington Post also mentioned that between 
1985 and 1995, the number of murders committed by juveniles increased 
145 percent. And criminologist suggest that the baby boom of the 1980's 
will bring tidalwave of vicious violent youth onto our streets.
  Mr. President, today, I am introducing legislation to protect our 
children from people who would lead them astray and from those who are 
dangerous in our midst.
  The dangerous environment in which our children live today dictates 
that we make several fundamental changes in the way we treat dangerous, 
violent juveniles and those people--juveniles and adults, alike--who 
lure our children into drugs and gangs. We must come down harder on 
juveniles who commit serious violent crimes--incarcerating them and 
trying them as adults--and we must improve our recordkeeping capability 
for these dangerous juveniles so that courts, police officers, and 
schools know when they have a potential killer in their midst. 
Furthermore, we must punish severely those adults who seek to corrupt 
our kids by luring them into gangs, drugs, and a life of crime.
  This bill, the Protect Children from Violence Act, will update our 
current juvenile justice laws to reflect the new vicious nature of 
today's teen criminals.
  The act has several components, but first and foremost it would 
require Federal prosecutors and States, in order to qualify for $750 
million in new incentive grants, to try as adults those juveniles 14 
and older who commit serious violent offenses, such as rape or murder. 
There is nothing juvenile about these crimes, and the perpetrators must 
be treated and tried as adults.
  Some of the laws on the books inadvertently pervert the direction of 
the law enforcement system, offering more protections to the 
perpetrators, than to the public. This must cease. Strengthening our 
juvenile justice laws is the first line of defense in protecting the 
public and providing greater protection for innocent children than for 
violent criminals.
  In order to do this, we must also ensure that our law enforcement 
officials, courts and schools have clear lines of communications and 
access to the records of violent juvenile offenders. This bill does 
this by requiring the fingerprinting and photographing of juveniles 
found guilty of crimes that would be felonies if committed by an adult. 
The bill would also ensure that those records are made available to 
Federal and State law enforcement officials and school officials, so 
they will know who they are dealing with when they confront a dangerous 
juvenile offender.

  Typically, State statutes seal juvenile criminal records and expunge 
those records when the juvenile reaches age 18. Today's young criminal 
predators understand that when they reach their 18th birthday, they can 
begin their second career as adult criminals with an unblemished 
record. The time has come to discard anachronistic idea that crimes 
committed by juveniles must be kept confidential, no matter how heinous 
the crime.
  Our law enforcement agencies, courts, and school officials need 
improved access to juvenile records so that they have the tools to deal 
with the exponential increase in the severity and frequency of juvenile 
crimes.
  For too long, law enforcement officers have operated in the dark. Our 
police departments need to have access to the prior juvenile criminal 
records of individuals to assist them in criminal investigations and 
apprehension.
  According to Police Chief David G. Walchak, who is immediate past 
president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, law 
enforcement officials are in desperate need of access to juvenile 
criminal records. The police chief has said, ``Current juvenile 
records--both arrest and adjudication--are inconsistent across the 
States, and are usually unavailable to the various programs' staff who 
work with youthful offenders.''
  Chief Walchak also notes that ``If we [in law enforcement] don't know 
who the youthful offenders are, we can't appropriately intervene.''
  Chief Walchak is not the only one saying this. Law enforcement 
officers in my home State have told me that when they arrest juveniles 
they have no idea with whom they are dealing because the records are 
kept confidential.
  School officials, as well as courts and law enforcement officials, 
need access to juvenile criminal records to assist them in providing 
for the best interests of all students and preventing more tragedies.
  The decline in school safety across the country can be attributed to 
a significant degree to laws that put the protection of dangerous 
students ahead of protecting the innocent--those that go to school to 
learn, not to rape, maim, and murder.
  While visiting with school officials in Sikeston, MO, a teacher told 
me how one of her students came to school wearing an electronic 
monitoring ankle bracelet. Can you imagine being that teacher and 
having to turn around--back to the class--to write on the chalk board 
not knowing whether that student was a rapist, or even a murderer?
  School officials need access to juvenile criminal records so that 
they can keep a close eye on potentially dangerous predators and take 
preventive measures. Judicial and law enforcement authorities need this 
information because it is vital to the protection of public safety.
  In addition to requiring that Federal and State prosecutors try 
violent juvenile offenders as adults and increasing recordkeeping and 
sharing capability, this bill also enhances the Federal criminal 
penalties for those adults who seek to lure juveniles into criminal 
activity or drug use.

  For example, any adult who distributes drugs to a minor, traffics in 
drugs in or near a school, or uses minors to distribute drugs would 
face a minimum 3-year jail sentence--as compared to the 1-year minimum 
under current law.
  This bill also doubles the maximum jail time and fines for adults who 
use minors in crimes of violence. The second time the adult hides 
behind the juvenile status of a child by using him to commit a crime, 
the adult faces a tripling of the maximum sentence, and fine.
  Furthermore, the Protect Children from Violence Act elevates a 
Federal crime the recruiting of minors to participate in gang activity. 
Under this legislation, those gangsters who lure our children into 
gangs will face a Federal prosecutor and a Federal penitentiary.
  A 1993 survey reported an estimated 4,881 gangs with 249,324 gang 
members in the United States. Those figures are disturbing enough. But 
a second study, conducted just 2 years later, found that the number of 
gangs had increased more than fourfold, with 23,388 gangs claiming over 
650,000 members. We need legislation to stem this rising tide.
  Let me quickly recap the highlights of this legislation. In order to 
qualify for incentive grants, States would be required to try juveniles 
as adults if they commit certain violent crimes such as rape and 
murder. States also would have to fingerprint and keep records on 
juveniles who commit crimes that would be felonies if committed by 
adults, and States must allow public access to juvenile criminal 
records of repeat juvenile offenders. These same provisions would apply 
to Federal law enforcement officials. To protect our children from 
adults who prey on them, this bill doubles and triples the jail time 
for those convicted of using a juvenile to commit a violent crime or to 
distribute drugs. Anyone caught dealing drugs to minors or near a 
school will face three times the penalty under current law.
  This bill is a reasonable and prudent response to the threat that 
violent

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youths, and the adults that lead them into life of crime, pose to our 
children. The moneys authorized will be used to deter and incarcerate 
violent juvenile criminals, not just to provide for more midnight 
basketball and prevention programs--the situation, and our future, 
demands more that that. We need to take into account the needs of the 
innocent children--not sacrifice their protection in the name of 
privacy of violent juvenile perpetrators.
                                 ______