[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 43 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E500-E501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 1150, THE JUVENILE CRIME CONTROL AND DELINQUENCY 
                             PREVENTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL N. CASTLE

                              of delaware

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 18, 1999

  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleague from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Greenwood, to introduce H.R. 1150, the Juvenile Crime 
Control and Delinquency Prevention Act. It is essential that Congress 
join together to fight and reduce the rising rates of crime, 
particularly violent crime among children.
  Our children are our most important resource. They are our future 
teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and parents. We need to make 
sure that we do everything in our power to keep them safe from harm and 
prevent them from becoming involved in at-risk activities, such as 
drugs, alcohol abuse, and crime. In 1996 alone, there were over 100,000 
arrests of children and youth under the age of 18 for violent crimes. 
Over 1,000 of those crimes were committed by those under the age of 10 
and 6,500 were committed by youths between the ages of 10 and 12. In my 
home state of Delaware, one out of every five persons arrested in 1996 
was a juvenile.
  The key to lowering these statistics and stopping juvenile crime in 
its tracks is prevention and that is what we do in the Juvenile

[[Page E501]]

Crime Control and Delinquency Prevention Act. This bill acknowledges 
that most successful solutions to juvenile crime are developed at the 
state and local levels by people who understand the unique 
characteristics of youth in their particular area. H.R. 1150 goes a 
long way toward providing states and local providers with more 
flexibility in addressing juvenile crime by reducing burdensome state 
requirements and streamlining current law. Funds in H.R. 1150 can be 
used for prevention activities, including for hiring probation officers 
to monitor youth to ensure they abide by the terms of their probation. 
The bill also acknowledges that interventions and prevention activities 
such as educational assistance, job training employment services are 
effective tools in reducing and preventing juvenile crime. Also 
included in this bill is the Runaway Homeless Youth Act, which targets 
prevention as the best means to combat juvenile violent crime. H.R. 
1150 authorizes programs to keep youth off the streets and away from 
criminal activity, so they will never even have the opportunity to 
become involved in violent crime. The Juvenile Crime Control and 
Delinquency Prevention Act provides the missing link in our efforts to 
combat juvenile crime.
  Identical legislation to H.R. 1150 passed the House of 
Representatives by a vote of 413 to 14 last year. This widely supported 
legislation can go a long way in providing kids support when they are 
most in need.

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