[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 117 (Friday, September 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10738-S10741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, Senator Harkin and I have just announced 
a significant program on youth violence prevention, which I think is 
worthy of a comment or two on the Senate floor before we adjourn.
  Next week, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and 
Education will have a markup. Senator Harkin is ranking minority member 
of that subcommittee, and I chair it. We have worked through a program 
on a youth violence prevention initiative where we are allocating 
$850.8 million; $330 million is new money and the balance is a 
reallocation of funds within the Departments which will be directed 
toward preventing the scourge of youth violence of which we have seen 
so much in Littleton, CO, and so many other places.
  The programs which we will be providing will involve counseling, 
literacy grants, afterschool programs, drug-free schools, alcohol 
therapy rehabilitation, mental health services, job training, character 
education, and metal detectors to prevent guns from being taken into 
schools.
  This program will be directed by the Surgeon General, recognizing 
this as a national health crisis as articulated as long ago as 1982 by 
Dr. C. Everett Koop who was then the Surgeon General.
  When these terrible occurrences happen at places like Littleton, 
there is a lot of hand wringing and a lot of finger pointing, but we 
have yet to have a sustained coordinated effort on a long-term basis to 
deal with the underlying causes and come to grips with those causes.
  Senator Harkin and I convened three lengthy meetings among the 
professionals of the three Departments: the Department of Education, 
the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services. 
The experts who sat together said that was the first time they had been 
convened in that kind of a session.
  After the first session, they went back to the drawing boards, and 
did so again after the second session and again after the third session 
and, in conjunction with our subcommittee staff, have worked out an 
extensive program which is comprehended in 11 pages of our proposed 
markup next week.
  Included in this program is funding for the Surgeon General to pull 
together all the available information on the impact of movies, 
television, and video game violence and to undertake whatever other 
studies are necessary with appropriate methodology, with many in those 
industries claiming that the existing studies do not really deal in a 
methodological way that is accurate.
  Next Tuesday, there will be a hearing of our subcommittee where the 
Secretaries of the three Departments, plus the Deputy Attorney General 
Eric Holder will participate where we will be moving forward with the 
specifics on this program.
  This program has been coordinated with the President through his 
Office of Domestic Policy. We think it could provide a very significant 
step in dealing with youth violence prevention--a very major problem in 
America today. This goes to the underlying causes.
  I ask unanimous consent that the 11-page text of our program be 
printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  Youth Violence Prevention Initiative

       The shocking events surrounding the shootings at public 
     schools serve to highlight a problem that is neither new nor 
     predictable by way of demographics, region or economic 
     standing. Violent behavior on the part of young people is no 
     longer confined to inner-city street gangs. For all of the 
     hope and inspiration our young people give us, we now find 
     ourselves profoundly troubled by the behavior of some of the 
     younger generation.
       An estimated 3 million crimes a year are committed in or 
     near the nation's 85,000 public schools. During the 1996-97 
     school year alone, one-fifth of public high schools and 
     middle schools reported at least one violent crime incident, 
     such as murder, rape or robbery; more than half reported less 
     serious crimes. Homicide is now the third leading cause of 
     death for children age 10 to 14. For more than a decade it 
     has been the leading cause of death among minority youth 
     between the ages of 15 and 24. The trauma and anxiety that 
     violence begets in our children most certainly interferes 
     with their ability to learn and their teachers' ability to 
     teach: an increasing number of school-aged children say they 
     often fear for their own safety in and around their 
     classroom.
       The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 requires states to pass 
     laws mandating school districts to expel any student who 
     brings a firearm to school. A recent study indicates that the 
     number of students carrying weapons to school dropped from 
     26.1 percent in 1991 to 18.3 percent in 1997. While this 
     trend is encouraging, the prevalence of youth violence is 
     still unacceptably high. Recent incidents clearly indicate 
     that much more needs to be done. Some of the funds provided 
     in this initiative will help state and local authorities to 
     purchase metal detectors and hire security officers to reduce 
     or eliminate the number of weapons brought into educational 
     settings.
       Fault does not rest with one single factor. In another 
     time, society might have turned to government for the answer. 
     However, there is no easy solution, and total reliance

[[Page S10739]]

     on government would be a mistake. Youth violence has become a 
     public health problem that requires a national effort. 
     Certainly, our government at all levels--federal, state and 
     local--must play a role. But we must also enlist the energies 
     and resources of private organizations, businesses, 
     families and the children themselves.
       The Committee is aware of the controversy regarding the 
     media's role in influencing in youth violence. The Committee 
     recognizes that some members of the entertainment industry 
     have challenged the methodology of studies conducted over the 
     past 3 decades which have linked movies, television programs, 
     song lyrics, and video games with violent behavior. The 
     Committee believes that any studies that determine causative 
     factors for youth violence should be based on sound 
     methodology which yields statistically significant and 
     replicable results. Despite disagreement over the media's 
     role, the Committee is encouraged by historic efforts of 
     various sectors of the entertainment industry to monitor and 
     discipline themselves and to regulate content. The industry's 
     self-imposed, voluntary ratings systems are steps in the 
     right direction. Further vigilance, however, is needed to 
     ensure that media products are distributed responsibly, and 
     that ratings systems are appropriate and informative so that 
     parents are empowered to monitor their youths' consumption of 
     movies, television programs, music and video games.
       Many familial, psychological, biological and environmental 
     factors contribute to youths' propensity toward violence. The 
     youth violence prevention initiative contained in this bill 
     is built around these factors and seeks to be comprehensive 
     and to eliminate the conditions which cultivate violence.
       Over the past several months, the Committee convened three 
     lengthy meetings with the Deputy Attorney General; the 
     Surgeon General; Assistant Secretary for Management and 
     Budget, DHHS; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
     Elementary and Secondary Education and the Director of Safe 
     and Drug Free Schools; Assistant Secretary for Special 
     Education; Commissioner, Administration for Children and 
     Families; Director, National Institute of Mental Health; 
     Director of Policy, Employment and Training Administration; 
     Director of Program Development, Center for Mental Health 
     Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
     Administration; Director, Division of Violence Prevention, 
     National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers 
     for Disease Control; Assistant Surgeon General; Deputy 
     Assistant Secretary for Health; Acting Director, Office of 
     Victims of Crime, Department of Justice; Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary for Employment and Training, Department of Labor; 
     and the National Association of School Psychologists. These 
     officials expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to 
     discuss this issue with other agency administrators, and 
     share their particular programs' approaches to preventing 
     youth violence. The meeting participants enthusiastically 
     endorsed a coordinated interagency approach to the youth 
     violence problem, and discussed how best to efficiently 
     collaborate with other agencies and organizations across the 
     government and in the private sector.
       Based on those three meetings and staff follow up, the 
     following action plan was developed.
       The Committee has included $850,800,000 for a youth 
     violence prevention initiative. These funds together with 
     increases included for the National Institute of Mental 
     Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and the National 
     Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism will provide 
     increased resources to address school violence issues in a 
     comprehensive way. This coordinated approach will improve 
     research, prevention, education and treatment strategies to 
     address youth violence.


             1. Office of the United States Surgeon General

       A. Coordination by the United States Surgeon General.--The 
     Committee views youth violence as a public health problem, 
     and therefore directs the United States Surgeon General to 
     take the lead role in coordinating a federal initiative to 
     prevent youth violence. The Office of the Surgeon General 
     (OSG) within the Office of Public Health and Science shall be 
     responsible for the development and oversight of cross-
     cutting initiatives within the Department of Health and Human 
     Services and with other Federal Agencies to coordinate 
     existing programs, some of which are outlined below, to 
     reduce the incidence of youth violence in the United States. 
     The Committee has included $4,000,000 directly to the OSG to 
     help in this coordination effort. Sufficient funds have been 
     included for a Surgeon General's report on youth violence. 
     This report, to be coordinated by the OSG should review the 
     biological, psychosocial and environmental determinants of 
     violence, including a comprehensive analysis of the effects 
     of the media, the internet, and video games on violent 
     behavior and the effectiveness of preventive interventions 
     for violent behavior, homicide, and suicide. The OSG shall 
     have lead responsibility for this report and its 
     implementation activities.
       B. Federal Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of 
     Youth Violence.--The Committee also directs the Secretary of 
     HHS to establish a Federal Coordinating Committee on the 
     Prevention of Youth Violence. This Committee should be 
     chaired by the Surgeon General and co-chaired by a 
     representative from the OSG, within the Office of Public 
     Health and Science, the Departments of Justice, Education and 
     Labor to foster interdepartmental collaboration and 
     implementation of programs and initiatives to prevent youth 
     violence. The representative from the OSG within the Office 
     of Public Health and Science shall report directly to the 
     Surgeon General and shall coordinate this initiative.
       C. National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth 
     Violence Prevention.--The Committee has included $10,000,000 
     to support the establishment of ten National Centers of 
     Excellence at academic health centers that will serve as 
     national models for the prevention of youth violence. These 
     Centers should: (1) develop and implement a multi-
     disciplinary research agenda on the risk and protective 
     factors for youth violence, on the interaction of 
     environmental and individual risk factors, and on preventive 
     and therapeutic interventions; (2) develop and evaluate 
     preventive interventions for youth violence, establishing 
     strong linkages to the community, schools and with social 
     service and health organizations; (3) develop a community 
     response plan for youth violence, bringing together diverse 
     perspectives including health and mental health 
     professionals, educators, the media, parents, young people, 
     police, legislators, public health specialists, and business 
     leaders; and (4) develop a curriculum for the training of 
     health care professionals on violent behavior identification, 
     assessment and intervention with high risk youth, and 
     integrate this curriculum into medical, nursing and other 
     health professional training programs.
       D. National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center.--The 
     Committee has included $2,500,000 to establish a National 
     Resource Center on Youth Violence Prevention. This center 
     should establish a toll free number (in English and Spanish) 
     and an internet website, in coordination with existing 
     Federal web site resources, to provide accurate youth 
     violence prevention and intervention information produced by 
     the government and linked to private resources. Hundreds of 
     resources are now available on this issue including 
     statistics, brochures, monographs, descriptions of practices 
     that work, and manuals about how to implement effective 
     interventions. This Resource Center will provide a single, 
     user-friendly point of access to important, potentially life-
     saving information about youth violence, and an explanation 
     about preventing youth violence and how to intervene. 
     Additionally, technical assistance on how to establish 
     programs in communities across the country by providing local 
     resources would also be made available through the National 
     Resource Center.
       E. Health Care Professional Training.--The Committee has 
     included sufficient funds for the training of primary health 
     care providers, pediatricians and obstetricians/gynecologists 
     in detecting child and youth violence stemming from child 
     abuse.


                 2. National Institute of Mental Health

       A. Zero to Five.--Many risk factors are established early 
     in a child's life (0 to 5 years), including child abuse and 
     neglect. However, less dramatic problems that delay cognitive 
     and social and emotional development may also lead to later 
     serious conduct problems that are resistant to change. The 
     Committee encourages NIMH to address both of these types of 
     problems by supporting research to understand and prevent 
     abuse and neglect, by encouraging research on how to best 
     instruct parents and child care workers in appropriate 
     interventions, and by supporting research that develops and 
     evaluates interventions for early disruptive behavior in 
     diverse preschool and community settings. In addition, the 
     Institute should work to ensure that the goals of all 
     interventions include effectiveness and sustainability.
       B. Five to twelve.--Attention Deficit Hyperactivity 
     Disorder (ADHD) and depression often emerge in the 5-12 year 
     age range. Comprehensive research-based programs have been 
     developed to provide such children with the mental health 
     services and behavioral interactions they need. The Committee 
     urges NIMH to continue its work toward the development and 
     evaluation of programs aimed at prevention, early 
     recognition, and intervention for depression and youth 
     suicide in diverse school and community settings to determine 
     their effectiveness and sustainability; to support the 
     development and evaluation of behavioral interventions for 
     home and classroom to manage ADHD; to identify through 
     research the most cost-effective features of proven 
     prevention programs for resource poor communities; and to 
     support multi-site clinical trials to establish safe and 
     effective treatment of acute and long-term depression and 
     ADHD.
       C. 12 to 18.--Early adolescence is an important time to 
     stop the progression of violent behavior and delinquency. 
     Multisystemic therapy (MST), in which specially trained 
     individuals work with the youth and family in their homes, 
     schools and communities, have been found to reduce chronic 
     violent or delinquent behavior. Research has shown sustained 
     improvements for at least 4 years, and MST appears to be cost 
     effective when compared to conventional community treatment 
     programs in that it has proven to reduce hospitalization and 
     incarceration.
       D. Behavioral and Psychosocial Therapies.--Therapeutic 
     Foster Care is an effective home based intervention for 
     chronically offending

[[Page S10740]]

     delinquents. Key elements of the program include providing 
     supervision, structure, consistency, discipline, and positive 
     reinforcement. This intervention results in fewer runaways 
     and program failures than other placements and is less 
     expensive. The Committee encourages NIMH to work in 
     collaboration with CDC, SAMHSA, and the Department of Justice 
     to implement effective model interventions for juvenile 
     offenders with conduct disorders in diverse populations and 
     settings. NIMH has initiated the nation's first large-scale 
     multi-site clinical trial for treatment of adolescent 
     depression, and the Committee supports additional research to 
     improve recognition of adolescent depression.
       E. Public Health Research, Data Collection and Community-
     based Interventions.--There are four cross-cutting areas in 
     need of further research action across all agencies: 
     community interventions, media, health provider training, and 
     information dissemination. The Committee directs NIMH to 
     ensure that research focuses on: examining the feasibility of 
     public health programs combining individual, family and 
     community level interventions to address violence and 
     identify best practices; developing curricula for health care 
     providers and educators to identify pediatric depression and 
     other risk factors for violent behavior; studying the impact 
     of the media, computer games, internet, etc., on violent 
     behavior; disseminating information to families, schools, and 
     communities to recognize childhood depression, suicide risk, 
     substance abuse, and ADHD and decreasing the stigma 
     associated with seeking mental health care. The Committee 
     also encourages NIMH to work in collaboration with CDC and 
     SAMHSA to create a system to provide technical assistance to 
     schools and communities to provide public health information 
     and best practices to schools and communities to work with 
     high risk youth. The Committee has included sufficient funds 
     to collect data on the number and percentage of students 
     engaged in violent behavior, incidents of serious violent 
     crime in schools, suicide attempts, and students suspended 
     and/or expelled from school.


                  3. National Institute of Drug Abuse

       Drug abuse is a risk factor for violent behavior. The 
     Committee encourages NIDA to support research on the 
     contribution of drug abuse including methamphetamine use, its 
     co-morbidity with mental illness, and treatment approaches to 
     prevent violent behavior.


         4. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

       The Committee encourages NIAAA to examine the relationship 
     of alcohol and youth violence with other mental disorders and 
     to test interventions to prevent alcohol abuse and its 
     consequences.


                   5. Safe Schools, Healthy students

       Mental Health Counselors/Community Support/Technical 
     Assistance and Education.--The Committee has included 
     $80,000,000, an increase of $40,000,000 over the fiscal year 
     1999 appropriation, to support the delivery and improvement 
     of mental health services, including school-based counselors, 
     in our nation's schools. These funds allow State and local 
     mental health counselors to work closely with schools and 
     communities to provide services to children with emotional, 
     behavioral, or social disorders. Some of these funds also 
     help train teachers, school administrators, and community 
     groups that work with youths to identify children with 
     emotional or behavioral disorders. The program is being 
     administered collaboratively by the Substance Abuse and 
     Mental Health Services Administration within the Department 
     of Health and Human Services and the Departments of Education 
     and Justice to help school districts implement a wide range 
     of early childhood development techniques, early intervention 
     and prevention strategies, suicide prevention, and increased 
     and improved mental health treatment services. Some of the 
     early childhood development services include effective 
     parenting programs and home visitations.


             6. Parental responsibility/Early Intervention

       Sociological and scientific studies show that the first 
     three years of a child's cognitive development sets the 
     foundation for life-long learning and can determine an 
     individual's emotional capabilities. Parents, having the 
     primary and strongest influence on their child, play a 
     pivotal role at this stage of development. Scientists have 
     found that parental relationships affect their child's brain 
     in many ways. A secure, highly interactive, and warm bond can 
     bolster the biological systems that help a child handle their 
     emotions. Research further indicates that a secure connection 
     with the parent will better equip a child to handle stressful 
     events throughout life. Statistics show that the parental 
     assistance program in particular has helped to lower the 
     incidence of child abuse and neglect, reduces placement of 
     children in special education programs, and involves parents 
     more actively throughout their child's school years. The 
     Committee recognizes that early intervention activities 
     conducted through the Department of Education's parent 
     information and resource centers program can make a critical 
     difference in addressing the national epidemic of youth 
     violence, and therefore includes an additional $3,000,000 to 
     expand its services to educate parents to work with 
     professionals in preventing and identifying violent 
     behavioral tendencies.


                     7. Safe and Drug-Free Schools

       A. National Programs.--The Committee remains extremely 
     concerned about the frequent and horrific occurrence of 
     violence in our Nation's schools. Last year, the Committee 
     provided $90,000,000 within this account for a school 
     violence prevention initiative. As part of an enhanced and 
     more comprehensive effort, the Committee has provided 
     $100,000,000 within the safe and drug-free schools and 
     communities program to support activities that promote safe 
     learning environments for students. Such activities should 
     include: targeted assistance, through competitive grants, to 
     local educational agencies for community-wide approaches to 
     creating safe and drug free schools; and training for 
     teachers and school security officers to help them identify 
     students who exhibit signs of violent behavior, and respond 
     to disruptive and violent behavior by students. The Committee 
     also encourages the Department to coordinate its efforts with 
     children's mental health programs.
       B. Coordinator Initiative.--The Committee has included 
     $60,000,000, an increase of $25,000,000 over the fiscal year 
     1999 appropriation and $10,000,000 more than the budget 
     request. The Committee recommendation will enable the 
     Department of Education to provide assistance to local 
     educational agencies to recruit, hire, and train drug 
     prevention and school safety program coordinators in middle 
     schools with significant drug and school safety problems. 
     These coordinators will be responsible for developing, 
     conducting and analyzing assessments of their school's drug 
     and crime problems, and identifying promising research-based 
     drug and violence prevention strategies and programs to 
     address these problems.


               8. 21st Century Community Learning Centers

       The Committee has included $400,000,000 for the 21st 
     Century Community Learning Centers, an increase of 
     $200,000,000 over the fiscal year 1999 level. These funds are 
     intended to be used to reduce idleness and offer an 
     alternative to children when they conclude their school day, 
     at a time when they are typically unsupervised. Nationally, 
     each week, nearly 5 million children ages 5-14 are home alone 
     after school, which is when juvenile crime rates double. 
     According to the Department of Justice, 50 percent of all 
     juvenile crime occurs between the hours of 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 
     during the week. Therefore, the Committee has included funds 
     to allow the Department of Education to support after-school 
     programs that emphasize safety, crime awareness, and drug 
     prevention.


                 9. Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants

       The Committee has included $80,000,000 for teacher quality 
     enhancement grants, an increase of $2,788,000, for 
     professional development of K-12 teachers, which is a 
     necessary component to addressing the epidemic of youth 
     violence. The Committee encourages the Department, in making 
     these grants, to give priority to partnerships that will 
     prepare new and existing teachers to identify students who 
     are having difficulty adapting to the school environment and 
     may be at-risk of violent behavior. Funds should also be used 
     to train teachers on how to detect, manage, and monitor the 
     warning signs of potentially destructive behavior in their 
     classrooms.


                        10. Character Education

       The Committee recommends $10,300,000 for character 
     education partnership grants. These funds will be used to 
     encourage states and school districts to develop pilot 
     projects that promote strong character, which is fundamental 
     to violence prevention. Character education programs should 
     be designed to equip young individuals with a greater sense 
     of responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, caring, civic 
     virtue, citizenship, justice and fairness, and a better 
     understanding of the consequences of their actions.


                    11. Elementary School Counseling

       The Committee is concerned about the inaccessibility of 
     school counselors for young children and therefore is 
     providing $20,000,000 for the Elementary School Counseling 
     Demonstration as a part of the youth violence prevention 
     initiative. Many students who are having a difficult time 
     handling the pressures of social and academic demands could 
     benefit from having mental health care readily available. The 
     Committee believes that increasing the visibility of school 
     counselors would legitimize their role as part of the 
     school's administrative framework, thereby, encouraging 
     students to seek assistance before resorting to violence.


                          12. Civic education

       Within the amounts provided, the Committee has included 
     $1,500,000 to continue the violence prevention initiative 
     begun in fiscal year 1999. The Committee encourages that 
     funds be used to conduct a five State violence prevention 
     demonstration program on public and private elementary, 
     middle, and secondary schools involving students, parents, 
     community leaders, volunteers, and public and private sector 
     agencies, such as law enforcement, courts, bar associations, 
     and community based organizations.


                         13. Literacy programs

       A. The Committee has included $21,500,000, an increase of 
     $3,500,000 for the Reading is Fundamental program to promote 
     literacy skills. Studies show that literacy promotion is one 
     tool to prevent youth violence. The Committee believes that 
     this program, which motivates children to read and increases 
     parental involvement is another way to prevent youth violence 
     at an early age.

[[Page S10741]]

       B. The Committee has included $19,000,000, an increase of 
     $2,277,000 for the State Grants for Incarcerated Youth 
     Offenders/Prisoner Literacy Programs. This program, which 
     assists states to encourage incarcerated youth to acquire 
     functional literacy, life and job skills, can also play a 
     role in reducing recidivism rates and violent behavior.
       C. The Committee has included $42,000,000 for the Title I 
     Neglected and Delinquent/High Risk Youth program, an increase 
     of $1,689,000 over the fiscal year 1999 appropriation. These 
     funds will assist states to strengthen programs for neglected 
     and delinquent children to enhance youth violence prevention 
     programs in state-run institutions and for juveniles in adult 
     correctional facilities
       These funds will be used to motivate youth to read and 
     enhance their academic achievement. Literacy promotion 
     encourages young individuals to pursue productive goals, such 
     as continued education and gainful employment.


                   14. Youth Service delivery systems

       The Committee is aware that the Workforce Investment Act 
     (WIA) brings new emphasis to the development of coherent, 
     comprehensive youth services that address the needs of low-
     income youth over time. It believes that youth service 
     delivery systems under WIA integrate academic and work-based 
     learning opportunities, offer effective connections to the 
     job market and employers, and have intensive private-sector 
     involvement. Such effective systems can provide low-income, 
     disadvantaged youth with opportunities in our strong economy 
     as alternatives to youth violence and crime. The Committee 
     further recognizes the potential of Youth Councils for 
     creating the necessary collaboration of private and public 
     groups to create community strategies that improve 
     opportunities for youth to successfully transition to 
     adulthood, postsecondary education and training. Thus, the 
     Committee has included funds to continue investments in WIA 
     formula-funded youth training and employment activities, the 
     Youth Opportunities grant program, the Job Corps, and added 
     $15,000,000 to continue and expand the Youth Offender grant 
     program serving youth who are or have been under criminal 
     justice system supervision.
  Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Chair for the time and yield the floor.

                          ____________________