[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 77 (Monday, May 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2418-H2427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bost). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
[[Page H2419]]
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add
any extraneous material relevant to the subject matter of my Special
Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening as co-anchor along with
my classmate and scholar, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, from the Eighth
District of New York, for tonight's Congressional Black Caucus Special
Order hour, Equal Justice Under the Law: Criminal Justice Reform and
Challenging the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
Congressman Jeffries leads by example. He is a member of the Criminal
Justice Task Force, and he has a long personal and professional history
of being a Brother's Keeper.
This evening the Congressional Black Caucus comes to the House floor
to discuss the current state of America's criminal justice system and
the necessary reform, reform that will allow us to invest in our
communities and expand opportunities for all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, the school-to-prison pipeline is an epidemic that is
plaguing schools across the Nation. Mr. Speaker, the need and appetite
to reform our Federal criminal justice system has been building for
years, and now it is clear that there is consensus that the time is now
to take meaningful action.
The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the policies and practices
that pushes our Nation's children, especially our most at-risk
children, out of the classroom and into the juvenile and criminal
justice system. Far too often, students are expended, expelled, or even
arrested for minor offenses that lead to visits to the principal's
office a thing of the past.
Statistics reflect that these policies disproportionately target
students of color and those with a history of abuse, neglect, poverty,
or learning disabilities. Those who are unnecessarily forced out of
school become stigmatized and fall behind in their studies, Mr.
Speaker. Many eventually decide to drop out of school altogether, and
many others commit crimes in their community.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed the issue in a
speech to the American Bar Association in 2013, stating that rigid
discipline policies transformed too many educational institutions from
the doorway of opportunity into the gateway to the criminal justice
system and that a minor school disciplinary offense should put a
student in the principal's office, not in the police precinct.
According to recent data by the Department of Education, African
American students are arrested far more than their White classmates.
Black and Hispanic students represent more than 70 percent of those
involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law enforcement.
Currently, African Americans make up two-fifths of combined youth
today, Mr. Speaker.
In my home State of Ohio, the impact of suspensions and expulsions on
communities is striking. In Ohio, a history of prior suspensions from
school is the number one factor that leads children to dropping out of
school. Children who do not finish high school, as we all are aware,
are more likely to end up incarcerated or in our juvenile or criminal
justice system and are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested.
Approximately 82 percent of the adult population is composed of high
school dropouts. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, this is a pipeline that
reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education. But, Mr.
Speaker, I come today as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus
because I believe we can disrupt the pipeline.
To do this, we need to be honest about the opportunity gaps that
exist across our country and in our schools because you cannot talk
about the school-to-prison pipeline without discussing what needs to be
provided as economic opportunities.
We need better educational chances for our young people. We need more
support to our families so that they can do the best job that they can
or that they are capable of doing to help support their own children.
We must confront prejudices in our Nation head-on.
That is why initiatives like the White House's My Brother's Keeper is
so important. My Brother's Keeper Task Force is a coordinated Federal
effort to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young
men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full
potential.
Mr. Speaker, lastly, this past weekend I met with the dynamic men of
the Columbus chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, in my
district and saw My Brother's Keeper work firsthand.
I learned of their many forms of being role models, as being
community mentors for at-risk students, particularly young males, who
are in need of inspiration and counsel regarding their choice of a
life's career.
The mentoring men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, are
men who are doctors, lawyers, government officials, teachers, and
entrepreneurs, just to name a few.
Mr. Speaker, these men are role models for the community. They bought
a house in my district, and they use that home as an anchor to provide
opportunities and leadership development, professional networking, and
positive reinforcement.
Tonight it is important for me to put a face on what we need to do as
one small example to stop the school-to-prison pipeline. I salute
Philip Shotwell, Polemarch; Richard Crockett, 1st Vice Polemarch;
Attorney Byron Potts; Dr. Gus Parker; and Board of Directors Nathaniel
Jordan for being men who understand, if we are going to stop the
school-to-prison pipeline, we need to look at our own districts.
A young man asked them why he should stay in school, and they
replied: Young man, you are your own future. We are relying on you to
be a law-abiding citizen, educated, self-sufficient, and a good citizen
because we don't want you to be a statistic in the school-to-prison
pipeline.
Mr. Speaker, tonight you will hear many stories, you will hear facts,
and you will hear about legislation.
Let me end by saying that I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Safe,
Accountable, Fair, Effective (SAFE) Justice Reinvestment Act of 2015,
H.R. 2944, a bill that recognizes the importance of mentoring and
reducing recidivism and helps offenders think through the decisions
that confront them when they leave prison.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Butterfield), our chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, a person
who has a long background in being an advocate and a fighter for those
who are in our communities and faced with many of the things that you
are going to hear tonight.
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Beatty for
yielding, thank her for her friendship, and thank her for all that she
does not just for the Congressional Black Caucus, but for all that she
does for the constituents that she represents back in Ohio and for what
she does for all people in America.
Let me also thank Congressman Jeffries for his great work and his
willingness to participate in these Special Order hours. I know that
the evening is late sometimes, but the two of them come to the floor
and work very hard.
I want to spend my few minutes, if I may, Mr. Speaker, talking about
just an overview of the criminal justice system. There is no question
that the criminal justice system is broken. All of us I think can agree
on that. Those on the left and those on the right, all of us even, for
different reasons, perhaps, come to one conclusion, that the criminal
justice system is in need of serious, serious reform.
I know that we are debating legislation here in the House regarding
reforming the criminal justice system. Our colleagues over in the
Senate are doing the same. But it is time for action. It is time for
action on criminal justice reform in the 114th Congress.
As many of my colleagues know, I spent 30 years, 30 long years, in a
courtroom, half of those as a lawyer, the other half as a judge. Most
of the 15 years as a judge I was a trial judge, which meant that I was
on the front line in our criminal justice system and I saw it
firsthand. I can tell you without question that the criminal justice
system in America is in need of serious reform from the top to the
bottom.
[[Page H2420]]
We have all heard the statistics, and I am going to repeat them again
tonight: 2.2 million Americans are in prison. Of that number, that
number is disproportionately African American. That is 25 percent of
the world's prison population right here in the United States of
America.
Just think about that, Mr. Speaker. We are 5 percent of the world's
population, but 25 percent of those who are incarcerated are
incarcerated in the United States of America. We have a serious problem
of mass incarceration that must be reduced.
But the point that I want to put in the Record tonight is that, of
those who are incarcerated in this country, 90 percent of those are
incarcerated at the State level and 10 percent incarcerated at the
Federal level--90 percent incarcerated at the State level.
{time} 1930
When we discuss criminal justice reform--and Congressman Bobby Scott
is going to be speaking in a few minutes, and he talks about this all
of the time, as well as Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee--we must not
only talk about reform at the Federal level, but we must find ways to
require States to reform their criminal justice systems at the local
level. We should encourage States to take a serious look at their
systems and to seek ways to reduce mass incarceration at the State
level without posing any harm to the communities. Too many of those who
are incarcerated at the State level are in prison for drug-related
offenses and crimes that don't endanger the community whatsoever.
We should encourage States to enact expungement laws. We get
telephone calls all the time--and I am sure my colleagues get the same
calls as well--from those who are seeking ways to expunge their records
so that young men and women who have served in the criminal justice
system can get some of those offenses removed from their records,
particularly those offenses that deal with petty crimes and
misdemeanors and drug-related offenses, because when you have these
offenses on your criminal record, it prevents young people from getting
the gainful employment that they so richly deserve.
We also need to encourage States to look at ways to remove criminal
charges from criminal records that did not result in convictions. I
think most of my colleagues can relate to that. We know that, so often,
police officers at the local level will charge a young offender with
multiple offenses at the time of arrest, and some of the offenses are
not even deserving of a charge. Sometimes police have a tendency to
overcharge at the time of arrest. Then when the case finally goes to
court, those 10 or 12 charges are reduced down to one charge or two
charges; the defendant pleads guilty; and the case is disposed of while
the other 8 or 10 charges that are dismissed continue to be on the
young person's criminal record for a lifetime. So often, just the fact
that the individual has been charged with a crime prevents that young
person from getting a job. So often, it makes a difference.
Finally, I thank Mrs. Beatty for talking about using the court system
to punish students. That happens. It happens in every State in America.
Our public school systems cannot, and should not, use the court system
as a means of punishment for students who have behavioral problems in
school.
I thank all of my colleagues for all of their work. I thank them for
their efforts. I thank them for their tremendous interest in this
subject because it is real. We know it. We need criminal justice
reform, and we need it now.
Mrs. BEATTY. I thank Congressman Butterfield.
We certainly agree with you that the criminal justice system is
broken. That is why the Congressional Black Caucus is here tonight--to
make sure that we are prepared to outline the steps and the legislation
that is going to be in the forefront. I thank the gentleman for his
leadership in making this a top priority for the Congressional Black
Caucus.
Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor and privilege to yield to the
gentleman from the Third Congressional District of Virginia. He is a
true scholar, an attorney, and someone who is a leader on tonight's
topic. He is someone who has worked tirelessly to make sure that we do
more than just come and stand and talk about this issue tonight. He
comes to talk about real reform, to talk about making a difference in
our broken criminal justice system. He is my friend, Congressman Bobby
Scott.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentlewoman.
I appreciate the gentleman from New York and certainly the
gentlewoman from Ohio for organizing this Special Order to discuss the
need for criminal justice reform.
Mr. Speaker, we have serious, fundamental problems with our criminal
justice system today. For too long, policymakers have chosen to play
politics with crime policy by enacting so-called tough on crime slogans
and sound bites, such as three strikes and you are out, mandatory
minimum sentences, and--if you get it to rhyme, apparently, it is
better--if you do the adult crime, you do the adult time. As appealing
as these policies sound, their impacts range from a negligible
reduction in crime to actually increasing the crime rate.
As a result of these policies, the United States, despite
representing only 5 percent of the world's population, has 25 percent
of the world's prisoners and now has the highest incarceration rate of
any nation's, by far, in the world. There are 2.2 million people behind
bars in this country. That is triple the number of prisoners we had
just three decades ago. At over 700 persons incarcerated for every
100,000 in the population, the United States far exceeds the world's
average incarceration rate of about 100 per 100,000.
Recent studies have questioned the sanity of this mass incarceration.
For example, the Pew Research Center on States estimates that after
about 350 per 100,000, any crime reduction value begins to diminish,
and at over 500 per 100,000, incarceration becomes, actually,
counterproductive. As I said, our rate is now at 700 per 100,000.
These counterproductive effects are created because today there are
too many children who are being raised by a parent who is in prison and
by too many people with felony records who are unable to find jobs. The
impact of our tax dollars is also distressing. The Bureau of Prisons is
consuming too much of the Department of Justice's budget, meaning that
the Department has fewer and fewer resources for other programs that
can actually reduce crime and enhance public safety. The tough on crime
approach falls the hardest on minorities. While the incarceration rate
overall in the United States is approximately 700 per 100,000, for
Blacks, the incarceration rate is over 2,200 per 100,000; and in some
jurisdictions, they lock up Blacks at the rate of 4,000 per 100,000--a
rate 40 times the international average.
The war on drugs has exacerbated this problem. Over 2,000 Federal
prisoners are now serving life without parole for nonviolent drug
crimes, and many more are serving unduly harsh sentences for nonviolent
offenses. The racial disparities are staggering. Despite the fact that
Whites engage in drug offenses at a rate equal to or often higher than
that of African Americans, African Americans are incarcerated on drug
charges at a rate 10 times greater than that of Whites.
We all agree that there is a problem with mass incarceration. So what
is the best way to solve it?
When reviewing any legislative package called criminal justice
reform, I think there are some key principles that we have to address.
First, reform must meaningfully address the problem of mass
incarceration by significantly reducing admissions to prison and
shortening a prisoner's length of stay.
Second, any reform must address the primary driver of the ballooning
Federal prison populations, and that is mandatory minimum penalties,
especially those for drug and firearm offenses.
Third, we must address the disparate impact on race in the Federal
criminal justice system that has resulted from the application of many
neutrally worded policies and laws.
Fourth, reform must address mental health and addiction issues as a
public health issue and require intervention and treatment plans to
resolve underlying issues that led those to be involved in the criminal
justice system rather than implement so-called tough on crime, lock 'em
up approaches. Everybody knows that the war on drugs
[[Page H2421]]
has failed. We need to address drug abuse more as a public health issue
and less as a criminal justice issue.
Fifth, we must provide comprehensive reentry and rehabilitation
services and incentives for completing those programs that are found to
actually work, with a particular focus on those with the greatest need.
Finally, any legislation must be based on research and evidence, not
on poll-tested slogans and sound bites or political negotiations, which
are unrelated to research and evidence.
How do the current proposals stack up?
First, we look at the current bills that have been reported out of
the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and notice that they fail to
embody any of the principles. In fact, they often take the opposite
approach.
While these bills reduce the number of admissions and/or length of
stay in some limited cases, they also create new mandatory minimums,
even new mandatory minimums or mandatory consecutive enhancements. They
enhance existing mandatory minimums to apply to people who would not
get them under the present law, and they irrationally limit who can
benefit from prospective and retroactive relief provisions. It is
unknown whether there will be an overall increase or decrease in prison
impact at the 10-year point after implementation, if these bills pass,
compared to doing nothing. The United States Sentencing Commission has
been unable to quantify the impact of the expansions or the limitations
on relief. So the fact that we do not have the numbers means that we
cannot determine whether these bills will have any meaningful effect on
mass incarceration.
Though the bills do shorten two supersized mandatory minimums, they
do not eliminate any mandatory minimum. The Senate bill actually
creates two new ones, and both bills create new mandatory consecutive
sentencing enhancements, which must be served after any other sentence.
Both bills expand mandatory minimums for drug and gun offenses by
applying them to people who would not be eligible to receive them
today.
If the problem we are trying to address is mass incarceration, why
are those in the bill to begin with?
Neither of the bills will do anything to address the disparate racial
impact that pervades our criminal justice system. Federal mandatory
minimums, in particular those for drug and firearm offenses, have been
studied and have been found to have a racially disparate impact. These
bills do nothing to eliminate mandatory minimums. Even though they
reduce some, they create new ones, expand others, and create new
sentencing enhancements. So the bills may actually make racial
disparities in sentencing even worse than they are under present law.
Finally, both bills put limits on who can receive prospective and
retroactive relief. If you look at the limitations, you will find that
they have a racially disparate impact on minorities.
On the issue of the war on drugs, both bills also fail to treat drug
abuse and addiction as a public health problem. In fact, the strategy
used in the bills to address heroin addiction is not a public health
approach, for the bills impose mandatory additional prison time. This
is not a public health, research-based approach.
On the comprehensive reentry and rehabilitation services to reduce
recidivism, these bills have turned science and empirical evidence
upside down. They give the greatest incentives for completing the
programs to those with the lowest need while categorically barring
offenders with the highest risk from benefiting from the rehabilitation
programs. This approach not only violates research, but it will
exacerbate the current racial disparities in the criminal justice
system.
Mr. Speaker, there is ample research available to show what credible
criminal justice reform ought to look like. For example, Texas--one of
the Nation's most conservative States--recently passed criminal justice
reform legislation that was based on research and evidence, and the
result was a significant reduction in crime, a significant reduction in
incarceration, and a savings of billions of dollars.
The SAFE Justice Act--the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective
Justice Act--which I cosponsored with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Sensenbrenner), which the gentlewoman from Ohio pointed out that she is
supporting, was based on the Texas model and includes evidence-based
prevention and early intervention programs; reducing incarceration even
at the State level as well as at the Federal level; comprehensive
police training and funding for body cameras, drug and veterans'
courts; a significant reduction in the use of mandatory minimum
sentences; and rehabilitation for all of those in prison and second-
chance programs for those who have been released. It has broad,
bipartisan support. All of the provisions in the bill are fully paid
for by reallocating the reduction in mandatory minimums, and it shows
that we do not have to accept a bill that fails to conform to evidence
and research.
Mr. Speaker, criminal justice reform legislation ought to be
consistent with the research and evidence that is readily available.
From what I can tell, the bills reported out of the House and Senate
Judiciary Committees have nothing based in research and evidence and,
sadly, seem more concerned about the politics of criminal justice
reform, with little regard to actually wanting to end our Nation's
addiction to mass incarceration.
The SAFE Justice Act is a better evidence-based approach, which will,
if enacted, reduce crime, save money, and reduce racial disparities
that pervade our criminal justice system.
I appreciate the gentlewoman from Ohio and the gentleman from New
York for hosting tonight's Special Order.
{time} 1945
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Scott for clearly
articulating to us why we cannot let our criminal justice system remain
on this trajectory.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the Congresswoman from the 13th District
of California. My colleague and my friend is someone who travels the
world advocating for those who live in poverty, advocating for those
who are incarcerated in this broken criminal justice system that we are
focusing on tonight.
I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I first thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for
those very kind and humbling remarks. I want to thank her for her
tremendous leadership and for continuing to come down here each and
every week to ensure that her voice, the Congressional Black Caucus'
voice, and Congressman Jeffries' voice are really put forth so that the
people of our country will understand the critical issues before us and
the fact that the Congressional Black Caucus is really leading on each
and every issue. Congresswoman Beatty and Congressman Jeffries really
have done a phenomenal job. They both have gone way beyond the call of
duty, and so we thank them so much for their efforts.
Make no mistake--and I think we are hearing this over and over again
tonight--mass incarceration is a crisis in our country. The United
States of America imprisons far more people than any other nation in
the world.
When African Americans are incarcerated at six times the rate of
Whites, it is no surprise to me. It is no surprise that African
Americans constitute nearly half of the total 2.3 million incarcerated
Americans in 2008. Together, African Americans and Latinos comprise 58
percent of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and
Latinos make up approximately one-quarter of the United States
population.
While our prison population grows unchecked and is growing unchecked,
we continue to criminalize our students rather than invest in their
education. Right now we spend $10,500 a year to educate a child, but we
spend $88,000 a year to keep a child locked up. That is unacceptable.
Let me repeat that. It costs eight times more money to keep a child in
jail than to educate them and prepare them for a good future.
We are not just talking about a few children here. Our country
incarcerates five times more children than any other nation in the
world. Sadly, two-thirds of these kids will never return to school.
When we lock up these children, we are essentially throwing away
[[Page H2422]]
the key. Instead of preparing them for a future, we are just getting
them ready for a life in a cell.
Now, let me be clear, from the moment many of these children are
born, they are funneled into the prison pipeline. Simply put, the
system is really stacked against them. For instance, one in three
African American children lives in poverty today, while one in four
Hispanic children lives in poverty.
Mr. Speaker, while Black children represent just 18 percent of
preschool enrollment, they account for nearly half of all preschool
suspensions. Now, Congresswoman Beatty, we are talking toddlers ages 2
to 5. These kids don't even get a start, let alone a head start. They
are being suspended from school.
How do you suspend toddlers and babies from school?
Something is wrong with this. So we, I must say, in the
Appropriations Committee are trying to address this with the Department
of Education. This is immoral.
When they get older, African American students are four times more
likely to be expelled from school than their White peers for the same
offense. More than half of all students who are involved in school-
related arrests or referred to law enforcement are Black or Latino.
This has a lasting effect and impact on young students. Studies show
that students who are disciplined by schools are more likely to end up
in the juvenile justice system where their chances of returning to
school are slim to none. This is unacceptable. These young people are
having their futures ripped away before they even have a chance.
We need to change the system and end the school-to-prison pipeline.
First, we must start by making serious investments in our young people.
We should ensure that all students have equal access to high-quality
public school education. We must also expand summer youth job
opportunities and summer training programs so that our teens have the
opportunity to learn workforce skills, contribute to their communities,
and start a path to economic opportunity. As a member of the
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education,
we are working to try to make sure that these resources become a
priority of our subcommittee, which they, unfortunately, aren't at this
point.
We also need to tear down the institutional racism, quite frankly,
that is holding students of color back and trapping our young people in
a broken criminal justice system.
I am reminded of when I was in the California legislature. I was on
the public safety committee, and proposals were brought to us, plans
for building prisons 10 to 12 years out for kids who are just starting
kindergarten. That is what we had to deal with. Now we see what has
happened to the prison industrial complex in California. That is why we
must work together and pass legislation to end mass incarceration and
fix our broken criminal justice system. We need to get rid of these
outdated minimum sentencing standards. These are relics from the failed
war on drugs and disproportionately target people of color.
In California, once again, the three strikes law passed. Of course, I
opposed that while in the California legislature. This law has
incarcerated young African American men for nonviolent drug offenses 25
years to life. That is 25 years to life for nonviolent drug offenses.
We need to repeal that law.
We also need to make sure that law enforcement officers reflect the
diversity of communities that they police. So we have introduced H.
Res. 262, which supports effective community-oriented policing and
encourages greater diversity in law enforcement.
During the last appropriation season, the Congressional Black Caucus
worked with Congressman Lacy Clay to direct the Department of Justice
to begin collecting training data. Our legislation tracks when officers
receive training for use of force, racial and ethnic bias, de-
escalation of conflict, and constructive engagement with the public.
This was just a small step, and we need to do more.
With regard to reentry, banning the box is essential. We have worked
with the White House to try to make sure that Federal contractors ban
the box. We haven't accomplished that, but Federal agencies cannot now
ask for one's criminal history records. In my district, we do
expungement, we do record remedies. We have remedied thousands and
thousands of young people who now can go on and move forward with their
lives. I want to thank the Family Law Center in Oakland, California,
for doing that.
We need to go back to the drawing board and repeal the welfare reform
provisions that are denied for life. There is a Federal ban for food
stamps, eligibility for public housing, and Pell grants for those who
have been incarcerated for drug felonies. Now, you know who that
targets; primarily African American and Latino men. They don't even
have a second chance when they get out of jail as a result of these
lifetime bans.
Finally, let me just say it is time to really look at this problem in
a big way and to understand that we have to dismantle, not reform--but
we have to dismantle this prison industrial complex and start investing
in our communities, especially our young children. And we must
understand that, in doing this, we have to look at institutional and
systemic racism, which is at the core of many of our policies.
So this is a fight that we are going to win, but it is going to be
because all of us here in the Congressional Black Caucus--Congresswoman
Beatty, Congressman Jeffries, Congressman Scott, and Congresswoman
Jackson Lee, and the entire membership--continue to fight the good
fight to make sure that finally we will begin to see a real criminal
justice system, which it is not right now.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Lee. When people ask
us why are we doing this today, I thank the gentlewoman for reminding
us that the system is stacked against us and that we have had the
future of so many of our young folks ripped away from them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of Ohio
(Ms. Fudge). She is from the 11th Congressional District. She is an
attorney. She has served as a former mayor. She is the immediate past
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
She is someone who gives us advice. I remember her saying to us: Push
the envelope because you are the voice for the voiceless. Look at the
legislative issues that will make a difference in the lives of others.
So tonight we come to talk about equal justice under the law. Mr.
Speaker, we come to challenge this House.
It is my great honor to yield to Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. It is a
pleasure to watch my fellow Ohioan and friend and the gentleman from
New York on this House floor every Monday night bringing the message of
the Congressional Black Caucus because indeed they are the people who
carry our message to the United States.
Mr. Speaker, the school-to-prison pipeline is robbing far too many
children of productive futures. Instead of learning in classrooms, a
large percentage of our Nation's at-risk students sit in jail cells.
The numbers don't lie. Black students are suspended and expelled at a
rate three times greater than White students. More than one in four
boys of color with disabilities and nearly one in five girls of color
with disabilities receives an out-of-school suspension. And studies
show that students who are suspended or expelled in school are more
likely to end up in prison.
Our Nation's children deserve better. It is time we prioritize
education and not incarceration. Comprehensive criminal justice reform
must include policies which dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. We
must reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, a
bill that funds delinquency prevention and improvements in State and
local juvenile justice programs, supports restorative initiatives, and
promotes early intervention. Disrupting the pipeline will provide a
pathway for a successful future and lessen the burden on our current
judicial system.
The number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled between 1980
and 2008. Of the more than 2.3 million Americans incarcerated today,
more than 1 million of them are Black.
In my home State of Ohio, more than 50,000 people are incarcerated in
a system that was designed to only hold
[[Page H2423]]
39,000. And on average, States across this Nation spend $30,000 per
year to house one inmate. That is at least $19,000 more per year than
we spend to educate one child. It is time we get our priorities
straight.
As ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on
Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, promoting
policies that keep our children in school is one of my top priorities.
I ask my colleagues: What are yours?
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Fudge for reminding
us again of the value and the importance of our work.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is indeed my honor to yield time to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), who is coanchor of tonight's
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.
As I said earlier, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is not only a scholar,
he, too, is an attorney. He is someone who walks the talk. He is
someone who has a long history of being a Brother's Keeper.
Mr. Speaker, so tonight, when we discuss this topic, when we talked
about the challenge, when we talked about all of the plethora of things
that are incorporated in why we must come forward tonight to challenge
the criminal justice system which is stacked against us and broken,
certainly we have heard the disparities as it relates to African
Americans.
So it is indeed my honor to ask my coanchor, Congressman Hakeem
Jeffries, to share with us our challenge.
Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from
Ohio, my good friend, the distinguished and dynamic anchor for
tonight's Special Order, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, for yielding and
for her continued leadership and for leading the discussion on the
House floor today as it relates the urgency of this Congress and
America dealing with the school-to-prison pipeline mass incarceration
and the prison industrial complex that so many of my colleagues have
explained and exposed here on the House floor today.
A few years ago I had a conversation that has always stuck with me in
the area of criminal justice when I was speaking to a formally
incarcerated individual who spent several years behind bars
incarcerated in a New York State penitentiary. He has turned his life
around and he is now an advocate for criminal justice reform. He said
to me on his final day, after being imprisoned for years in upstate New
York, that he had a conversation with a high-ranking corrections
officer, a supervisor who he had gotten to know and thought he had
befriended to some degree during his time of incarceration.
{time} 2000
On that last day, he said to this young African American incarcerated
individual who was on his way out, he said: I just want to thank you.
This gentleman was a little perplexed. He wasn't sure what he was
talking about. He said: I just want to thank you for helping me to get
my boat; and beyond that, I want to thank your son, who is going to
help my son get his boat as well.
That conversation has really haunted me because, in such a powerful
and profound way, what it captures is the essence of what the prison
industrial complex represents, which is this decision that was made in
so many parts of the United States of America, certainly in New York,
by Democrats and Republicans.
When the automobile factories and the steel mills, the manufacturing
plants began to close in the 1970s and in the 1980s, devastating parts
of the upstate economy, a decision was made in place of those factory
jobs to build prisons in their place as a means of economic development
for depressed upstate communities. But here is the problem. If you
build it, someone has got to fill those prisons. In order to fill those
prisons, several things have developed which we are in the process of
trying to dismantle right now: the school-to-prison pipeline and the
criminalization of young people, particularly in communities of color,
where they basically are not given a chance from the very beginning. As
a result of being channeled unjustly, often, into the criminal justice
system at an early age, they essentially become economic commodities
for those who have come to rely on prisons to replace the factory and
manufacturing jobs that have left the United States of America.
That has been a big problem in New York. It is a problem in other
parts of the country. It is a shame here in the United States of
America that we have gone from a place where, when the war on drugs
began in 1971--President Nixon declared drug abuse public enemy number
one--there were less than 350,000 people incarcerated in America. Even
when the crime bill that is being heavily debated in the public domain
right now was passed in 1994, at the height of the concern about crime
here in the United States of America, the incarcerated population was
still under 900,000 people. But we have gone from less than 350,000 in
1971 to under 900,000 in 1994 to more than 2.2 million in 2016.
The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25
percent of the world's incarcerated individuals. We incarcerate more
people than any other country in the world, and it is shameful. The
school-to-prison pipeline is a large part of that dynamic, along with
the failed war on drugs. So we are going to have to deal with this
situation in a meaningful way.
The statistics clearly show that, if you suspend a young person, that
individual--often a Black or Latino boy--is less likely to graduate and
complete school and more likely to become entangled in the criminal
justice system because we have applied an overly punitive approach to
discipline, particularly in the inner city.
Now, in this Chamber, I have seen surprising levels of compassion as
it relates to dealing with the heroin and opioid crisis that is
sweeping across America right now, and I am glad that folks have
decided to take a different approach than the approach that was taken
in the 1980s with the crack cocaine epidemic that was sweeping across
communities that those of us in the Congressional Black Caucus
represent.
I welcome this newfound compassion. I just hope that you would extend
it now not just to the manner in which we deal with the heroin crisis--
that is important--but let's extend it to the overcriminalization that
is taking place as relates to young people across America, particularly
in Black and Brown communities.
I am glad that we have become enlightened as it relates to moving
away from punishment and toward prevention and intervention related to
the heroin and opioid crisis. Let's also become enlightened in terms of
dealing with breaking the school-to-prison pipeline.
We will have more to say as we move forward with this discussion, but
I know there are other Members who would like to contribute to this
hour of power that Representative Joyce Beatty has brought to the House
floor in connection with the CBC Special Order.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jeffries for reminding
us that the United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's
population, yet incarcerates nearly a quarter of the global prison
population.
Thank you for also being on point and reminding us, Mr. Speaker, if
we are to reform America's criminal justice system and advance efforts
to break the cycles of incarceration in African American communities,
in low-income communities, then we must unite and make sure that we
pass real legislation.
Mr. Speaker, can you advise me how much time we have left, please.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Ohio has 12 minutes
remaining.
Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is indeed my honor to yield to the
gentlewoman who hails from the 18th Congressional District of Texas
(Ms. Jackson Lee). Of the many things that this Congresswoman does, she
serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, she has been a longtime
advocate for reforming the criminal justice system. I refer to her as a
strong voice, a strong advocate, and, truly, a scholar.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to add my appreciation to the
gentlewoman from Ohio; the gentleman from New York; and the Members who
[[Page H2424]]
have spoken, including the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus,
Mr. Butterfield; the former chair, Ms. Fudge; and the ranking member on
the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Mr. Scott.
There could not be a more important topic than the topic that we are
speaking about tonight. There are moments in history that I think come
at times when urgency is the call of the day. It is often said that Dr.
King emphasized in his tenure the urgency of moving forward on civil
rights and spoke eloquently about the fact of why we cannot wait. If I
might, I want to capture his theme of why we cannot wait to end the
school-to-prison pipeline. End it now and begin the whole comprehensive
approach of criminal justice reform.
Let me take Texas as an example and cite some very important
statistics from the Appleseed Report and as well a comment on the work
that we are doing in the Committee on the Judiciary. I am so glad at
this moment in history to be the ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations and working
with the members of my subcommittee, including Mr. Jeffries, who is a
member, Ms. Bass, who is a member, and a number of other members as
well, on this very difficult hurdle that we have.
Let it be very clear that this hurdle of criminal justice reform is,
as I heard Mr. Jeffries make mention of, that we have taken hold of
this issue of opioids and heroin in a way that not one single bill was
passed last week that had a criminal focus, particularly out of the
Committee on the Judiciary. Not one bill had mandatory minimums.
In the debate last week, on Friday, I reiterated over and over again
no mandatory minimums in this legislation. That should be the perfect
that we try to achieve going forward on criminal justice reform.
But let me give the beginnings of that very tragic outcome in
America, filling up the Nation's prisons, not having criminal justice
but criminal unfairness. It starts with a path to incarceration, which
includes in the schools, stops, failing public schools, zero tolerance
and other school discipline, police in school hallways, disciplinary
alternative schools, and court involvement in juvenile detention. All
of these are a path for students to incarceration, and it is without
understanding what a class C misdemeanor ticket and a trip to court for
thousands of Texas students and their families means.
Texas students as young as 6 have been ticketed at school in past
years, and it is not uncommon for elementary school students to be
ticketed by school-based law enforcement. School-based arrest of
students often occurs without prior notice to parents. Police officers
in some Texas schools are resorting to use of force, measures more
commonly associated with fighting street crime: pepper spray, tasers,
and trained canines when a schoolyard fight breaks out or when students
are misbehaving in a cafeteria or at a school event.
This should not be the picture for a 6-year-old or a 4-year-old or an
8-year-old or an 11-year-old or a 13-year-old. This should not be
equated with school.
Let me read to you part of the Appleseed Report and a quote by Ryan
Kellus Turner and Mark Goodner: ``In a little over two decades, a
paradigm shift has occurred in the Lone Star State. The misdeeds of
children--acts that in the near recent past resulted in trips to the
principal's office, corporal punishment, or extra laps under the
supervision of a middle school or high school coach . . . '' Now, of
course, corporal punishment will be eliminated from that. What is
worse, `` . . . now result in criminal prosecution, criminal records,
and untold millions of dollars in punitive fines and hefty court costs
being imposed against children ages 10 through 16.''
``It is conservatively estimated that more than 275,000 non-traffic
tickets are issued to juveniles in Texas each year . . . '' And based
on the information from the Texas Office of Court Administration, the
number of non-traffic tickets issued to students may well grossly
exceed that number because it was very difficult to get it. ``Texas can
interrupt this destructive cycle and prevent the loss of more young
people to the `school-to-prison pipeline' through early interventions
focused less on punishment and more on creating positive school
environments that address students' academic and behavioral needs.''
Let me just say that ``police officers in some Texas schools are
resorting to `use of force.' '' Now, they are supposed to be there as
SROs. SROs are supposed to have educational training. SROs are supposed
to be able to have the understanding of how to deal with counseling
issues and teaching that is evidence based, but here is the problem.
The problem is that they are focused more on law enforcement.
I am glad to be part of this Special Order tonight that deals with
the pipeline that has started working our children toward
incarceration: overcrowded schools, lack of qualified teachers,
inadequate resources, and then the zero tolerance for school discipline
of children and the rate of suspension having increased dramatically in
recent years from 1.7 million in 1974 to 3.1 million in 2000; and it
has gone beyond that, and the greatest emphasis has been on children of
color.
So here is my call to the United States Congress. We have to begin
the process of dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. We have to
understand that children can learn. No child is a throwaway. I offer
that often in my remarks in my district.
The detention system is an unfair system. I don't know how many of
you realize that when a child is sent to juvie, that child can remain
there until they reach the age of 21. How does that happen? Even if
their sentence is not as egregious as one might think--a simple
misbehavior in school. The way that happens is because in juvenile, you
can assess more time on a child without telling that child's parent
because that child did not follow orders or, in essence, that child did
not behave or that child chewed gum when you told them not to.
{time} 2015
We in the Judiciary Committee are working on juvenile justice reform.
One of them that I am most concerned about and want to move is ending
solitary confinement for juveniles, recognizing Kalief's Law, involving
the death of one inside the New York prison at Rikers Island. The
individual in solitary confinement had not been rendered guilty yet.
And so we want to eliminate putting juveniles in solitary
confinement. Because the tragedy, Mr. Speaker, was that that youngster
was released, ultimately, but after he was released, he, in essence,
committed suicide.
So I want to close my remarks by indicating that I want to turn this
system upside down. I want to make sure that we deal with juvenile
justice reform. I want to ban the box. We have done that in legislation
that has not yet passed. I want to make sure that we have alternative
sentencing.
At the same time, the Judiciary Committee has moved two bills out of
committee. I want to see these bills have a vigorous discussion and
debate on the floor of the House so that we can move to conference.
Time is going by. Let us not let the perfect be, in essence, the
downfall of change. H.R. 3713 provides for the reduction of sentencing
for many who are languishing, by law, in prison today in the Federal
system.
As I have spoken to people across the country, they have indicated
that, even though some States like my State of Texas have made
enormous, enormous strides--I am proud of that--it has not happened
around the country.
The bully pulpit of the Federal Government can be the most effective
tool to moving toward criminal justice reform and sentencing reduction
dealing with felony drug offenses. We are moving toward that point.
A vote on the floor of the House and moving toward conference can
move our efforts toward legislation that can truly be responsive to
both concerns and as well positives that are in that bill.
So as we deal with this prison pipeline, we have to not only talk, we
have to do. And when we do, we have to make sure that we respond to the
concerns, but we also have to make sure that we move legislation that
can ultimately come out of the Senate and go to conference and make a
difference in the lives of so many.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. I also want to say how
[[Page H2425]]
timely the Congressional Black Caucus is. All that have been crying
out, from Black Lives Matter to the Mother of the Movement, say that we
need changes dealing with the whole vastness of criminal justice
reform: police-community relations, police actions, actions dealing
with guns, actions dealing with the loss of life of our young people.
Let's get a framework that can allow us to debate, to fix, to amend,
and to get a product that will ultimately be signed by the President of
the United States on behalf of the people of the United States who are
crying out for relief.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues of the Congressional
Black Caucus, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Congresswoman
Joyce Beatty (D-OH) who are anchoring this Special Order on Ending the
School-to-Prison Pipeline.
The over-criminalization of school children in America can no longer
be swept under the rug, ignored or irrationally justified.
We are in a state of national crisis and it is time to act.
Upon taking office, every Member of Congress makes a solemn pledge:
to protect and defend the American people.
This is the most important oath we take as elected officials--and, to
honor this promise, we must do everything in our power to stem the
School-to-Prison Pipeline in our nation.
The three most important concerns for Members of Congress today are
No. 1 Children, No. 2 Children, and No. 3 Children.
House Republicans are still unwilling to act to stop the
criminalization of our children in schools and instead work towards
providing children the opportunity to thrive in American communities.
This Congress has a moral obligation to do our part to end the
epidemic of losing our children to the correctional system.
Now is the time for Republicans to join Democrats in protecting the
lives of America's youth by taking common sense steps in redirecting
those who go astray.
Over the past year, several proposals have been introduced to address
the need for overarching reform of our nation's criminal justice
system.
Americans must consider the educational environment in which we place
our students, from preschool to high school, subjecting them to
disciplinary policies that more closely resemble policing than
teaching.
Around the country, advocates are collecting data illustrating the
devastating effects of what they call the ``school-to-prison
pipeline,'' where student behavior is criminalized, children are
treated like prisoners and, all too often, actually end up behind bars.
The school-to-prison pipeline refers to interlocking sets of
relationships at the institutional/structural and the individual
levels.
All of these policies and practices work together to push our
nation's schoolchildren--youth of color, especially, our most at-risk
children--out of schools and into unemployment and into the juvenile
and criminal justice legal systems.
This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over
education.
For a growing number of students, the path to incarceration includes
the ``stops'' deterring matriculation such as:
1) Failing Public Schools;
2) Zero-Tolerance and Other School Discipline;
3) Policing School Hallways;
4) Disciplinary Alternative Schools; and
5) Court Involvement and Juvenile Detention.
In a little over two decades, a paradigm shift has occurred in the
Lone Star State.
The misdeeds of children--acts that in the near recent past resulted
in trips to the principal's office, corporal punishment, or extra laps
under the supervision of a middle school or high school coach, now
result in criminal prosecution, criminal records, and untold millions
of dollars in punitive fines and hefty court costs being imposed
against children in elementary and high schools.
Disrupting class, using profanity, misbehaving on a school bus,
student fights, and truancy once meant a trip to the principal's
office.
Today, such misbehavior results in a Class C misdemeanor ticket and a
trip to court for thousands of Texas students and their families each
year.
It is conservatively estimated that more than 275,000 non-traffic
tickets are issued to juveniles in Texas each year.
While it is impossible to pinpoint how many of these tickets are
issued by campus police, the vast majority of these tickets are issued
for offenses most commonly linked to school-related misbehavior--
disruption of class, disorderly conduct, disruption of transportation,
truancy, and simple assaults related to student fights.
``Criminalization'' of student misbehavior extends to even the
youngest students.
In Texas, students as young as six have been ticketed at school in
the past five years, and it is not uncommon for elementary-school
students to be ticketed by school-based law enforcement.
School-based arrest of students often occurs without prior notice to
parents or a lawyer being present during initial questioning of the
student.
The increase in ticketing and arrest of students, in Texas and
nationwide, has coincided with the growth in school-based policing.
Campus policing is the largest and fastest growing area of law
enforcement in Texas, according to its own professional association.
With counselors stretched to handle class scheduling and test
administration duties, school administrators and teachers are
increasingly turning to campus police officers to handle student
behavior problems.
Today in Texas, most public schools have a police officer assigned to
patrol hallways, lunchrooms, school grounds, and after-school events.
Police officers in some Texas schools are resorting to ``use of
force'' measures more commonly associated with fighting street crime--
pepper spray, Tasers and trained canines--when a schoolyard fight
breaks out or when students are misbehaving in a cafeteria or at a
school event.
The intent is to keep schools and students safe, but there can be
unintended consequences to disciplining public school students in a way
that introduces them to the justice system or exposes them to policing
techniques more commonly used with adults.
Texas can interrupt this destructive cycle and prevent the loss of
more young people to the ``school-to-prison pipeline'' through early
interventions focused less on punishment and more on creating positive
school environments that address students' academic and behavioral
needs.
We must seek appropriate recommendations for reform.
For most students, the pipeline begins with inadequate resources in
public schools.
Overcrowded classrooms, a lack of qualified teachers, and
insufficient funding for ``extras'' such as counselors, special
education services, and even textbooks, lock students into second-rate
educational environments.
This failure to meet educational needs increases disengagement and
dropouts, increasing the risk of later court involvement.
Even worse, schools may actually encourage dropouts in response to
pressures from test-based accountability regimes such as the No Child
Left Behind Act, which create incentives to push out low-performing
students to boost overall test scores.
Lacking resources, facing incentives to push out low-performing
students, and responding to a handful of highly-publicized school
shootings, schools have embraced zero-tolerance policies that
automatically impose severe punishment regardless of circumstances.
Under these policies, students have been expelled for bringing nail
clippers or scissors to school.
Rates of suspension have increased dramatically in recent years--from
1.7 million in 1974 to 3.1 million in 2000--and have been most dramatic
for children of color.
Overly harsh disciplinary policies push students down the pipeline
and into the juvenile justice system.
Suspended and expelled children are often left unsupervised and
without constructive activities.
They also can easily fall behind in their coursework, leading to a
greater likelihood of disengagement and drop-outs.
All of these factors increase the likelihood of court involvement.
As harsh penalties for minor misbehavior become more pervasive,
schools increasingly ignore or bypass due process protections for
suspensions and expulsions.
The lack of due process is particularly acute for students with
special needs, who are disproportionately represented in the pipeline
despite the heightened protections afforded to them under law.
Many under-resourced schools become ``pipeline gateways'' by placing
increased reliance on police rather than teachers and administrators to
maintain discipline.
Growing numbers of districts employ school resource officers to
patrol school hallways, often with little or no training in working
with youth.
As a result, children are far more likely to be subject to school-
based arrests--the majority of which are for non-violent offenses, such
as disruptive behavior--than they were a generation ago.
The rise in school-based arrests, the quickest route from the
classroom to the jailhouse, most directly exemplifies the
criminalization of school children.
In some jurisdictions, students who have been suspended or expelled
have been completely denied their right to an education.
In others, they are sent to disciplinary alternative schools.
[[Page H2426]]
Growing in number across the country, these shadow systems--sometimes
run by private, for-profit companies--are immune from educational
accountability standards (such as minimum classroom hours and
curriculum requirements) and may fail to provide meaningful educational
services to the students who need them the most.
As a result, struggling students return to their regular schools
unprepared, are permanently locked into inferior educational settings,
or are funneled through alternative schools into the juvenile justice
system.
Youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system are often
denied procedural protections in the courts.
Studies demonstrate that as many as 80 percent of court-involved
children do not have lawyers.
Students who commit minor offenses may end up in secured detention if
they violate boilerplate probation conditions prohibiting them from
activities like missing school or disobeying teachers.
Students pushed along the pipeline find themselves in juvenile
detention facilities, many of which provide few, if any, educational
services.
Students of color, who are far more likely than their white peers to
be suspended, expelled, or arrested for the same kind of conduct at
school, and those with disabilities are particularly likely to travel
down this pipeline.
Though many students are propelled down the pipeline from school to
jail, it is difficult for them to make the journey in reverse.
Students who enter the juvenile justice system face many barriers to
their re-entry into traditional schools.
The vast majority of these students never graduate from high school.
Numerous studies have also shown that as many as 70-80 percent of
youth involved in the justice system meet the criteria for a
disability.
We must move away from the engrained culture of criminalization as
the answer to our problems.
It is no secret that 1 in every 3 black males born today can expect
to go to prison at some point in their life, compared with 1 in every 6
Latino males, and 1 in every 17 white males.
It is a statistic we know well because it is one that has been
reported since 2001 and has remained unchanged for nearly 15 years.
It is time we stop repeating and start understanding and unraveling
the fateful 1 in 3 trend that continues to sweep entire generations of
young men of color into a lifetime of systematic and barriers.
The United States currently has the largest number of prisoners in
the world due to its skyrocketing national imprisonment rate.
Rather than investing in premier educational responses, the United
States pays the highest cost globally for incarceration.
Federal, state, and local leaders are looking for innovative ways to
improve public health and public safety outcomes, while reducing the
costs of criminal justice and corrections.
A number of innovative strategies can save public funds and improve
public health by keeping low-risk, non-violent, drug-involved offenders
out of prison or jail, while still holding them accountable and
ensuring the safety of our communities.
The Obama Administration is committed to funding and evaluating the
long-term effects of these innovative criminal justice and corrections
interventions.
I too call upon my colleagues to come together and pass legislation
that will help stop the derailment of children's lives.
Meanwhile, Federal agencies will continue to seek opportunities to
expand smart probation and problem-solving court initiatives around the
country in collaboration with state, local, and tribal agencies.
In recognition of the considerable potential in cost savings,
improved outcomes for offenders, and improved public safety, a growing
number of state and local officials around the country are starting
their own promising initiatives to break the cycle of drug use, crime,
and incarceration.
Nearly every state is struggling with significant shortfalls in
revenue and making significant cuts to spending in order to close
budget gaps.
In making these cuts, many states are focusing attention on
corrections spending, one of the fastest growing lines in state budgets
over the past two decades.
Many states are pursuing a justice reinvestment approach, using data
to determine what has been driving the growth in the prison population
and how that growth might be stopped.
In addition, small investments have been made in programs designed to
reduce recidivism.
New policies have been enacted, slowing the growth of prison
populations or even downsizing corrections systems, saving states
hundreds of millions of dollars.
A portion of those savings are being reinvested in community-based
services and supports, including substance abuse treatment.
However, to have meaningful impact on behaviors that contribute to
crime, recidivism, and substance abuse, states must focus on a handful
of proven strategies that will maximize the impact of limited
investments being made in the treatment of substance use disorders and
community supervision.
I am a strong supporter of education and I am particularly sensitive
and protective of measures to keep students safe in school.
In this same spirit, we must invest in a multi-step, collaborative
process that involves the combined efforts of law enforcement,
prosecutors, influential community members, social services, reentry
services, community corrections, faith-based organizations, and city
management.
We have seen too often the horrific abuses of school officers
dragging, punching, slapping, and more to students.
First and foremost school-based law enforcement personnel need to be
removed from the educational setting.
And if law enforcement are not removed, they should be required to
receive post-certification training in issues specific to youth,
including:
1) de-escalation and mediation techniques;
2) restraint techniques to be used when force cannot be avoided;
3) signs and symptoms of trauma, abuse and neglect in children and
youth, as well as appropriate responses;
4) signs and symptoms of mental illness in children and youth, and
appropriate responses; and
5) manifestations of other disabilities, such as autism, and
appropriate responses, adolescent development, Juvenile law, and
Special education and applicable general education law.
Prohibit school districts from receiving any revenue from Class C
ticketing for truancy or any other offense.
Eliminate Disruption of Class and Disruption of Transportation as
penal code offenses.
Prohibit ticketing of students under the age of 14.
Young children are simply not equipped to understand a Class C
misdemeanor ticket as a meaningful consequence of misbehavior, and the
consequences of court involvement on academic success are too great to
allow this practice to continue.
Ticketing of older students should be a last resort.
Ticketing, arrest and use of force in schools is preposterously
reshaping today's school disciplinary policies disproportionately to
actual need.
We must acknowledge this epidemic and move to correct the inevitable
injustice that follows when our children are derailed from their
futures.
I thank my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH) for
hosting this Special Order on Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
It is an invaluable and much needed effort.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, let me just end by saying that the urgency
is now. In the words of Nelson Mandela, ``It always seems impossible
until it's done.'' Tonight the Congressional Black Caucus says: Let's
get it done.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, our children
represent the future of our nation. Our future is more promising when
our children have a clear path to succeed and have the opportunities to
become active members of the community. Over time, a culture of
favoring incarceration over education has become more prominent
throughout our society--particularly as it relates to minority and low-
income populations. Financial shortfalls at all levels of government
are also placing downward pressure on states and municipalities to cut
back on public services and educational or community-based programs in
favor of harsh criminalization or incarceration.
The result is the ``school-to-prison pipeline,'' which poses a very
real threat to our children and our society. This pipeline refers to
harsh policies and practices that cultivate a culture where young
individuals are pushed into the juvenile and criminal justice systems
through harsh punishments in schools. Inadequate resources in public
schools, economic instability, zero-tolerance policies, and harsh
punishments for non-violent offenses are all contributing to the
school-to-prison pipeline. As a result, the United States suffers from
the largest number of prisoners in the world and the economic and
social burden of the high costs of incarceration.
Zero tolerance policies are dangerous to have in our schools. These
policies impose extremely severe punishments on students, regardless of
the circumstances, which can result in suspension or even expulsion
from school. Children of color and students with special needs have
experienced a dramatic increase in these suspensions and expulsions,
which greatly increase their probability of entering into the juvenile
justice system. Schools
[[Page H2427]]
are also beginning to display an overreliance on law enforcement to
maintain discipline through the use of school resource officers.
Mr. Speaker, the school-to-prison pipeline is the result of a
dangerous precedent being set in our schools. Zero tolerance policies
and the overreliance on law enforcement to keep order in our schools
not only detracts from the culture of learning we expect in our
schools, but also condemns countless children to a life of suffering
for making simple mistakes during their youth. Our society will suffer
if we continue on this path of forcing children into the criminal
justice system and it is time that we considered serious reforms to
keep children in our communities and outside the juvenile justice
system.
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