[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16681]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      JUVENILE JUSTICE CONFERENCE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today is in effect the anniversary of the 
only meeting of the House-Senate Conference committee on the Hatch-
Leahy juvenile crime bill. This is the last day before the August 
recess this year and last year on August 5, Chairman Hatch convened the 
conference for the limited purpose of opening statements. I am 
disappointed that the majority continues to refuse to reconvene the 
conference and that for a over a year this Congress has failed to 
respond to issues of youth violence, school violence and crime 
prevention.
  It has been 15 months since the shooting at Columbine High School in 
Littleton, Colorado, where 14 students and a teacher lost their lives 
in that tragedy on April 20, 1999. It has been 14 months since the 
Senate passed the Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill by an overwhelming 
vote of 73-25. Our bipartisan bill includes modest yet effective gun 
safety provisions. It has been 13 months since the House of 
Representatives passed its own juvenile crime bill on June 17, 1999.
  Sadly, it will be 12 months next week since the House and Senate 
juvenile justice conference met for the first--and only--time on August 
5, 1999, less than 24 hours before the Congress adjourned for its long 
August recess.
  Senate and House Democrats have been ready for months to reconvene 
the juvenile justice conference and work with Republicans to craft an 
effective juvenile justice conference report that includes reasonable 
gun safety provisions, but the majority refuses to act. Indeed, on 
October 20, 1999, all the House and Senate Democratic conferees wrote 
to Senator Hatch, the Chairman of the juvenile justice conference, and 
Congressman Hyde, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to 
reconvene the conference immediately. In April 2000, Congressman Hyde 
joined our call for the juvenile justice conference to meet as soon as 
possible in a letter to Senator Hatch, which was also signed by 
Congressman Conyers.
  A few months ago, the President even invited House and Senate members 
of the conference to the White House to urge us to proceed to the 
conference and to final enactment of legislation before the anniversary 
of the Columbine tragedy. But the majority has rejected his pleas for 
action as they have those of the American people. Apparently, the gun 
lobby objects to one provision in the bill, even though the bill passed 
overwhelmingly, and they will not let us proceed with the conference. 
This lobby was not elected to the Senate or to the House of 
Representatives, but apparently has enormous influence.
  Every parent, teacher and student in this country is concerned about 
school violence over the last two years and worried about when the next 
shooting may occur. They only hope it does not happen at their school 
or involve their children.
  Just last week, a 13-year old student put a gun to a fellow classmate 
at Seattle middle school. Although the student fired a shot in the 
school cafeteria, thankfully no one was hurt during this latest school 
shooting. Unfortunately, that cannot be said about the rash of recent 
incidents of school violence throughout the country. The growing list 
of schoolyard shootings by children in Arkansas, Washington, Oregon, 
Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi, Colorado, 
Georgia, Michigan, and Florida is simply unacceptable and intolerable.
  We all recognize that there is no single cause and no single 
legislative solution that will cure the ill of youth violence in our 
schools or in our streets. But we have an opportunity before us to do 
our part. We should not let another school year begin without 
addressing some of the core issues of youth violence and school 
violence. We should seize this opportunity to act on balanced, 
effective juvenile justice legislation, and measures to keep guns out 
of the hands of children and away from criminals.
  It is ironic that the Senate will be in recess next week on the 
anniversary of the first and only meeting of the juvenile justice 
conference. In fact, the Senate has been in recess more than in session 
since the one ceremonial meeting of the juvenile crime conference 
committee. It is beneath us. We ought to meet. We ought to get this 
done.

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