WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Education & the Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), today passed the Juvenile Crime Control and Delinquency Prevention Act (H.R. 1900), sponsored by Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-PA), by a vote of 41-2. The committee also approved technical changes to the bill.

            “I am very encouraged that this Congress we can not only report this legislation from committee, but also pass it through the House and Senate and have it become law,” Greenwood said. H.R. 1900 is “a bipartisan bill that reflects the interests of many members of this committee.”

            “Our objective in passing this bill is to improve the juvenile justice system and give maximum flexibility to states and local communities in preventing and reducing juvenile crime,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), chairman of the Education & the Workforce Subcommittee on Select Education.

            Chairman Boehner said, “This year, I believe we have an opportunity to send this bill to the House for action, and get it to the President for his signature. . . . The nature and extent of delinquency and abuse have changed considerably since the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) was created [in 1974], and this reauthorization has taken that into account.”

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The Juvenile Crime Control and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2001 would:

1. Give states and local governments new flexibility by consolidating five federal juvenile justice programs -- including boot camps, mentoring, a treatment program for child abuse and neglect victims, and state challenge activities -- into one Prevention Block Grant. This will gives states and local governments the flexibility to focus funding on their most pressing needs.

2. Allocate 50 percent of the two-year block grant to states on the basis of their relative populations of people under age 18; and the other half is allocated based on the annual average number of serious crimes committed in the state. Eligible grant recipients include law enforcement groups, schools, social service providers, and other entities involved in delinquency prevention activities.

3. Allow states and local governments to use grant funding for a number of activities, including mentoring and educational programs, expanded probation services, alcohol and drug dependency services for juveniles, and research on abused, neglected, missing, and exploited children.

4. Reform the “Mandates” for Juvenile Justice Funding: Under current law, states are eligible for federal juvenile justice funding if they meet four core requirements, commonly known as “mandates.” These include requirements that (1) status offenders -- juveniles who commit acts, such as truancy, that wouldn’t be considered criminal if they were adults -- not be placed in jail, lock-ups, or secure detention and correctional facilities; (2) juveniles housed with adults be held out of “sight and sound” of adults; (3) states remove juveniles from adult jails within 24 hours of arrest; and (4) states address the disproportionate number of minority juveniles detained or confined in secure facilities, jails, and lock-ups relative to the general population.

5. Strengthens the “sight and sound” requirement for juveniles detained in adult facilities to prohibit physical contact between a juvenile and an adult inmate.

6. Extend the period of time for which juveniles may be held in a facility with adults, before an initial court appearance, to 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays), in order to allow for unpredictable circumstances such as a lack of available placement or unsafe driving conditions.

7. Prohibit states from establishing numerical standards or quotas in relation to the requirement that states address the disproportionate number of minorities in contact with the juvenile justice system.