Shortly, the Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Accountability and Rehabilitation Act of 1999
(S. 254) will be brought to the floor of the Senate. This deceptively-named bill is one of the most regressive proposals yet introduced in Congress -- the latest step in the Republican Right Wing leadership’s effort to expand prison systems, while cutting back on prevention and rehabilitation programs. Senate backers of this bad bill are attempting to exploit public reaction to the tragic events at the Littleton, CO high school and are pushing legislation which is just more of the  “lock ‘em up and throw the key” approach which is clogging our courts and inundating our prisons.  Needless to say, imprisonment for troubled, at risk youth -- in most cases-- is not the answer.

S. 254 would dismantle crucial protections against placing incarcerated children with hardened adult inmates. It would facilitate treatment of juvenile offenders as young as 14 (lowered from age 16) to be tried and convicted as “adults” under a wider array of offenses.  It would also institutionalize a massive new federal juvenile crime bureaucracy with greatly expanded federal jurisdiction. The bill also grants federal prosecutors the new power to charge as an adult in federal court those as young as 14  -- even in nonviolent, non-repeat offense cases. Worse, the legislation says that this prosecutorial power is “not reviewable in any court;” so once a lower court has convicted a young person, there are no other legal options.

S. 254 is punitive and does nothing to help rehabilitate children who may be in trouble with the law and the provisions which allow states to house juvenile and adult offenders in the same facility are morally objectionable.

Other Information:

If passed, this bill will disproportionately affect children of color. Currently two-thirds of all children in juvenile justice system are children of color, despite the fact that only one-third of all children in the U.S. are considered ethnic minorities. African-American youth are seven times as likely to be detained as Caucasian youth, although studies show no difference in drug use between whites and blacks. African-American teenage males are incarcerated for drug offenses at 30 times the national rate of Caucasian teens and are more likely to be tried in adult court. States have recently taken the initiative to address to fact the too many children of color are being detained. But S. 254 would effectively eliminate the disproportionate minority confinement initiative in the states.

Here’s How You Can Help:

Please call  immediately and urge your Senators to vote to table this bill when it is brought up. If the bill is not tabled, then your Senators should vote against S. 254. This may happen as early as Tuesday, May 11th. The main number is (202) 224-3121; just ask for your Senators’ offices.