Barbara Boxer: “I hope our colleagues in their offices and doing their work heard the remarks of my colleague from Nevada. I think he…”

“I hope our colleagues in their offices and doing their work heard the remarks of my colleague from Nevada. I think he was eloquent because he spoke from the heart and from his own life experience. His own life experience underscores the need for this amendment and what we are trying to do. You can take the best kid in the world, but if they are home alone after school and they are very lonely and they do not have guidance, bad things can happen, and bad things do happen. I want to show, again, the chart by the FBI which underscores exactly what my friend was saying as far as when crime occurs. If you look at the chart, it is very clear. Juvenile crime starts climbing right after school and it peaks right after school, and eventually, as the parents come home, the crime rate goes down. So it is not, as we say, rocket science to understand that we can do a tremendous amount for our children. The other point my friend made which I thought was important was that he has heard stories from his own State, where they use some of these funds, that the academic performance of the children is also improving. I have seen programs in Richmond, CA, where the local Police Athletic League serves over 400 students and the juvenile crime rate has decreased by 36 percent as a result of the afterschool program. It is documented. The scores are going up. In Hemet, CA, we have, again, the police athletic and activities league serving over 2,500 students in that afterschool program.”