Bob Barr: “this is a good bill. It is a good bill not because it is a great, learned, eloquent exposition of great enlightened…”

“this is a good bill. It is a good bill not because it is a great, learned, eloquent exposition of great enlightened theories of criminal justice. It is a good bill because it is practical and it is mainstream, and it is based not on listening to a bunch of folks in ivory towers but listening to prosecutors, juvenile justice administrators in our court systems, parole officers, jailers and local law enforcement officials all across America. They need practical help. They do not need treatises on enlightened theories of criminal justice. They need practical help, and this bill will give it to them. It will give it to them because it gives them flexibility and it removes barriers that we have allowed to build up, like scales in pipes, year after year after year, that have tied the hands of our local prosecutors and our Federal prosecutors. This bill is practical because it removes Federal restrictions on how juveniles can be dealt with. It is practical because it allows citizens in our communities to understand the most violent juveniles who may be among them, a right that is now denied our citizens and our schools. To say that this bill removes flexibility is absolutely laughable. This bill provides the maximum flexibility and options and practical alternatives to our local prosecutors and our Federal prosecutors that are possible and necessary. This bill does not mandate one single thing. It does just the opposite.…”