John Conyers: “My colleagues, this is a measure that we should be able to identify the problem, study the data, and work together to…”

“My colleagues, this is a measure that we should be able to identify the problem, study the data, and work together to craft a commonsense response to youth violence. But the measure before us has fatal flaws which authorizes trying more juveniles as adults and provides for more mandatory minimums and more death penalties. None of these things will correct and reduce the youth violence problem, but they will seriously harm our system of juvenile justice. Now, the one thing that we should know before we go to a vote here is the organizations that have joined myself and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), the ranking subcommittee member, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), who has worked tirelessly on this issue across the years with the Congressional Black Caucus. For instance, the Judicial Conference of the United States opposes this measure. The Sentencing Commission opposes this measure; the Alliance for Children and Families, the Children's Defense Fund, the Youth Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Correctional Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Council of La Raza, the Presbyterian Church, and the Volunteers of America. And let me tell my colleagues why these groups oppose this legislation.…”