Melvin Watt: “As vigorously as I rose in opposition to the juvenile crime bill, H.R. 3, do I rise in support of this bill, which…”

“As vigorously as I rose in opposition to the juvenile crime bill, H.R. 3, do I rise in support of this bill, which authorizes prevention programs that will prevent juvenile crime rather than reacting after the fact when it is too late. My colleagues should understand that this is just the first step. This is an authorizing bill that has no money in it. So the challenge going forward will be to make sure that moneys are devoted to fund the programs in this bill instead of taking all of the money and putting it in support of H.R. 3, the crime prevention bill, which would provide more jails and more punitive sanctions against young people. If we do not pay the price in advance to prevent crime, we can never build enough prisons to accommodate it.”