Melvin Watt: “Guess which State in the Union has the most aggressive juvenile justice laws? The State of North Carolina. If we measure…”

“Guess which State in the Union has the most aggressive juvenile justice laws? The State of North Carolina. If we measure it based on who tries and convicts more juveniles as adults, it is North Carolina. One-fifth of the juveniles tried, convicted, and sentenced as adults are in North Carolina. The Republicans talk about do the adult crime, serve the adult time. We do it in North Carolina. But guess what? Under this bill, North Carolina would not qualify for funds under this bill. They say they want us to be aggressive, lock them up. But, no, they will not give us any funds under this bill. In fact, of all the 50 States, 39--at least--of the States do not qualify for funds under this bill, including North Carolina, which has the most aggressive laws. Now, why? Because in North Carolina the judge decides whether somebody is going to be tried as an adult rather than the prosecutor deciding, and the Federal Government under this bill would require that the prosecutor make that decision rather than the judge making that decision. So we are going to be deprived of funds unless we change our laws to comply with the Federal law. Does that make any sense?”