Patrick Kennedy: “I would like to also add from the outset that my State is among those 38 States that cannot even begin to access any of…”

“I would like to also add from the outset that my State is among those 38 States that cannot even begin to access any of the funds under this bill. I might add it just shows how this bill is not a serious bill, because if it was serious in trying to change the effect of juvenile crime, it would certainly address the fact that it ignores 38 States of these United States from having access to the funds in this bill to do the kinds of things that our States feel make a difference in reducing crime. I just want to make one statement, a simple statement about this bill, and that is it does nothing, nothing to solve the problems that we are facing in juvenile crime and, in fact, it makes the problems worse. The facts show that we have a problem here. The facts show that kids sentenced to adult facilities have a higher recidivism rate than those sentenced to juvenile detention centers. Guess what this bill wants to do? It wants to send more of them to adult facilities. In essence, this bill is ignoring the facts.”