Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank Chairman Grassley. The chairman and I have been working on this bill since 2014. What we heard from juvenile justice practitioners around the country is that a lot of the policies which had been in place for dealing with juvenile offenders were stale and ineffective and that there were better ways to do business than were currently being supported by this grant. So we have worked for years to get this program, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, reauthorized. I see Senator Cotton on the floor, and he can speak for himself, but I think the crux of today's concerns are that the JJDPA would phase out over time--over 3 years, in fact--the ability for States to take its money. You don't have to take the money, but if you take the money, you have to phase out locking up young people--kids--for status offenses, for offenses for which an adult could not be locked up. It is simply not good practice. That is one of the reasons the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has supported this bill--they know it is bad practice. Indeed, the members of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges from the State of Arkansas support this measure. The bill the chairman referred to that passed the House by such an astonishingly strong vote was voted for by every Member of the Arkansas delegation in the House of Representatives, and the senior Senator from the State of Arkansas supports this bill.…”