Sheila Jackson Lee: “Thank you for this opportunity to discuss Amendment 108 to the ``CJS Appropriation Act of 2017''. This amendment will…”

“Thank you for this opportunity to discuss Amendment 108 to the ``CJS Appropriation Act of 2017''. This amendment will save thousands of lives within our youth population by decreasing our federal prison funding of $7,070,248,000, available for the administration, operation and maintenance of Federal penal and correctional institutions. Of this amount, up to $20,000,000 is made available for the use of contract confinement. My amendment seeks to reduce this account by a mere $10,000,000 for juvenile justice programs designed to reduce recidivism, gang violence and gun crime. These juvenile justice programs help protect our most vulnerable children through treatment, education, training, and mentoring, not incarceration. According to the Justice Policy Institute, locking up juveniles costs an average of $407.58 per person per day and $148,767 per person per year. Even conservative coalitions like Freedom Works, American Conservative Union Foundation, Generation Opportunity, and Taxpayers Protection Alliance agreed that mass incarceration is extremely costly to taxpayers. This amendment invests in our youth population at the front end with a greater return before the damage becomes irreversible at the back end. This amendment supports programs that have shown consistent success in curtailing gang violence and gun crimes. Research shows that violence among our youths is a health epidemic that must be addressed with appropriate measures beyond incarceration.…”