Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this bill reauthorizes the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program for an additional 3 years. I worked with my Republican colleagues in 1997 to develop and pass the legislation that created this important initiative. This program directs the Department of Justice to make grants to States and units of local government to strengthen their juvenile justice systems. The program allows funds to be used for a broad range of purposes that help reduce juvenile crime, such as establishing programs to assess the needs of juvenile offenders in order to facilitate provision of comprehensive services; establishing programs to reduce recidivism amongst juveniles; hiring juvenile court judges, court-appointed defenders and advocates; and developing systems of graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders. The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant has been an important part of the Federal Government's funding of juvenile justice programs. When we worked together on a bipartisan basis to develop this program, Members recognized that success in preventing juvenile crime and reducing recidivism by juvenile offenders requires something other than tough- sounding slogans and sound bites.…”