Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) slammed the House Appropriations Committee as its Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee prepared to mark up a bill that zeroes out juvenile justice funding.
From Grassley:
“Juvenile justice intervention programs are important tools to help local communities serve and protect at-risk youth who come into contact with the criminal justice system. It’s discouraging to see that funding for these important programs is not included in the House Appropriations subcommittee’s markup proposal.
In the Senate, I’ve worked with a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation reauthorizing and updating these juvenile justice programs, which already have experienced past funding cuts. My colleagues in the House should recognize the need to adequately equip our communities with tools to respond to youth who have brushes with the law. These are kids who need help, and it’s unreasonable to leave these programs out of the picture altogether.”
The House subcommittee is set to begin at 10:30 am today. Click here to watch the proceedings.
Money for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) would be eliminated under the spending bill published yesterday by the committee. It would essentially end for at least one year the four-decade agreement between the Justice Department and states on compliance with certain basic standards for juvenile justice systems.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has been investigating shortcomings and potential fraud in the compliance monitoring done by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
But those problems did not deter Grassley from introducing bipartisan legislation last week that would reauthorize JJDPA for an additional five years.
John Kelly is an editor for The Imprint.