Friends,
Our colleagues at First Focus and The Raben Group have been
coordinating signatures to a letter from law school professors interested in at-risk
youth. This letter advocates swift reauthorization of the Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which is well overdue for
reauthorization and in need of substantive improvements. We hope that you
will consider signing the letter, which is attached and below, and forwarding
it to other colleagues in the academic world who might be interested as well.
A note from Karen Marangi and Samantha Harvell, the
coordinators of this effort, is below as well. I have included Karen and
Samantha on this email. Would you please be in touch with them if
you are interested in adding your name to the letter?
Thanks very much. My apologies for this less than
personal approach to being in touch with you. I hope that you are well.
Best,
Dana
Dana Shoenberg
Senior Staff Attorney
Center for Children's Law and Policy
1701 K Street, NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
202-637-0377, x107
fax: 202-379-1600
www.cclp.org
Attached,
and below, is the proposed letter of support for the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) which was due to be reauthorized in
2007. Unfortunately, it is still stalled in the U.S. Senate and the
House of Representatives. It would be terrific if you could circulate
this letter to others in the academic community who work with or on behalf of
youth.
I
am working with Samantha Harvell, PhD., the Sr. Director for Early Childhood
and Juvenile Justice Policy at FirstFocus, on this letter. FirstFocus is
a relatively new bipartisan advocacy organization in Washington, D.C.,
committed to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget
decisions (www.firstfocus.net)
We
would really appreciate it if you could circulate this letter to your
colleagues who may be interested in signing on. From past experience, we
know that Members of Congress will be interested to hear from the academic
field on this important issue. We already have commitments from
professors in California, Florida and elsewhere, and we hope to grow the list
in short order.
It
would be most helpful if we received the correct titles and university
affiliations from those interested in signing onto the letter. We
will then plan to submit it without signatures.
I
have also attached a fact sheet on the JJDPA bill – this reports on the
version that has now passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee two
times. For additional information, the coalition of over 300 groups which
support the Reauthorization has created a terrific website: www.act4jj.org.
Feel
free to either compile names and titles into one document at Georgetown, or
your colleagues can email me directly at [log in to unmask]
Thanks
so much!
Karen
Marangi
Principal
The
Raben Group
202.587.4939
***************
April XX,
2010
The
Honorable Harry Reid
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority
Leader
Republican Leader
U.S.
Senate
U.S. Senate
Washington,
D.C. 20510
Washington, D.C. 20510
The
Honorable Nancy Pelosi
The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker
of the House
Republican Leader
U.S.
House of Representatives
U.S.
House of Representatives
Washington,
D.C. 20515
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear
Majority Leader Reid, Republican Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi and
Republican Leader Boehner,
As
professors who teach, research, advocate and write about youth and issues which
affect them, we are writing to express our strong support for reauthorizing the
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in the 111th Congress.
We
understand that this legislation has been passed out of the Senate Judiciary
Committee twice, and is now awaiting a full Senate vote. We urge the Senate
to take up and pass these urgently needed reforms before the Memorial Day
recess. We also understand that Chairman George Miller has not yet moved
a bill through his House Education and Labor Committee, so we would urge
progress in that Committee on this important legislation in the near term as
well.
The JJDPA
has been protecting youth across the nation for over 35 years.
Established in 1974 and most recently authorized in 2002 with bipartisan
support, the JJDPA is based on a broad consensus that children, youth and
families involved with the juvenile and criminal justice system should be
protected by federal standards. This important legislation also supports
effective prevention programs and other ways to ensure that communities are kept
safe, including reducing the recidivism rate of youthful offenders.
In
addition, the JJDPA provides support for the Office of Juvenile Justice &
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) at the Department of Justice, which provides
training and technical assistance, develops model programs, and supports
research and evaluation. This legislation also supports a nationwide
juvenile justice planning and advisory system and improvements in state and
local juvenile justice programs and practices.
Since the
last in-depth revision of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
in 1992, researchers and policymakers have learned a tremendous amount about
what works to prevent and reduce juvenile delinquency. From the growing
body of research on child and youth development, the development of the
adolescent brain, and effective programs and practices, we now know much more
about what works in turning these young lives around. Additionally,
policymakers have increasingly recognized the importance of evaluating programs
in order to enhance their effectiveness and foster replication.
However,
our nation continues to face significant challenges in the juvenile justice
arena. These include ongoing racial disparities in the treatment of
youth in the justice system; the over-reliance on detention and incarceration
as a response to juvenile crime; the continued detention of status offenders,
such as truants and runaways, despite federal prohibitions; and the increased
placement of children at risk of abuse, sexual assault and suicide in adult
jails despite the JJDPA’s original intention to keep them out of adult
facilities.
After 18
years, it is clearly time to implement a comprehensive reauthorization of the
JJDPA. We strongly support this legislation and the reinvigoration of the
Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention at the Justice
Department. We are confident that implementing these best practices and
latest research results will benefit both the children and youth who are at
risk of entering the juvenile court system, and those who have already entered
the system. We also believe it will help make our communities safer and
healthier. We urge Congress to make this legislation a priority in the next few
months. Our youth deserve nothing less.
.
Sincerely,
Names
University Affiliations
Cc: The Honorable Patrick
Leahy, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
The Honorable Jeff Sessions, Ranking Republican, Senate Judiciary Committee
The Honorable George Miller, Chairman, House Education & Labor Committee
The Honorable John Kline, Ranking Republican, House Education & Labor
Committee