Tony Cardenas Community-Based Gang Intervention Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States must acknowledge and address social conditions such as poverty, homelessness, inadequate educational systems, and limited economic opportunities in developing a comprehensive gang violence reduction strategy.
Amends the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to: (1) require the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to award grants to nonprofit community-based gang intervention agencies to provide services for reducing and stopping gang-related and gang-motivated violence and crime; (2) include representatives of community-based gang intervention agencies in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention advisory groups established by state plans; and (3) include community-based gang intervention and prevention activities in state and local grant programs for delinquency prevention.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3526 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3526
To provide definitions of terms and services related to community-based
gang intervention to ensure that funding for such intervention is
utilized in a cost-effective manner and that community-based agencies
are held accountable for providing holistic, integrated intervention
services, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 31, 2009
Ms. Watson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide definitions of terms and services related to community-based
gang intervention to ensure that funding for such intervention is
utilized in a cost-effective manner and that community-based agencies
are held accountable for providing holistic, integrated intervention
services, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Tony Cardenas Community-Based Gang
Intervention Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
(1) For the first time in American history, more than one
in every 100 adults is now incarcerated in prison or jail.
(2) The United States incarcerates more people than any
other country in the world with more than 2,200,000 people
behind bars and another 5,000,000 people on probation or
parole.
(3) The growing prison system is impacting every State,
with total State spending on incarceration toppling
$44,000,000,000 in 2007, up from $10,000,000,000 in 1987.
(4) Prisons are the fourth-largest State budget item,
behind, health, education, and transportation.
(5) With increased prison costs, vital social programs and
services such as education, job creation, housing, and
healthcare are being cut or eliminated to maintain the prison
industry.
(6) From 1982 to 2005, direct expenditures for the judicial
system increased by 474 percent, including an increase of 619
percent for corrections, and an increase of 396 percent for
police. These increases resulted in hundreds of billions of
dollars in government spending.
(7) Increased spending on the major criminal justice
functions (including police, corrections, and judicial
functions) has forced local governments to spend more of their
general fund expenditures on corrections and incarceration.
(8) The United States incarcerates more people than any
other country in the world, including China, whose population
is more than 4 times as large. As a result the United States
expends large sums on corrections and incarceration, while gang
prevention and intervention resources and programming continue
to be under funded.
(9) The most recent data for national spending on juvenile
justice is from 1994, and reveals that States spent
$2,600,000,000 on juvenile justice expenditures. State funded
residential settings, such as detention centers, accounted for
65 percent ($1,690,000,000) of total juvenile justice
expenditures, while delinquency prevention accounted for only 8
percent ($208,000,000) of such juvenile justice expenditures.
(10) According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, allowing 1 youth to leave school for a
life of crime and drug abuse costs society $1,700,000 to
$2,300,000, annually.
(11) The State of California leads the world in
incarceration rates, with more than 175,000 people in State
prisons and county jails.
(12) The State of California spends nearly $10,000,000,000
a year on incarceration costs, exceeding the $7,100,000,000 the
State spends to fund the University of California and
California State University education systems.
(13) Law enforcement agencies report that, compared to 20
years ago, there are now 6 times as many gangs and at least
twice the number of gang members in the Los Angeles
metropolitan area.
(14) The City of Los Angeles has the largest number of
alleged gangs and gang members in the world, with an estimated
700 gangs and 40,000 gang members.
(15) The County of Los Angeles allegedly has more than
1,076 gangs and more than 80,000 gang members.
(16) California taxpayers now spend roughly $46,000 a year
to incarcerate one adult and $252,000 a year to incarcerate one
youth in State facilities.
(17) Gang and youth violence substantially decreases when
governments address the root causes of gang violence and
adequately fund community-based programs and practices.
(18) Studies continue to prove that community-based gang
intervention provides long-lasting, cost-effective results and
opportunities for the youth and families most susceptible to
gang violence.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that, in
developing a comprehensive violence reduction strategy, the United
States must acknowledge and address larger, entrenched social
conditions and issues such as poverty, homelessness, inadequate
educational systems, and limited economic opportunities that give rise
to gangs and gang violence.
TITLE I--COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES
SEC. 101. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES.
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42
U.S.C. 5601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
title:
``TITLE VI--COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION GRANTS
``SEC. 601. PURPOSE.
``The purpose of this title is to offer holistic and comprehensive
understanding and support for the variety of community-based gang
intervention activities that focus on and engage active and former gang
members, their close associates, and gang members in and returning from
confinement. Gang involved youth and their families require specialized
intensive and comprehensive services that address the unique issues
encountered by youth when they become involved with gangs. Community-
based gang intervention involves proactive and reactive responses to
gang activities on several levels, including--
``(1) the regional level, to promote and coordinate peace
truces and cease-fires between groups;
``(2) the State and local level, including community and
the juvenile halls, camps, Division of Juvenile Justice
facilities, county jails, and State prisons; and
``(3) the neighborhood and street level, including with
active gang members individually.
``SEC. 602. SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES.
``(a) Support of Community-Based Gang Intervention Agencies.--
Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator shall
award grant to eligible entities to carry out the activities described
in subsection (c).
``(b) Eligible Entity.--For the purposes of this section, an
`eligible entity' means a community-based gang intervention agency that
is a nonprofit organization with a proven track record and reputation
for expertise in providing community-based gang intervention activities
through a community-based gang intervention model, as defined in
section 603.
``(c) Grant Activities.--Each entity awarded a grant under this
section shall carry out the following:
``(1) Conduct street mediation, by working with gang
members and persons with influence over such member to defuse
and de-escalate potential and actual violence internally
between gang members and between rival gangs.
``(2) Develop local and regional truces, by creating cease-
fires or non-aggression agreements between rival gangs and
neighborhoods.
``(3) Serve as conduits who facilitate constant dialogue
and maintenance between gangs and neighborhoods.
``(4) Provide services that respond to the high levels of
anxiety experienced by gang members to decompress critical
situations due to traumatic events.
``(5) Provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week crisis intervention
services by responding to requests for violence prevention
services made by gang members, gang member's family, school
officials, intervention workers, social service agencies, or
law enforcement.
``(6) Provide targeted training and technical assistance to
violence plagued communities after a major gang-related
incident occurs.
``(7) Facilitate the development of a community response
plan, including training protocols, situational scene
scenarios, and emergency response.
``(8) Make a reasonable effort to prevent gang-related
rumors from intensifying tension between gangs or igniting
violent responses by gangs.
``(9) Establish relationships with community stakeholders
to inform and engage them in quality-of-life activities that
enhance intervention activities.
``(10) Serve as intervention representatives in communities
by attending local meetings involving non-profit organizations,
schools, faith-based organizations, and other entities.
``(11) Develop conflict resolution skills and techniques to
address and resolve community concerns related to gang activity
in order to improve the quality of life within neighborhoods.
``(12) Work with schools to respond to gang-related issues
and crises both within and outside school.
``(13) Provide support services for youth and families
affected by gang violence and other victims of gang violence
(including any individual who is physically, emotionally,
financially, or otherwise harmed by criminal activity, and
those affected by harm done to or by a family member), which
may include--
``(A) advocating for public sector and private
sector assistance and services;
``(B) grief counseling; and
``(C) referrals to treatment and rehabilitation for
cognitive, mental, emotional, physical, or financial
injury, loss, or suffering.
``(14) Provide comprehensive mental health services to
youth and families affected by gang violence or involvement,
including--
``(A) integrated services comprised of individual,
family, and group therapy modalities, and psychological
education provided through youth and parent training
programs; and
``(B) gang-responsive services including skills
training, assessing for, and servicing, youth with
developmental disabilities, behavioral modification,
and services to address substance use and abuse, anger
management, emotional regulation, traumatic stress,
family violence, depression, suicide, anxiety, and
educational problems.
``(15) Provide public and private sector career job
training, development, and placement, including--
``(A) job-finding and job-maintaining skills,
including skills related to resume writing,
interviewing, workplace decorum, interpersonal
communication, and problem-solving;
``(B) information about legal rights in the
workplace; and
``(C) financial literacy, and assisting.
``(16) Assist with substance use and abuse treatment, and
domestic violence victims, and voluntary tattoo removal of
markings on the body related to gang involvement.
``(d) Availability of Victims Assistance.--An entity awarded a
grant under this section shall provide victim assistance under
paragraph (13) of subsection (c) to any individual who meets the
qualifications of such paragraph regardless of the background of the
individual, and shall not discriminate in the provision of such
assistance based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic level, or past record.
``SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.
``In this title:
``(1) Community.--The term `community' means a unit of
local government or an Indian Tribe.
``(2) Community-based gang intervention.--Except when used
as part of the term `community-based gang intervention agency'
or `community-based gang intervention model', the term
`community-based gang intervention' means a two-prong approach
to reducing gang violence that provides--
``(A) specialized, gang-specific mediation and
mitigation to stop or prevent violence by, within, and
between gangs; and
``(B) the redirection of individual gang members
and their families through proactive efforts that
increase peace and safety for gang members, their
families, and their communities.
``(3) Community-based gang intervention agency.--The term
`community-based gang intervention agency' means a community-
based organization, association, or other entity that--
``(A) promotes public safety, with the specific
objective of reducing and stopping gang-related and
gang-motivated violence and crime; and
``(B) has a history of, or experience or specific
training in, effectively working with gang-involved
youth and their families.
``(4) Community-based gang intervention model.--The term
`community-based gang intervention model' means a holistic and
comprehensive two-prong approach to reducing gang violence and
an integrated approach of providing rehabilitative service
delivery to gang involved youth that--
``(A) deploys community-based gang intervention
specialists who are trained in the two-prong approach
and who intercede, interact, and participate with and
in into the community to quell rumors, prevent and
mediate conflicts, and respond to crises related to
gang activity and violence;
``(B) delivers rehabilitative services to gang-
involved individuals and families; and
``(C) addresses the barriers that gang-involved
youth and their families encounter and the societal
factors that promote gang violence.
``(5) Evidence-based.--The term `evidence-based', when used
with respect to a practice relating to gang activity prevention
and intervention (including community-based gang intervention),
means a practice (including a service, program, or strategy)
that has statistically significant outcomes that include a
reduction in gang-related violence and an increased number of
youth in job development, recreation, arts-based activities, or
faith-based activities. Such outcomes may be determined by--
``(A) an experimental trial, in which participants
are randomly assigned to participate in the practice
that is the subject of the trial; or
``(B) a quasi-experimental trial, in which the
outcomes for participants are compared with outcomes
for a control group that is made up of individuals who
are similar to such participants.
``(6) Gang.--The term `gang' means a group of individuals--
``(A) organized by geography, culture, or activity;
``(B) that have a group name, and may have other
identifying characteristics of the group such as colors
and nicknames; and
``(C) who engage in the use of violence to defend
the members or territory of the group.
``(7) Promising.--The term `promising', when used with
respect to a practice relating to community-based gang
intervention, means a practice that is not evidence-based,
but--
``(A) that has outcomes from an evaluation that
demonstrate that such practice reduces gang-related
violence and crime; or
``(B) about which a study is being conducted to
determine if such practice is evidence-based.
``(8) Youth.--The term `youth' means--
``(A) an individual who is 18 years of age or
younger; or
``(B) in any State in which the maximum age at
which the juvenile justice system of such State has
jurisdiction over individuals exceeds 18 years of age,
an individual who is such maximum age or younger.''.
TITLE II--AMENDMENTS TO THE OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY
PREVENTION
SEC. 201. DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION.
Section 103 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5603) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (28), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (29), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(30) Community-based gang intervention.--Except when used
as part of the term `community-based gang intervention agency'
or `community-based gang intervention model', the term
`community-based gang intervention' means a two-prong approach
to reducing gang violence that provides--
``(A) specialized, gang-specific mediation and
mitigation to stop or prevent violence by, within, and
between gangs; and
``(B) the redirection of individual gang members
and their families through proactive efforts that
increase peace and safety for gang members, their
families, and their communities.''.
SEC. 202. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION REPRESENTATIVE TO STATE
ADVISORY BOARDS.
Section 223(a)(3)(ii) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)(3)(ii)) is amended--
(1) in subclause (III), by inserting ``, community-based
gang intervention,'' after ``delinquency prevention''; and
(2) in subclause (IV), by inserting ``community-based gang
intervention,'' after ``prevention and treatment,''.
SEC. 203. GRANTS FOR DELINQUENCY PREVENTION PROGRAMS.
Section 504 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5783) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as
paragraphs (8) and (9), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following
new paragraph:
``(7) community-based gang intervention and prevention
activities;''; and
(2) in subsection (c)(2), by inserting ``and community-
based gang intervention'' before ``activities;''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities.
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