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Crime and violence plague American communities regardless of race, income, or locality. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, but unfortunately the push to incarcerate has not resulted in safer and stronger communities.
I strongly support legislation that remedies the broken criminal justice system through -
- Providing law enforcement with the tools, resources, and training needed to protect our communities;
- Cosponsoring legislation that would increase rehabilitation services and resources particularly for non-violent offenders, their families and communities;
- Focusing on crime prevention efforts through education, mentoring, counseling, workforce training, and targeted efforts.
Recently, I introduced H.R. 5637, the Securing American Families by Educating and Training Youth (SAFETY) through Nonviolence Act of 2008. Also, I am the lead cosponsor with my friend and colleague Rep. John Larsen, the House Democratic Caucus Vice-Chairman of H.R. 854, City Youth Violence Recovery Act. This legislation authorizes grants for public private partnerships to counsel and mentor at-risk youth to alleviate the effects of violence.
I am also a proud cosponsor of the following noteworthy anti-crime bills:
- H.R. 3992, Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2007
- H.R. 1593, Second Chance Act of 2007
- H.R. 3846, Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act (Youth PROMISE Act)
- H.R. 4283, Literacy, Education, and Rehabilitation Act (LERA)
- H.R. 4545, the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2007
- H.R. 2941, the Victims of Crime Act Preservation Fund Act of 2007
- H.R.1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007
YOUTHBUILD
Every year, I lead my congressional colleagues in urging for increased funding for the YouthBuild program. YouthBuild is a youth and community development program that simultaneously addresses core issues facing low-income communities: housing, education, employment, crime prevention, and leadership development. In YouthBuild programs, low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GED or high school diploma, learn job skills and serve their communities by building affordable housing, and transform their own lives and roles in society.
PARENTS CORPS
The Atlanta Metro Area has developed many progressive and innovative methods to fighting crime. One of these ideas is the National Parents Corps. This is a national effort coordinated by National Families in Action (NFIA), a non-profit headquartered in Atlanta, GA. NFIA pairs with local community partners across the country and targets middle and high schools in need. They hire and train a parent whose entire focus is strengthening the gap between parents and school administrators towards reducing gang, drug, and alcohol abuse for teenagers. It has been so successful, that after the initial incubus period, many schools fund the parent-staff themselves.
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