Bobby Scott's Youth PROMISE Act (HR 1064)*Introduced on October 16, 2007, this bill - officially known as the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act - would "provide for evidence-based and promising practices related to juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention to help build individual, family, and community strength and resiliency to ensure that youth lead productive, safe, healthy, gang-free, and law-abiding lives."
*According to the Library of Congress' THOMAS System, the bill currently has 219 House co-sponsors, including Rick Boucher, Gerry Connolly, Randy Forbes, Jim Moran, Glenn Nye, Tom Perriello, Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf of Virginia.
*This recent article reports that Scott's bill, which aims "at curtailing crime through preventive measures," is "attracting broad bipartisan support in the House." In addition, Scott's legislation "is supported by over 200 national and state juvenile justice, education and religious organizations and has been endorsed by the cities of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Santa Fe, Philadelphia, and Newport News, among others."
*Also according to The Hill article, "Companion legislation introduced in the upper chamber by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has eight co-sponsors." Here is the list of U.S. Senate cosponsors, including Mark Warner but (for reasons unbeknownst to me) not Jim Webb.
Jim Webb's National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 (SB 714)*Introduced on Marsh 26, 2009, the bill would establish a National Criminal Justice Commission "to undertake a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system." The Commission would "(1) review all areas of federal and state criminal justice costs, practices, and policies; (2) make specified findings relating to incarceration, prison administration, the impact of gang activity, drug policy, mental illness among prisoners and the role of the military in crime prevention; (3) make recommendations for changes in policies and laws to address findings; (4) consult with government and nongovernmental leaders, including state and local law enforcement officials; and (5) submit a final report to Congress and the President and make such report public."
*According to THOMAS, the bill currently has 29 cosponsors, including Mark Warner and three Republicans (Graham, Hatch, Snowe).
*The Daily Press reported on June 13 that Webb "has moved to minimize the [political] risk [of tackling this issue] by reaching wide across the political spectrum for support."
*Jim Webb's U.S. Senate website lists dozens of organizations endorsing his bill, ranging from the International Union of Police Associations to the American Jail Association to Human Rights Watch and the American Friends Service Committee.
*To watch highlights from a hearing on Sen. Webb's bill by the Senate Judiciary Committee (Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs), please click here. According to Webb's Senate website, "Chief William Bratton of the Los Angeles Police Department testified on the bill: 'I believe that such a debate is long overdue on the national level and I agree that we need a contemporary, widespread and far-reaching review of our entire criminal justice system in order to better serve and protect the public. We must focus on preventing crime before it occurs rather than respond to it after it does.'"
Outlook for Both Bills
*From a source who covers the Hill closely, I'm hearing that Bobby Scott's bill - with 18 Republican cosponsors, a hearing date, a companion Senate bill, and 219 House cosponsors (sufficient to get a discharge petition and move the bill to the House floor without waiting for it to be reported from committee) - has "fast track" written all over it. This bill could even pass the House by the August recess.
*I'm also hearing that President Obama's mentor on crime policy, Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree, is a big fan of Bobby Scott's legislation. Watch for President Obama to do an announcement about how he thinks this bill rocks, and watch it sail to passage.
*As far as Webb's bill is concerned, I'm hearing that there's no hearing date set, no companion House bill, and only three Republican co-sponsors so far. According to one of my sources, this "relatively straightforward bill" most likely will end up passing, but "probably...not for a few months."
In the end, I believe that both Bobby Scott's Youth PROMISE Act and Jim Webb's National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 are excellent bills and strongly urge their passage. Right now, it looks like Scott's bill is definitely on the "fast track," with Webb's lagging a bit but still very much alive and kicking.
