The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are debating two different approaches to crime prevention for the country's most troubled areas. The opposing pieces of legislation each may prevent the other from becoming law.
In the House, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) has introduced the Youth PROMISE (Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support and Education) Act. The bill would provide federal funding, for up to four years, to community councils consisting of law enforcement officers, educators, court officials, social service workers, healthcare providers and other community and faith-based groups. The council would develop and implement a plan to reduce crime through education, intervention, mentoring and community support. The council must provide measurable evidence that its program is effective for funding to continue.
The Youth PROMISE Act also dedicates more federal funding to law enforcement programs targeting youth and gang violence at the state and local level.
Two hundred and thirty-five representatives support Scott's bill, but support among senators has been difficult to rally. Only 14 senators support the Youth PROMISE Act. This may be due to a bill introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that creates new offenses and stiffer penalties for gang members convicted of crimes. The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009 makes participation in a street gang a federal crime, establishes higher penalties for violent gang crimes and extends the statute of limitations on violent crime cases from five years to 10 years, among other changes.
The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act would provide $1.02 billion in funding for prevention, intervention and enforcement programs. $500 million would go towards prevention programs in schools and the community, and national research on fighting gang violence. The rest of the budget, about $520 million, would go to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to reduce violence and gang crimes and to prosecute the offenders.
Although Scott and Feinstein are meeting to discuss how the bills could be combined, a compromise seems unlikely given the different approach each bill proposes. The Youth PROMISE Act targets potential criminals and uses the power of the community to offer alternatives to young people that may otherwise turn to gangs. The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act is more concerned with inflicting stiffer penalties to gang members that have already committed crimes, as is evident in the allocation of its funding. Until these differences are reconciled, passage of either bill may be unlikely.
