Congressional Facts

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According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), allowing one (1) youth to leave school for a life of crime and of drug abuse costs society from $1,700,000 to $2,300,000 annually;[1]

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Social Programs employing Data-Driven, Evidence-Based approaches to eradicate Juvenile Delinquency, on the other hand, cost an average of $2,500 to $3,500 per youth, per year;[2]

 

In a typical year, Juveniles account for between nine-percent (9%) and twenty-five percent (25%) of all arrests for the five (5) most violent offenses;[3]

 

In a typical year, Juveniles account for around thirteen-percent (13%) of all drug arrests;1 

 

In the last thirty (30) years, the number of US cities reporting gang problems has risen by 843% (gangs are now prevalent in all fifty states);

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Federal Grant funds designated to help combat Juvenile Delinquency range from only Seventy-Five Million dollars ($75,000,000) per year to Ninety-Two Million dollars ($92,000,000) per year nationwide.

 

This boils-down to an average of only about Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per county in the U.S. given out each year by our government for Social programs around the nation designed to help keep our kids out of prison;

 

The average need in funding per county in the U.S., to effectively eradicate Juvenile Delinquency, however, is around $500,000.[2]

 

Federal “War on Drugs” funds designated to facilitate the incarceration of mostly minority, non-violent drug offenders, on the other hand, including Juveniles, ranges from around Forty Billion dollars ($40,000,000,000) to Fifty-One Billion dollars ($51,000,000,000) per year nationwide (with around $12.75 Billion dollars to help facilitate Juvenile arrests).

 

This boils-down to an average of Eight Million dollars ($8,000,000) per county (with about Two Million dollars ($2,000,000) given out each year by our government for Law Enforcement activities around the nation designed to help facilitate Juvenile arrests and put our kids into prison); [4]

 

Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 19 seconds;

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The United States of America has around five-percent (5%) of the world’s human population, yet U.S citizens make-up about twenty-five percent (25%) of the world’s inmates.

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So how do we rescue our children from the current system of mass incarceration? We must empower a Movement designed to:

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1. Eliminate the likelihood that they will be pulled-in to the Criminal Justice process in the first place by:​​ 

 

Enhancing the capacity of willing CBO’s, FBO’s and B-Corps to produce High-Performing, Evidence-Based, Alternative-to-Detention programs & projects; and

 

Raising the Bar on Juvenile Defense practices;

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2. Eradicate Juvenile Delinquency by:

 

Educating the public to the nuances (i.e. loopholes in the legal system) that effect both delinquency and the promotion of selective enforcement of otherwise colorblind federal statutes, state laws and municipal ordinances;

 

Educating whole communities and stakeholders (i.e. School Systems, Courts, Law Enforcement, etc.) on ComeUnity ReEngineering (a plethora of Community-Level Transformative Justice initiatives, and assist their implementation, capacity build-up and sustainability);

 

3. Reverse and prevent the criminalization of insignificant juvenile behavior by:

 

Implementing a sustained campaign of Legislative discipline & reform throughout the U.S. Legal system.

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footnotes

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[1] The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as Amended (2002), Reauthorized (2015), and Reformed (2017). P.L. 114-22, Enacted May 29, 2015.

 

[2] The Restorative Justice Project of Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Delaware (a division of The Advocacy Foundation, Inc. ).

 

[3] Murder, Forcible Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and Weapons Offenses.

 

[4] www.DrugSense.org citing: “The Budgetary Impact of Drug Prohibition”, and “The Federal Drug Control Budget”, by Jeffrey A. Miron & Katherine Waldock.

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