Senate Committee Cuts Federal Juvenile Programs Deeply, But Would Fund All of Them

Recommendation also zeroes out money for reentry programs
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill this afternoon that would fund the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs (OJJDP) at $251 million, approximately $24 million below the diminished budget that the agency faced this fiscal year after a last-minute spending deal.  
The committee broke up the $251 million in spending this way:  
-$60 million for the missing and exploited children programs.
-$55 million for mentoring grants.
-$45 million for state formula grants, given to states on the condition that they adhere to basic standards in regard to the detainment of juveniles, and address racial disparities in the system.
-$30 million for Juvenile Accountability Block Grants (JABG), which go to state juvenile justice planning agencies based on the size of a state’s youth population.

-$20 million for the Victims of Child Abuse Programs.
-$15 million for tribal youth
-$10 million for alcohol-abuse prevention
-$8 million for gang and youth violence prevention
-$8 million for the Community-Based Violence Prevention Initiative, a project conceived by the Obama administration in 2009.
Those specific lines may be important if and when there is a conference involving the  Senate and House funding legislation, because the House Appropriations Committee approved a funding bill in August that would spend just over $200 million on Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention programs, but eliminates most federal funding for actual juvenile justice activities. The bill is expected to receive a vote from the full House soon ...
[The excerpt above is reprinted with permission from Youth Today. To read the entire article, go here. -Ed.]
 

 John Kelly is Managing Editor at Youth Today. On his desk you'll find headphones plugged into his laptop, and caffeine.

John began as an intern at Youth Today and stayed on as a reporter, largely because it was less trouble than buying a suit for job interviews. He has covered every aspect of the youth field, currently oversees Youth Today's online news services and covers juvenile justice. He has also covered the D.C. hip-hop scene for Urb Magazine and college basketball for Dime magazine.

John grew up near Hartford, Conn., and is an avid Red Sox fan and fantasy baseball player. He is a graduate of The George Washington University.
 
Photo at top via Creative Commons license.