Juveniles must be held personally accountable for their violent crimes, and the Federal Government is going to offer additional help to the states to target youth gangs and other violent juvenile offenders.

Once, the term "juvenile crime" implied not much more than truancy and trouble making. Today, the term often means murder, rape, robbery, assault, and drug running. However, much of our "juvenile justice system" is still operating as if it were dealing with youthful troublemakers rather than murderers and rapists.

The bill targets youth gangs by creating new federal penalties for offenses committed by criminal street gangs. Federal prosecutors will be able to charge gang leaders or members under the continuing criminal enterprise statute if they engage in two or more criminal gang offenses. The provision also makes it a crime to recruit someone into a gang or to solicit participation in a gang crime.

The bill encourages states to try new, progressive responses to violent youth crime by eliminating federal mandates that have stifled innovative state efforts. For example, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act currently imposes four mandates on states that accept federal funds for juvenile justice: (1) no confinement for status offenses, (2) no confinement of adults and juveniles in the same facilities, (3) no confinement of adults and juveniles in the same cell, and (4) mandatory steps to eradicate any differences in the percentage of minority youth confined. Republicans would lift three of these mandates, leaving only the requirement (in a modified form) that juvenile offenders not have regular physical contact with adults.

The federal government will help provide funding for the fingerprinting of juvenile offenders, DNA tests for juveniles, and record-keeping and record-sharing. The states will have to meet certain conditions to receive additional funds. For example, a state will have to allow offenders 14 years of age and older who commit crimes of violence to be prosecuted as adults. States will have to collect and share data on juvenile offenders.

The bill will help ensure that by the year 2000 there will be 2000 Boys & Girls Clubs in America. The bill provides $100 million to help fund the construction of clubs in public housing projects and economically depressed communities. Once constructed, the federal government will play no role in the operation of these clubs.

The bill will enhance the penalty for transferring a firearm to a minor for use in a crime, and it will increase other penalties. For example, it will provide enhanced mandatory minimum penalties for use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.

The New Juvenile Crime

From 1985 through 1994, the homicide rate among juveniles increased 172 percent.

Youth crime is growing at an alarming rate. In a recent four-year period, juvenile arrests for violent crime increased 47 percent while similar arrests for adults increased 19 percent.

Senator Domenici recently reported on juvenile offenders in his state of New Mexico: 43 percent of those in correctional facilities had at least 10 prior referrals to the juvenile system; 75 percent had a history of violent crime; 80 percent had a history of gang involvement; 67 percent had been truant or expelled from school, or had dropped out; and 63 percent used drugs or alcohol weekly. The situation in most other states is similar.

Senator Ashcroft recently spoke of a conversation he had with a sheriff in Missouri. The sheriff's biggest problem? -- juveniles coming into his county from out of state and trying to set up a drug operation. When the sheriff tries to get information on the participants in this criminal conspiracy, he finds their records sealed.

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