On Thursday, December 10th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider S. 678, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009.  This critical legislation may be undermined by the addition of an amendment expected to be offered by Senator Sessions (R-AL) that would increase the number of youth tried as adults and/or remove a judge's discretion to determine whether to prosecute a youth in adult court.  Such an amendment would directly contradict the goals and purposes of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.

The Sessions amendment would modify current federal transfer law by taking the decision of whether a youth should be prosecuted as an adult for an enumerated list of crimes away from neutral federal judges and instead place the decision with prosecutors.  This amendment would also cast a wide net by allowing this increased discretion to be applied to youth who are charged with attempt or conspiracy to commit these crimes or for joined or lesser included offenses.

Please urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject this amendment as it would harm youth, decrease public safety, and disproportionately affect youth of color.

Send an email letter to your U.S. Senator by clicking here.

For the first time, crack cocaine sentencing reform legislation received a favorable vote in Congress when the House Judiciary Committee in July approved the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009, H.R. 3245. To move the bill forward we need a vote on the bill by the entire House of Representatives.

Now is the time for advocates to contact their Representative to ask for support and co-sponsorship of H.R. 3245. On Wednesday, December 2, call the U.S. Capitol at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative.

The prospects for sentencing reform are the best advocates have seen since Congress passed this controversial law 23 years ago. Change cannot happen, however, without your support and continued pressure on members of Congress. Please use these talking points to tell your Representative to take action.

Congress is poised to finally pass changes that will correct the unfair punishment for low-level crack cocaine offenses.  In July 2009, the House Judiciary Committee endorsed legislation to eliminate the distinction between crack cocaine and powder cocaine and, therefore, eliminate the sentencing disparity and the mandatory minimum sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses. Similar legislation in the Senate has also been introduced. In order to move these bills forward we need the help of advocates and supporters around the country.

This month marks the 35th Anniversary of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.  For 35 years, the JJDPA has provided direction and support for juvenile justice system improvements and has significantly contributed to the reduction of juvenile crime and delinquency. The JJDPA sets out federal standards for the custody and care of youth in the juvenile justice system.

Since 1996 federal law has denied some of the poorest and most vulnerable people access to food stamps and therefore, access to a second chance after incarceration. People convicted of felony drug offenses, including possession, use and low-level distribution, are subject to a lifetime ban on food stamps under the welfare reform act.

Representative Barbara Lee's Food Assistance to Improve Reintegration Act (H.R. 329) will eliminate the federal ban on food stamp eligibility for people convicted of a drug felony. Denying food stamp benefits to people convicted of drug offenses is an excessive and ineffective crime control strategy.

Nationally, an estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote in federal elections because of state laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. The Democracy Restoration Act eliminates these bans at the federal level, which deny former felons who have served their time, the right to vote and to create a standard for federal elections so that an individual’s voting rights are not dependent on his or her geographic location.

A coalition of civil rights, religious and juvenile justice groups held a juvenile justice forum today calling on Congress to pass the Youth PROMISE Act, a bill that would use evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies to curb youth violence and gang activities.

Kicking off the coalition's Youth Advocacy Day, a host of panelists told an audience of advocates, youth and legislative staffers how to demand support of Congress for the bill that currently has 90 co-sponsors in the House, and 6 in the Senate.

The Sentencing Project would like to applaud Senators Webb and Specter for introducing the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. The commission created by this legislation would establish an organized and proactive approach to studying and advancing programs and policies that promote public safety, while overhauling those practices that are found to be fundamentally flawed.

Minority populations comprise two-thirds of persons convicted of offenses in federal courts and nearly three-quarters of federal prisoners are either black or Hispanic. While there is a strong perception that there exists elements within the criminal justice system that exacerbates this disparity, the federal government has yet to study the truth of such accusations. Congress is considering legislation which would fund 10 pilot programs to examine racial and ethnic disparity and remedy any biases that exist in the administration of federal criminal justice.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009 (S.678) was introduced today by Senators Leahy (D-VT), Kohl (D-WI), Specter (R-PA), and Durbin (D-IL). This bill strengthens the JJDPA in several important ways, including providing concrete guidance and support to states in their work toward reducing minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. This legislation would also support evidence-based delinquency prevention and intervention strategies, mental health and drug treatment, and reentry services. The legislation also urges states to make improvements to juvenile justice systems, and provides common sense guidelines, procedural protections and restrictions on the pretrial detention of juveniles in adult jails and the detention of children who commit status offenses like truancy.