California Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, says a reauthorization of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act will be introduced “shortly,” reports Youth Today, quoting an interview by Miller with the advocacy group The Campaign for Youth Justice. Miller cited a “body of rather compelling evidence that the alternatives to incarceration, the alternatives to detention are working out much better for communities.” He said, “We ought to re-write the law to reflect [that].”
Miller singled out the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative funded the Annie E. Casey Foundation, suggesting that the federal juvenile delinquency program could devote more resources to supporting it. “We have evidence that we can save taxpayers money, we can lower the crime rate, and we can get a better outcome with the young people engaged in the system,” Miller said. “That's what we ought to be investing in.”