YOUTHSAVE Act

Summary: Job Corps Youth Sentencing Alternative for Vocational Education and Training Act (or YOUTHSAVE Act) - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act to establish a separate Youthsave program, under the Job Corps program, to provide education and job training services to eligible youths convicted of non-violent criminal offenses. 
Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make agreements with specified entities to establish and operate up to ten Youthsave centers. 
Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Job Corps Youth Sentencing 
Alternative for Vocational Education and Training Act'' or the 
``YOUTHSAVE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Over 1,000,000 offenders are incarcerated in the 
        Nation's prisons and jails, and Federal and State correctional 
        systems face severe prison overcrowding.
            (2) The annual costs of incarceration range as high as 
        $36,000 per inmate and represent one of the fastest growing 
        expenses facing States.
            (3) Most juvenile offenders, regardless of the seriousness 
        of their crimes, are released at the age of 21, and are poorly 
        educated, unskilled, and unprepared to enter the workforce.
            (4) Research on crime prevention shows that early 
        intervention directed at first-time offenders is essential to 
        helping them avoid a lifetime of crime.
            (5) Studies have shown that inmates who receive job 
        training in prison are 3 times less likely to return to jail 
        after being released than their counterparts who do not receive 
        job training.
            (6) The current system of juvenile incarceration usually 
        serves to warehouse offenders without providing effective 
        counseling, education, and job training necessary to reorient 
        youth inmates away from crime.
            (7) Successful efforts to educate and train convicted 
        youths could result in substantial cost savings in terms of 
        reduced crime, incarceration, public assistance, and in higher 
        payroll tax revenues.
            (8) The Job Corps program, authorized under part B of title 
        IV of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1691 et 
        seq.), is the Nation's only residential education and 
        vocational training program targeted to serve low-income youth 
        who face multiple barriers to becoming economically self-
        sufficient.
            (9) The Job Corps program has a documented record of 
        success during its 29 years of operation, including a 75 
        percent placement rate of successfully helping graduates obtain 
        permanent employment, return to school, or enter the armed 
        services, and such program returns $1.46 on every $1.00 
        invested in the program.
            (10) Eligibility requirements of the Job Corps program 
        limit the participation of youths with certain behavioral 
        problems and youths who are being adjudicated or have been 
        convicted of crimes.
            (11) Under section 433(a)(3) of the Job Training 
        Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1703(a)(3)), the Secretary of Labor 
        is authorized to undertake one or more pilot projects designed 
        to involve youths who have a history of behavioral problems in 
        order to provide these youths with the education, job training, 
        and counseling services that have proved so successful among 
        regular Job Corps participants.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to establish separate Job Corps Youthsave centers for 
        youths who have been convicted of nonviolent criminal offenses 
        which shall be an alternative sentencing option for such 
        youths;
            (2) to provide youth offenders at such centers with 
        intensive counseling, education, and job training in order to 
        help them become self-sufficient members of society; and
            (3) to provide a disciplined environment at such centers in 
        which youth offenders can receive maximum benefit from regular 
        Job Corps services and other services geared specifically to 
        the needs of such offenders.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOB CORPS YOUTHSAVE PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Part B of title IV of the Job Training Partnership 
Act (29 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 433A 
the following new section:

``SEC. 433B. JOB CORPS YOUTHSAVE PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary is authorized to make 
agreements in accordance with section 427 with entities described in 
such section for the purpose of establishing and operating up to 10 Job 
Corps Youthsave centers to provide comprehensive education and training 
services to eligible youths described in subsection (b). Such Youthsave 
centers shall be established and operated separately from the Job Corps 
centers established and operated pursuant to section 427.
    ``(b) Eligible Youths.--A youth shall be eligible to become an 
enrollee in the Job Corps at a center established and operated under 
subsection (a) only if--
            ``(1) the youth meets the eligibility requirements 
        described in section 423 (except the requirements described in 
        paragraph (4) of such section); and
            ``(2) the youth has been convicted of a non-violent 
        criminal offense under Federal or State law and the sentence of 
        such offense is active at the time of enrollment.
    ``(c) Screening and Selection.--
            ``(1) In general.--(A) The Secretary, in consultation with 
        the individuals and entities described in subparagraph (B), 
        shall develop regulations for the screening and selection of 
        applicants for the Job Corps at centers established and 
        operated under subsection (a).
            ``(B) The individuals and entities described in this 
        subparagraph include the Attorney General, State attorneys 
        general, and appropriate individuals and entities such as 
        community action agencies, community-based organizations, 
        public employment agencies, individuals and entities 
        administering programs under title II, professional 
        organizations, labor organizations, and agencies and 
        individuals having contact with youths over a substantial 
        period of time and able to offer reliable information as to the 
        needs and problems of such youths.
            ``(2) Interviewing requirements.--The Secretary shall 
        ensure that the regulations described in paragraph (1) provide 
        for the interviewing of each applicant for the purpose of--
                    ``(A) ensuring that the applicant understands that 
                enrollment in the Job Corps at a center established and 
                operated under subsection (a) is 1 sentencing option 
                available to such applicant;
                    ``(B) ensuring that the applicant chooses such 
                option freely and for the purpose of receiving 
                education and job training services;
                    ``(C) ensuring that the applicant understands the 
                Job Corps program and what will be expected of the 
                applicant in the event of acceptance;
                    ``(D) obtaining from the applicant pertinent data 
                relating to background and needs of such applicant; and
                    ``(E) determining whether the applicant's 
                educational and vocational needs can be met through the 
                Job Corps at a center established and operated under 
                subsection (a).
            ``(3) Special limitation.--The requirements described in 
        section 425(a) shall apply with respect to the screening and 
        selection of applicants for the Job Corps at centers 
        established and operated under subsection (a).
            ``(4) Dissemination.--The Secretary shall disseminate the 
        regulations developed under paragraph (1) to appropriate 
        individuals and organizations, including Federal and State 
        courts, probation officers, parole officers, appropriate social 
        service entities providing services to juvenile offenders, and 
        other law enforcement authorities and personnel.
    ``(d) Education and Training Services.--The Secretary may not enter 
into an agreement with an entity described in section 427 for the 
purpose of establishing and operating a center under subsection (a) 
unless the entity agrees that it will provide enrollees with a 
comprehensive program of education, vocational training, work 
experience, planned vocational activities, physical rehabilitation and 
development, and counseling.
    ``(e) Project Agreement.--Each center established and operated 
under subsection (a) shall provide services and facilities under a 
project agreement with 1 or more State or local agencies that--
            ``(1) requires such State and local agencies to provide, in 
        the aggregate, not less than 30 percent of the cost 
        attributable to operating such center; and
            ``(2) contains or is accompanied by such other information 
        and assurances as the Secretary may require.
    ``(f) Instructor Training.--The Secretary shall ensure that each 
center established and operated under subsection (a) is staffed with 
instructors who have received appropriate training in techniques in 
dealing with youth offenders.
    ``(g) Maintenance of Information.--The Secretary shall maintain 
information, separate from regular Job Corps statistics, on the 
performance of the centers established and operated under subsection 
(a) and the enrollees served by such centers, including placement 
statistics and other related tracking information on the performance of 
such enrollees.
    ``(h) Outreach.--The Secretary shall disseminate information 
regarding the centers established and operated under subsection (a) to 
appropriate Federal and State judges, juvenile delinquency prevention 
personnel, attorneys, community-based organizations, and other 
interested individuals and organizations for the purpose of increasing 
awareness of and referrals to such centers.
    ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--In addition to amounts authorized to be 
        appropriated under section 3(d) for a fiscal year, there are 
        authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a) 
        $60,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums as may be 
        necessary for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 2004.
            ``(2) Availability.--Amounts appropriated under paragraph 
        (1) shall remain available until expended.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents of the Job 
Training Partnership Act is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 433A the following new item:

``Sec. 433B. Job Corps Youthsave Program.''.