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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3526 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3526

To provide definitions of terms and services related to community-based 
   gang intervention to ensure that funding for such intervention is 
 utilized in a cost-effective manner and that community-based agencies 
 are held accountable for providing holistic, integrated intervention 
                   services, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 31, 2009

  Ms. Watson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To provide definitions of terms and services related to community-based 
   gang intervention to ensure that funding for such intervention is 
 utilized in a cost-effective manner and that community-based agencies 
 are held accountable for providing holistic, integrated intervention 
                   services, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tony Cardenas Community-Based Gang 
Intervention Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) For the first time in American history, more than one 
        in every 100 adults is now incarcerated in prison or jail.
            (2) The United States incarcerates more people than any 
        other country in the world with more than 2,200,000 people 
        behind bars and another 5,000,000 people on probation or 
        parole.
            (3) The growing prison system is impacting every State, 
        with total State spending on incarceration toppling 
        $44,000,000,000 in 2007, up from $10,000,000,000 in 1987.
            (4) Prisons are the fourth-largest State budget item, 
        behind, health, education, and transportation.
            (5) With increased prison costs, vital social programs and 
        services such as education, job creation, housing, and 
        healthcare are being cut or eliminated to maintain the prison 
        industry.
            (6) From 1982 to 2005, direct expenditures for the judicial 
        system increased by 474 percent, including an increase of 619 
        percent for corrections, and an increase of 396 percent for 
        police. These increases resulted in hundreds of billions of 
        dollars in government spending.
            (7) Increased spending on the major criminal justice 
        functions (including police, corrections, and judicial 
        functions) has forced local governments to spend more of their 
        general fund expenditures on corrections and incarceration.
            (8) The United States incarcerates more people than any 
        other country in the world, including China, whose population 
        is more than 4 times as large. As a result the United States 
        expends large sums on corrections and incarceration, while gang 
        prevention and intervention resources and programming continue 
        to be under funded.
            (9) The most recent data for national spending on juvenile 
        justice is from 1994, and reveals that States spent 
        $2,600,000,000 on juvenile justice expenditures. State funded 
        residential settings, such as detention centers, accounted for 
        65 percent ($1,690,000,000) of total juvenile justice 
        expenditures, while delinquency prevention accounted for only 8 
        percent ($208,000,000) of such juvenile justice expenditures.
            (10) According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and 
        Delinquency Prevention, allowing 1 youth to leave school for a 
        life of crime and drug abuse costs society $1,700,000 to 
        $2,300,000, annually.
            (11) The State of California leads the world in 
        incarceration rates, with more than 175,000 people in State 
        prisons and county jails.
            (12) The State of California spends nearly $10,000,000,000 
        a year on incarceration costs, exceeding the $7,100,000,000 the 
        State spends to fund the University of California and 
        California State University education systems.
            (13) Law enforcement agencies report that, compared to 20 
        years ago, there are now 6 times as many gangs and at least 
        twice the number of gang members in the Los Angeles 
        metropolitan area.
            (14) The City of Los Angeles has the largest number of 
        alleged gangs and gang members in the world, with an estimated 
        700 gangs and 40,000 gang members.
            (15) The County of Los Angeles allegedly has more than 
        1,076 gangs and more than 80,000 gang members.
            (16) California taxpayers now spend roughly $46,000 a year 
        to incarcerate one adult and $252,000 a year to incarcerate one 
        youth in State facilities.
            (17) Gang and youth violence substantially decreases when 
        governments address the root causes of gang violence and 
        adequately fund community-based programs and practices.
            (18) Studies continue to prove that community-based gang 
        intervention provides long-lasting, cost-effective results and 
        opportunities for the youth and families most susceptible to 
        gang violence.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that, in 
developing a comprehensive violence reduction strategy, the United 
States must acknowledge and address larger, entrenched social 
conditions and issues such as poverty, homelessness, inadequate 
educational systems, and limited economic opportunities that give rise 
to gangs and gang violence.

          TITLE I--COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES

SEC. 101. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES.

    The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 
U.S.C. 5601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
title:

          ``TITLE VI--COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION GRANTS

``SEC. 601. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this title is to offer holistic and comprehensive 
understanding and support for the variety of community-based gang 
intervention activities that focus on and engage active and former gang 
members, their close associates, and gang members in and returning from 
confinement. Gang involved youth and their families require specialized 
intensive and comprehensive services that address the unique issues 
encountered by youth when they become involved with gangs. Community-
based gang intervention involves proactive and reactive responses to 
gang activities on several levels, including--
            ``(1) the regional level, to promote and coordinate peace 
        truces and cease-fires between groups;
            ``(2) the State and local level, including community and 
        the juvenile halls, camps, Division of Juvenile Justice 
        facilities, county jails, and State prisons; and
            ``(3) the neighborhood and street level, including with 
        active gang members individually.

``SEC. 602. SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES.

    ``(a) Support of Community-Based Gang Intervention Agencies.--
Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator shall 
award grant to eligible entities to carry out the activities described 
in subsection (c).
    ``(b) Eligible Entity.--For the purposes of this section, an 
`eligible entity' means a community-based gang intervention agency that 
is a nonprofit organization with a proven track record and reputation 
for expertise in providing community-based gang intervention activities 
through a community-based gang intervention model, as defined in 
section 603.
    ``(c) Grant Activities.--Each entity awarded a grant under this 
section shall carry out the following:
            ``(1) Conduct street mediation, by working with gang 
        members and persons with influence over such member to defuse 
        and de-escalate potential and actual violence internally 
        between gang members and between rival gangs.
            ``(2) Develop local and regional truces, by creating cease-
        fires or non-aggression agreements between rival gangs and 
        neighborhoods.
            ``(3) Serve as conduits who facilitate constant dialogue 
        and maintenance between gangs and neighborhoods.
            ``(4) Provide services that respond to the high levels of 
        anxiety experienced by gang members to decompress critical 
        situations due to traumatic events.
            ``(5) Provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week crisis intervention 
        services by responding to requests for violence prevention 
        services made by gang members, gang member's family, school 
        officials, intervention workers, social service agencies, or 
        law enforcement.
            ``(6) Provide targeted training and technical assistance to 
        violence plagued communities after a major gang-related 
        incident occurs.
            ``(7) Facilitate the development of a community response 
        plan, including training protocols, situational scene 
        scenarios, and emergency response.
            ``(8) Make a reasonable effort to prevent gang-related 
        rumors from intensifying tension between gangs or igniting 
        violent responses by gangs.
            ``(9) Establish relationships with community stakeholders 
        to inform and engage them in quality-of-life activities that 
        enhance intervention activities.
            ``(10) Serve as intervention representatives in communities 
        by attending local meetings involving non-profit organizations, 
        schools, faith-based organizations, and other entities.
            ``(11) Develop conflict resolution skills and techniques to 
        address and resolve community concerns related to gang activity 
        in order to improve the quality of life within neighborhoods.
            ``(12) Work with schools to respond to gang-related issues 
        and crises both within and outside school.
            ``(13) Provide support services for youth and families 
        affected by gang violence and other victims of gang violence 
        (including any individual who is physically, emotionally, 
        financially, or otherwise harmed by criminal activity, and 
        those affected by harm done to or by a family member), which 
        may include--
                    ``(A) advocating for public sector and private 
                sector assistance and services;
                    ``(B) grief counseling; and
                    ``(C) referrals to treatment and rehabilitation for 
                cognitive, mental, emotional, physical, or financial 
                injury, loss, or suffering.
            ``(14) Provide comprehensive mental health services to 
        youth and families affected by gang violence or involvement, 
        including--
                    ``(A) integrated services comprised of individual, 
                family, and group therapy modalities, and psychological 
                education provided through youth and parent training 
                programs; and
                    ``(B) gang-responsive services including skills 
                training, assessing for, and servicing, youth with 
                developmental disabilities, behavioral modification, 
                and services to address substance use and abuse, anger 
                management, emotional regulation, traumatic stress, 
                family violence, depression, suicide, anxiety, and 
                educational problems.
            ``(15) Provide public and private sector career job 
        training, development, and placement, including--
                    ``(A) job-finding and job-maintaining skills, 
                including skills related to resume writing, 
                interviewing, workplace decorum, interpersonal 
                communication, and problem-solving;
                    ``(B) information about legal rights in the 
                workplace; and
                    ``(C) financial literacy, and assisting.
            ``(16) Assist with substance use and abuse treatment, and 
        domestic violence victims, and voluntary tattoo removal of 
        markings on the body related to gang involvement.
    ``(d) Availability of Victims Assistance.--An entity awarded a 
grant under this section shall provide victim assistance under 
paragraph (13) of subsection (c) to any individual who meets the 
qualifications of such paragraph regardless of the background of the 
individual, and shall not discriminate in the provision of such 
assistance based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, 
socioeconomic level, or past record.

``SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title:
            ``(1) Community.--The term `community' means a unit of 
        local government or an Indian Tribe.
            ``(2) Community-based gang intervention.--Except when used 
        as part of the term `community-based gang intervention agency' 
        or `community-based gang intervention model', the term 
        `community-based gang intervention' means a two-prong approach 
        to reducing gang violence that provides--
                    ``(A) specialized, gang-specific mediation and 
                mitigation to stop or prevent violence by, within, and 
                between gangs; and
                    ``(B) the redirection of individual gang members 
                and their families through proactive efforts that 
                increase peace and safety for gang members, their 
                families, and their communities.
            ``(3) Community-based gang intervention agency.--The term 
        `community-based gang intervention agency' means a community-
        based organization, association, or other entity that--
                    ``(A) promotes public safety, with the specific 
                objective of reducing and stopping gang-related and 
                gang-motivated violence and crime; and
                    ``(B) has a history of, or experience or specific 
                training in, effectively working with gang-involved 
                youth and their families.
            ``(4) Community-based gang intervention model.--The term 
        `community-based gang intervention model' means a holistic and 
        comprehensive two-prong approach to reducing gang violence and 
        an integrated approach of providing rehabilitative service 
        delivery to gang involved youth that--
                    ``(A) deploys community-based gang intervention 
                specialists who are trained in the two-prong approach 
                and who intercede, interact, and participate with and 
                in into the community to quell rumors, prevent and 
                mediate conflicts, and respond to crises related to 
                gang activity and violence;
                    ``(B) delivers rehabilitative services to gang-
                involved individuals and families; and
                    ``(C) addresses the barriers that gang-involved 
                youth and their families encounter and the societal 
                factors that promote gang violence.
            ``(5) Evidence-based.--The term `evidence-based', when used 
        with respect to a practice relating to gang activity prevention 
        and intervention (including community-based gang intervention), 
        means a practice (including a service, program, or strategy) 
        that has statistically significant outcomes that include a 
        reduction in gang-related violence and an increased number of 
        youth in job development, recreation, arts-based activities, or 
        faith-based activities. Such outcomes may be determined by--
                    ``(A) an experimental trial, in which participants 
                are randomly assigned to participate in the practice 
                that is the subject of the trial; or
                    ``(B) a quasi-experimental trial, in which the 
                outcomes for participants are compared with outcomes 
                for a control group that is made up of individuals who 
                are similar to such participants.
            ``(6) Gang.--The term `gang' means a group of individuals--
                    ``(A) organized by geography, culture, or activity;
                    ``(B) that have a group name, and may have other 
                identifying characteristics of the group such as colors 
                and nicknames; and
                    ``(C) who engage in the use of violence to defend 
                the members or territory of the group.
            ``(7) Promising.--The term `promising', when used with 
        respect to a practice relating to community-based gang 
        intervention, means a practice that is not evidence-based, 
        but--
                    ``(A) that has outcomes from an evaluation that 
                demonstrate that such practice reduces gang-related 
                violence and crime; or
                    ``(B) about which a study is being conducted to 
                determine if such practice is evidence-based.
            ``(8) Youth.--The term `youth' means--
                    ``(A) an individual who is 18 years of age or 
                younger; or
                    ``(B) in any State in which the maximum age at 
                which the juvenile justice system of such State has 
                jurisdiction over individuals exceeds 18 years of age, 
                an individual who is such maximum age or younger.''.

TITLE II--AMENDMENTS TO THE OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY 
                               PREVENTION

SEC. 201. DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION.

    Section 103 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5603) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (28), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (29), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(30) Community-based gang intervention.--Except when used 
        as part of the term `community-based gang intervention agency' 
        or `community-based gang intervention model', the term 
        `community-based gang intervention' means a two-prong approach 
        to reducing gang violence that provides--
                    ``(A) specialized, gang-specific mediation and 
                mitigation to stop or prevent violence by, within, and 
                between gangs; and
                    ``(B) the redirection of individual gang members 
                and their families through proactive efforts that 
                increase peace and safety for gang members, their 
                families, and their communities.''.

SEC. 202. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION REPRESENTATIVE TO STATE 
              ADVISORY BOARDS.

    Section 223(a)(3)(ii) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)(3)(ii)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (III), by inserting ``, community-based 
        gang intervention,'' after ``delinquency prevention''; and
            (2) in subclause (IV), by inserting ``community-based gang 
        intervention,'' after ``prevention and treatment,''.

SEC. 203. GRANTS FOR DELINQUENCY PREVENTION PROGRAMS.

    Section 504 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5783) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 
                paragraphs (8) and (9), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following 
                new paragraph:
            ``(7) community-based gang intervention and prevention 
        activities;''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)(2), by inserting ``and community-
        based gang intervention'' before ``activities;''.
                                 <all>
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