reducing juvenile delinquency and criminal 
street gang activity risks. 
(7) PROMISING.—The term ‘‘promising’’, when 
used with respect to a practice relating to juvenile 
delinquency and criminal street gang activity preven-
tion and intervention, means a practice (including a 
service, program, activity, intervention, technology, 
or strategy) that, based on statistical analyses or a 
theory of change, the Administrator has deter-
mined— 
(A) has outcomes from an evaluation that 
demonstrate such practice reduces juvenile de-
linquency and criminal street gang activity; and 
(B) is part of a study being conducted to 
determine if such a practice is evidence-based. 
(8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, and any other territories or possessions of the 
United States. 
(9) THEORY OF CHANGE.—The term ‘‘theory of 
change’’ means a program planning strategy ap-
proved by the Administrator that outlines the types 
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of interventions and outcomes essential to achieving 
a set of program goals. 
(10) 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 max-
imum age or younger. 
SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Youth gang crime has taken a toll on a 
number of urban communities, and senseless acts of 
gang-related violence have imposed economic, social, 
and human costs. 
(2) Drug- and alcohol-dependent youth, and 
youth dually diagnosed with addiction and mental 
health disorders, are more likely to become involved 
with the juvenile justice system than youth without 
such risk factors, absent appropriate prevention and 
intervention services. 
(3) Children of color are over-represented rel-
ative to the general population at every stage of the 
juvenile justice system. Black youth are 17 percent 
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of the United States population, but represent 38 
percent of youth in secure placement juvenile facili-
ties, and 58 percent of youth incarcerated in adult 
prisons. 
(4) Research funded by the Department of Jus-
tice indicates that gang-membership is short-lived 
among adolescents. With very few youth remaining 
gang-involved throughout their adolescent years, on-
going opportunities for intervention exist. 
(5) Criminal justice costs have become burden-
some in many States and cities, requiring reductions 
in vital educational, social, welfare, mental health, 
and related services. 
(6) Direct expenditures for each of the major 
criminal justice functions, police, corrections, and ju-
dicial services, have increased steadily over the last 
25 years. In fiscal year 2009, Federal, State, and 
local 
governments 
spent 
an 
estimated 
$258,000,000,000 for police protection, corrections, 
and judicial and legal services, nearly a 207 percent 
increase since 1982. 
(7) In 2009, State governments spent $5.7 bil-
lion dollars to incarcerate youth. The average annual 
cost to incarcerate one youth is $88,000. 
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(8) Coordinated efforts of stakeholders in the 
juvenile justice system in a local community, to-
gether with other organizations and community 
members concerned with the safety and welfare of 
children, have a strong record of demonstrated suc-
cess in reducing the impact of youth and gang-re-
lated crime and violence, as demonstrated in Boston, 
Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Richmond, Vir-
ginia, Los Angeles, California, and other commu-
nities. 
(9) Investment in prevention and intervention 
programs for children and youth, including quality 
early childhood programs, comprehensive evidence- 
based school, after school, and summer school pro-
grams, mentoring programs, mental health and 
treatment programs, evidence-based job training 
programs, and alternative intervention programs, 
has been shown to lead to decreased youth arrests, 
decreased delinquency, lower recidivism, and greater 
financial savings from an educational, economic, so-
cial, and criminal justice perspective. 
(10) Quality early childhood education pro-
grams have been demonstrated to help children start 
school ready to learn and to reduce delinquency and 
criminal street gang activity risks. 
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(11) Evidence-based mentoring programs have 
been shown to prevent youth drug abuse and vio-
lence. 
(12) Evidence-based school-based comprehen-
sive instructional programs that pair youth with re-
sponsible adult mentors have been shown to have a 
strong impact upon delinquency prevention. 
(13) After-school programs that connect chil-
dren to caring adults and that provide constructive 
activities during the peak hours of juvenile delin-
quency and criminal street gang activity, between 
3 p.m. and 6 p.m., have been shown to reduce de-
linquency and the attendant costs imposed on the ju-
venile and criminal justice systems. 
(14) States with higher levels of educational at-
tainment have been shown to have crime rates lower 
than the national average. Researchers have found 
that a 5-percent increase in male high school grad-
uation rates would produce an annual savings of al-
most $5,000,000,000 in crime-related expenses. 
(15) Therapeutic programs that engage and 
motivate high-risk youth and their families to 
change behaviors that often result in criminal activ-
ity have been shown to significantly reduce recidi-
vism among juvenile offenders, and significantly re-
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