Community-Based Gang Intervention Act
Bill: S.2503 | Sponsor: Sen. Booker, Cory A. (D-NJ)
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Community-Based Gang Intervention Act
This bill extends federal support for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention efforts to programs and activities involving community-based gang intervention.
First, the bill authorizes community-based gang intervention grants for nonprofit community-based organizations to reduce and stop gang-related and gang-motivated violence and crime.
Second, the bill modifies the qualifications of representatives of state advisory groups to specify that (1) a representative of a public agency includes an individual from a public agency concerned with community-based gang intervention, and (2) a representative of a nonprofit organization includes a person with a special focus on community-based gang intervention.
Third, the bill adds, as a purpose area under the Incentive Youth Promise Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs, providing community-based gang intervention and gang prevention activities to juveniles and their families.

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 ``Community-Based Gang Intervention 
Act''.

          TITLE I--COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES

SEC. 101. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES.

    The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (34 
U.S.C. 11101 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating title VI (34 U.S.C. 11321 et seq.) as 
        title VII;
            (2) by redesignating sections 601 and 602 (34 U.S.C. 11321, 
        11322) as sections 701 and 702, respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after title V the following:

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

``SEC. 601. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this title is to offer holistic and comprehensive 
support for 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 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 grants 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 history of and expertise in 
providing community-based gang intervention activities through a 
community-based gang intervention model.
    ``(c) Grant Activities.--Each entity awarded a grant under this 
section shall carry out activities that promote public safety, with the 
specific objective of reducing and stopping gang-related and gang-
motivated violence and crime, including the following activities:
            ``(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 between gang members and 
        between rival gangs.
            ``(2) Develop local and regional truces by negotiating 
        cease-fires or nonaggression agreements between rival gangs and 
        neighborhoods.
            ``(3) Serve as conduits who facilitate dialogue and 
        relationship between gangs and neighborhoods.
            ``(4) Provide services that respond to the high levels of 
        anxiety and stress experienced by gang members 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, the families of gang members, 
        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.
            ``(7) Facilitate the development of a community response 
        plan to gang-related activities, including training protocols, 
        situational scene scenarios, and emergency response.
            ``(8) Establish relationships with community stakeholders 
        to inform and engage them in quality-of-life activities that 
        enhance intervention activities.
            ``(9) Serve as intervention representatives in communities 
        by attending local meetings involving nonprofit organizations, 
        schools, faith-based organizations, and other entities.
            ``(10) 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.
            ``(11) Work with schools to respond to gang-related issues 
        and crises both in and outside of school.
            ``(12) 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.
            ``(13) 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; or
                    ``(B) gang-responsive services including skills 
                training, assessing 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.
            ``(14) 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; or
                    ``(C) financial literacy.
            ``(15) Assist with substance use and abuse treatment, 
        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 that provides victim assistance under 
paragraph (13) of subsection (c) shall not discriminate in the 
provision of such assistance to an individual based on race, ethnicity, 
gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level, or criminal history.

``SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title:
            ``(1) Community.--Notwithstanding the definition of 
        `community based' in section 103, the term `community' means a 
        unit of local government or an Indian Tribe.
            ``(2) 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 training in, effectively 
                working with gang-involved youth and their families.
            ``(3) Community-based gang intervention model.--The term 
        `community-based gang intervention model' means a holistic and 
        comprehensive approach to reducing gang violence that uses the 
        2-prong approach of community-based intervention as defined in 
        section 103 and an integrated approach of providing 
        rehabilitative service delivery to gang-involved youth through 
        trained specialists in community-gang intervention.
            ``(4) 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.
            ``(5) 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 (34 U.S.C. 11103) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``except as provided in 
        title VI,'' before ``the term'';
            (2) in paragraph (44)(C), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (3) in paragraph (45), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(46) 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 2-prong approach to reducing gang 
        violence that--
                    ``(A) provides specialized, gang-specific mediation 
                and mitigation to stop or prevent violence by, within, 
                and between gangs; and
                    ``(B) provides 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 (34 U.S.C. 11133(a)(3)(ii)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (III), by inserting ``, or community-based 
        gang intervention'' after ``delinquency prevention or 
        treatment''; 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 (34 U.S.C. 11313) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a) by inserting after ``programs'' the 
        following: ``, including community-based gang intervention and 
        gang prevention activities,''; and
            (2) in subsection (e)(1)(B)(ii), by striking ``activities'' 
        and inserting ``programs and community-based gang 
        intervention''.
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