New York State Law Enforcement Officials Urge Rep. McCarthy to Invest in Programs to Rehabilitate Youth Offenders

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New York State Law Enforcement Officials Urge Rep. McCarthy to Invest in Programs to Rehabilitate Youth Offenders

Jul 10th 2007

Washington, D.C., July 10-New York State law enforcement leaders today urged Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) to invest in programs proven to help young offenders avoid committing further crimes once they become adults.

Hempstead Village Police Chief Joseph Wing met with Rep. McCarthy in Washington. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice participated in the meeting via telephone. Both are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York.

Rep. McCarthy is the chairwoman of the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee, part of the House Education and Labor Committee. The subcommittee is in charge of reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, including Title V local delinquency prevention and Title II state formula grants.

Wing and Rice asked Rep. McCarthy to ensure that the reauthorization bill includes substantially increased funding levels to help local and state communities with their juvenile delinquency, prevention and intervention programs. They also asked that the bill include priority for federal funding directed at evidence-based approaches to prevent crime and respond to kids who have already committed a crime.

Wing said simply arresting violent young criminal offenders, alone, will not reduce crime. Rice said that the vast majority of these kids would be released back into the community with their prime crime years ahead of them.

"As a police chief, I know there is no substitute for tough law enforcement," Wing said. "But no prison can bring back a murdered loved one, and no punishment can undo a crime."

"Fortunately, research and my experiences show that targeted investments that help kids get a good start in life and help juvenile offenders re-enter society, help prevent crime," Rice added.

Wing and Rice said increased federal funds could be used to fund a wide range of local prevention and intervention programs, such as Boys & Girls Clubs. One study showed that comparable housing projects without Boys & Girls Clubs had 50 percent more vandalism and scored 37 percent worse on drug activity than those with the clubs.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is an anti-crime organization comprising more than 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violent crime survivors. There are more than 300 members in New York State.
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