Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress

510 words·~2 min read·/bill/115/hr/1924/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Congress finds as follows: For the first time in the history of the United States, more than one in every 100 adults is incarcerated. 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. The United States has only 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. In 2007, the Federal Government spent $19,617,000,000 on police protection, corrections, and judicial and legal services, representing a 286-percent increase since 1982.

This included a 475-percent increase for corrections and a 287-percent increase for police protection. The growing prison system is also impacting State budgets, with total State spending on incarceration topping $53,000,000,000 in 2012, up from $10,000,000,000 in 1987. 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. Between 1987 and 2007, the amount States spent on corrections increased 127 percent, while the increase in higher education spending was only 21 percent.

Over the past 10 years, the State of California’s general fund expenditures for higher education have fallen 9 percent, while general fund expenditures for corrections and rehabilitation have increased 26 percent. The State of California has the second largest prison population in the Nation with 165,062 prisoners under the jurisdiction of State or Federal correctional authorities in 2010. According to one study, there are now 6 times as many gangs and at least twice the number of gang members in Los Angeles since the start of the 30-year war on gangs .

The city and county of Los Angeles have been dubbed the gang capital of the Nation with an estimated 463 gangs and 38,974 gang members in the city, and more than 1,300 gangs and 150,000 gang members in the county. 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 between $1,700,000 and $2,300,000. In the State of California, the average annual cost per inmate is $47,421 for an adult inmate, and $218,000 for a youth inmate.

The most recent data on overall State spending on juvenile justice programs reveals that in 1998, States spent nearly $4,200,000,000 on juvenile justice related programs, which was a 65-percent increase from fiscal year 1994. Of those expenditures, 67 percent went towards residential placements, while only 8.4 percent went towards delinquency prevention. Gang and youth violence substantially decreases when governments address the root causes of gang violence and adequately fund community-based programs and practices.

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. It is the sense of Congress that, in developing a comprehensive violence reduction strategy, the United States should 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.