July 21, 2015

Dear members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

Thank you for your leadership in sponsoring the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Reauthorization Act [JJDPA] of 2015 (S.1169). The reauthorization of the JJDPA will protect
vulnerable youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system and promote effective
prevention strategies to keep them from becoming offenders in the first place.
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) supports policies that ensure public safety while diverting at-risk
youth from committing crime. We encourage policymakers to focus on providing avenues to
rehabilitation and reintegration that help juvenile offenders reenter their communities to begin anew.
We are particularly supportive of provisions in the bill that would:
Reauthorize the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant, which provides federal funds to states
to discourage juvenile offenders from future crime by increasing accountability of both youth and
the juvenile justice system. Grants provided by JABG are used to strengthen prevention and
intervention programs for youth identified as gang members or at-risk of joining a gang, and
mentoring programs to prepare incarcerated youth for transition back into their communities;
Strengthen the disproportionate minority contact (DMC) core requirement by providing
clear direction to states and localities that ask them to plan and implement data-driven approaches
to ensure fairness and reduce racial and ethnic disparities;
Strengthens the Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DS) core requirement to phaseout the valid court order exception to protect non-delinquent status offenders from being locked
up where they are vulnerable to victimization and at risk of developing delinquent behaviors;
Improve the jail removal and sight and sound core requirements in JJDPA, by under certain
circumstances keeping youth awaiting trial in criminal court from being locked-up with adults; and
Promote alternatives to detention, improve assessment and treatment for mental health and
substance abuse, and improve case management.
Catholic Charities agencies have been serving the needs of the most vulnerable for over 100 years and
experience firsthand the economic and political forces that keep children in the criminal justice
system. Our network of over 160 local agencies serves nine million individuals in need each year, and
provides direct services for juvenile offenders, including delinquency prevention, mentoring, job
training, and reentry support.
Our belief in restorative justice for juveniles is deeply rooted in Scripture, Catholic Social Teaching,
and our members experiences working with at-risk youth. Catholic social teaching affirms that human
dignity is not something we earn by good behavior, but it is something we are endowed with as
children of God. Strengthening families and community connections should play a central role in
crime prevention and in helping to reintegrate criminals, especially youth, back into society.
We urge Congress to take swift action to pass the improvements included in the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2015, and encourage you to contact us with any
questions. Thanks for your work on behalf of our nations youth.
Sincerely,
Brian R. Corbin
Sr. Vice President, Social Policy
Catholic Charities USA