-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, it is September, which means that, across the country, America's 54 million K-12 students are starting the new school year. For so many parents and students, this is an exciting time, with new classes and teachers and projects and friends and opportunities for academic success. But for too many others, the new school year brings a growing risk, and that is juvenile crime.
Across the country, 64 percent of violent juvenile crime happens on school days, peaking between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. At a time when violent juvenile crime is rising across the country, I know many communities, including in Tennessee, are looking to the new year with apprehension.
After years of steadily declining juvenile crime, in 2023, Shelby County saw a staggering 4,546 juvenile charges. Now, that is up 37 percent from 2021, and that spike in Memphis follows spikes we are seeing in cities like Washington, DC, and New York City, where the average age of a carjacking suspect last year was 15 years old.
Now, young people are facing little supervision at the end of the schoolday and before their parents get home from work, and they are being lured into gangs that plague cities with theft, drug dealing, and murder. In Memphis, there are at least 30 criminal gangs that are out recruiting children as young as 8 years old into their operations.
Every young American and Tennessean deserves the opportunity to succeed and avoid the dangers of criminal activity, and Congress has an incredible opportunity to help ensure that. Alongside Senator Cortez Masto, I have introduced the AFTER SCHOOL Act, which would create a grant program administered through the Justice Department for local communities like Memphis to establish, maintain, and strengthen afterschool programs with the goal of reducing violent crime among juveniles.
Time and again, afterschool programs--ranging from athletics and tutoring to music and volunteer work--have proven to be successful at keeping young children out of trouble and focused on their own personal development. Across two different studies conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, afterschool programs helped reduce arrests among at-risk teens by 28 to 35 percent and violent crime by 45 to 50 percent. Recidivism rates among participants, meanwhile, fell 21 percent.
At the same time, studies have shown that afterschool programs improve behavior in class, decrease the likelihood of drug abuse, and promote academic success. The success of these programs is a big reason why the Memphis City Council unanimously endorsed and supported this bipartisan legislation.
With juvenile crime on the rise, the lives of countless young Tennesseans and Americans are at stake, and I call on all of my colleagues to support the AFTER SCHOOL Act to secure a brighter future for our Nation's youth.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source