Protect Children From Violence Act

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Violent, Armed, and Dangerous Juvenile Offender

Accountability

Subtitle A: Protecting Children from Drugs, Guns, and

Violence

Subtitle B: Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender

Accountability

Subtitle C: Combating Gang Violence

Title II: Accountability for Juvenile Offenders and Public

Protection Incentive Grants to States

Title III: Reform of Grant Programs

Protect Children From Violence Act - Title I: Violent, Armed, and Dangerous Juvenile Offender Accountability - Subtitle A: Protecting Children From Drugs, Guns, and Violence - Amends the Controlled Substances Act to increase penalties for distributing drugs to minors, drug trafficking in or near a school or other protected location, and using minors to distribute drugs.

(Sec. 104) Amends the Federal criminal code (the code) to prohibit and set penalties for using minors to commit, or to assist in avoiding detection or apprehension for, crimes of violence and for soliciting or recruiting minors to participate in criminal gang activity. Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the Federal sentencing guidelines to provide an appropriate enhancement for any offense involving the recruitment of a minor to participate in a criminal street gang.

(Sec. 106) Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to set a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment and to increase the term of imprisonment for the transfer of firearms to minors for use to commit a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, if the transferee is a person under age 18.

(Sec. 107) Sets mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles (except for those under age 14) for illegal possession of firearms or the use of firearms in the commission of crimes.

(Sec. 108) Makes crimes involving the use of minors predicate offenses to a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Subtitle B: Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Accountability - Amends code provisions regarding delinquency proceedings in district courts and transfer for criminal prosecution to authorize a juvenile alleged to have committed an offense against the United States or an act of juvenile delinquency to be surrendered to State authorities, but directs that if not so surrendered the juvenile be proceeded against as a juvenile or tried as an adult in Federal court.

Requires that: (1) if a juvenile is proceeded against as a juvenile in Federal court, the proceeding be open to the public, with exceptions; and (2) a juvenile who is not less than age 14 and is alleged to have committed an act of juvenile delinquency that, if committed by an adult, would be a Federal felony offense, be tried in U.S. district court as an adult if the offense charged is murder or specified other offenses.

(Sec. 122) Amends provisions regarding the use of juvenile records to direct the court, if a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent in a juvenile delinquency proceeding for conduct that, if committed by an adult, would constitute a felony, to comply with specified requirements, including: (1) that a record be kept regarding the adjudication that is equivalent to that kept of an adult conviction for such offense and that certain requirements be met regarding period of retention and access by law enforcement agencies, school officials, and the courts; and (2) specified requirements regarding the fingerprinting and photographing of juveniles, dissemination of juvenile records, repeat offenders, and the fingerprinting and photographing upon arrest of violent juvenile offenders.

(Sec. 123) Directs the Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines to provide that, for purposes of sentencing determinations regarding an adult defendant, an offense contained in the defendant's juvenile record for which the defendant was adjudicated delinquent shall be treated in the same manner as an adult offense, if the juvenile offense would have constituted a felony if it had been committed by the defendant as an adult.

(Sec. 124) Amends provisions regarding dispositional hearings to direct the court, if it finds a juvenile to be a juvenile delinquent, to hold a hearing concerning appropriate disposition of the juvenile not later than 30 court days after the finding of delinquency, with exceptions.

Requires that: (1) a predisposition report be prepared by the probation officer, who shall promptly provide a copy to the juvenile, counsel for the juvenile, and the attorney for the Government; (2) victim impact information and a copy of the prior conviction record of the juvenile be included in each predisposition report and victims, or in appropriate cases their official representatives, be provided the opportunity to make a statement to the court in person or present any information relating to the disposition; and (3) the court, after a dispositional hearing, impose an appropriate sanction, including the ordering of restitution.

Sets forth procedures for release or detention pending appeal. Specifies the terms for which probation, official detention, and supervised release may be ordered for a juvenile found to be a juvenile delinquent. Directs the Commission to develop a list of possible sanctions for juveniles adjudicated delinquent.

(Sec. 125) Requires the Attorney General to: (1) establish a violent, armed, and dangerous youth apprehension program, under which each U.S. attorney shall designate at least one assistant U.S. attorney to prosecute violent, armed, and dangerous youth offenders and shall establish a violent, armed, and dangerous youth criminal apprehension task force; (2) require each U.S. attorney to report, at least every other month, to the Department of Justice certain information on such offenders; and (3) submit to the Congress, at least twice annually, a compilation of such information and a report on any waivers granted.

(Sec. 126) Directs the Bureau of Prisons to establish and operate four new correctional facilities for the confinement of Federal juvenile offenders. Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle C: Combating Gang Violence - Amends the code to: (1) prohibit and set penalties for traveling in interstate or foreign commerce, or causing another to do so, to recruit, solicit, or create or attempt to create a franchise of a criminal street gang; and (2) increase penalties for engaging in a pattern of criminal gang activity. Amends the Travel Act to expand the scope of the Act to include conspiring to perform proscribed acts and to increase the penalty for specified acts regarding the commission of crimes of violence to further unlawful activity to include the death penalty.

(Sec. 132) Directs the Commission to amend the sentencing guidelines to increase: (1) the offense level for any offense committed in connection with, or in furtherance of, the activities of a criminal street gang, where the defendant was a member of such gang at the time of the offense; and (2) the base offense level for traveling in interstate or foreign commerce in aid of a criminal street gang or other unlawful activity and for the commission of a crime of violence in aid of a criminal street gang or other unlawful activity.

(Sec. 135) Makes: (1) serious juvenile drug offenses predicate offenses under the Armed Career Criminal Act; and (2) certain firearms offenses predicate offenses under RICO.

(Sec. 137) Increases the penalty for using physical force or tampering with witnesses, victims, or informants.

Title II: Accountability for Juvenile Offenders and Public Protection Incentive Grants to States - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to replace provisions regarding grants to develop alternative methods of punishment for young offenders with a juvenile accountability block grant program. Authorizes grants to States, for use by States and units of local government, to promote greater accountability in the juvenile justice system, including building, expanding, or operating temporary or permanent juvenile correction or detention facilities.

Requires States, to be eligible to receive such grants, to implement laws, policies, or programs that provide for: (1) prosecution of juveniles (no less than age 14) as adults for certain offenses, such as murder, forcible rape, and certain serious drug offenses; (2) compliance with specified recordkeeping requirements for juvenile delinquency proceedings; (3) fingerprinting and photographing upon arrest of violent juvenile offenders; and (4) criminal penalties for adults who use juveniles in crimes of violence or drug offenses. Makes State grant recipients eligible for an additional amount upon demonstrating compliance with one or more of specified accountability-based juvenile crime control practices.

Sets forth provisions regarding the allocation and distribution of amounts, State options in providing services (including through religious organizations, subject to specified requirements), and the timing of payments. Authorizes appropriations. Allocates certain funds for oversight. Allows authorized amounts to be appropriated from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.

Title III: Reform of Grant Programs - Revises Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (the Act): (1) findings to specify that juvenile delinquency requires action by Federal, State, and local governments (currently, the Federal Government); and (2) purposes to include assisting State and local governments in promoting public safety by improving the openness of the juvenile justice system to the public and by encouraging the identification of violent and hard-core juveniles and transferring them into adult criminal court jurisdiction.

(Sec. 303) Requires the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to: (1) develop objectives, priorities, and a long-term plan, and implement overall policy and a strategy to carry out such plan, for all Federal juvenile delinquency programs and activities relating to punishment and to submit such plan to the Congress; and (2) submit to the President, specified congressional leaders, and the Governor of each State a report containing data and analysis regarding the rate at which juveniles are taken into custody, the numbers of juveniles taken into custody, repeat offenders, juveniles using weapons, and juvenile and adult victims of juvenile crime, and trends.

(Sec. 305) Amends Act provisions regarding block grants for State and local programs to authorize the Administrator to: (1) make grants to charitable and religious organizations and for specified purposes such as initiatives for holding juveniles accountable for acts of delinquency and improving juvenile court and law enforcement records; and (2) use specified sums to establish and maintain a clearinghouse to disseminate to the States information on juvenile delinquency prevention, treatment, and control, and to provide training and technical assistance.

(Sec. 306) Requires the State plan to provide assurances that, in each secure facility located in the State, there is no commingling in the same cell or community room or any other regular, sustained physical contact between a juvenile and an adult offender.

(Sec. 307) Repeals various Act programs, including provisions regarding the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, special emphasis prevention and treatment programs, State challenge activities, treatment for juvenile offenders who are victims of child abuse or neglect, mentoring, boot camps, and the White House Conference on Juvenile Justice.

(Sec. 308) Authorizes appropriations for the Office and for block grants for State and local programs. Specifies that the source of such appropriations may be the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund.