Senate to look at juvenile offender bill after break

A proposal to encourage states to keep juvenile offenders separate from adult prisoners is waiting for the U.S. Senate when members return from their summer recess.

The bill, which also includes provisions increasing federal funding for prevention, intervention and treatment programs to reduce juvenile crime, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. It has drawn support from juvenile justice advocates, including Tracy McClard of Jackson, whose son Jonathan McClard committed suicide in a Missouri prison after receiving a 30-year sentence for shooting another teenager, Jeremy Voshage, three times July 10, 2007, at a Jackson car wash.

McClard was 16 at the time of the shooting and when he was sentenced as an adult. Tracy McClard has joined the Campaign for Youth Justice, an advocacy group for young offenders that supports rehabilitation efforts in youth-only settings over incarceration with adults. She could not be reached Friday for comment.

"This legislation seeks to move our country in new directions to protect our communities and give our children the chance they need to grow up to be productive members of society," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a news release. Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a co-sponsor of the bill along with Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Herb Kohl, D-Wis.

In his statement, Leahy said the bill seeks to strike a balance between encouraging policies that rehabilitate juvenile offenders and imposing policy choices on states. Supporters of the bill have pointed to Missouri's programs in the Division of Youth Services, which emphasize treatment and education of young offenders over punishment, as a model for other states.

Jonathan McClard asked to be allowed into a program that attempts to divert youthful offenders from adult prisons, with an evaluation of their progress when they turn 17. That request was turned down.

The bill also would bar local authorities from housing "status offenders," such as runaways or truants, in jails alongside adult prisoners. The measure would also put increased emphasis on drug and alcohol abuse treatment.

The Senate is expected to reconvene Sept. 8.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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