December 7, 2001
Terence S. Donahue, Acting Administrator
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention n
United States Department of Justice
810 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20531
Re: Proposed Program Plan Comments
Dear Mr. Donahue
I am writing on behalf of OMB Watch, a nonprofit organization that promotes government accountability and citizen participation in public issues and decision-making. We welcome this opportunity to comment on proposed FY 2002 programs funded under Title II of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. Our comments focus on the proposed Centers for Community Capacity as described in the Federal Register and in the December 5, 2001 meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
To a large extent, we work with and through the nonprofit sector because of its vital place in our communities and the crucial role the sector plays in providing services for people in need. As a result, our work with nonprofit organizations includes information on government rules relating to federal grants, and how these rules can impact organizations and the people they serve. Our Community Education Center works with more than 2,500 nonprofits across the country, linking federal issues with state and local concerns.
The proposed Community Capacity Centers (CCC) have the potential to help communities address juvenile crime by encouraging the active involvement of community and faith based organizations and making federal juvenile programs more responsive to community needs. They also have the capacity to cause harm if adequate safeguards are not included to prevent proselytizing directed at program participants and their families. For instance, if the CCC program favors religious organizations over secular ones or some religions benefit more than others it will divide a community rather than unite it. If youth in need are pressured to participate in religious activity as a condition of receiving assistance they may stay away to avoid infringement of their religious freedom.
There are a variety of ways the OJJDP can involve faith based organizations in its programs without subsidizing religious activity. Volunteers and organizations recruited by CCCs should receive training that provides the skills and information they need to be successful, including a clear message that promotion of religious views and activities is not allowed. Staff operating CCCs should be instructed to ensure that all community and faith based organizations have an equal opportunity to benefit from the resources they offer. They should also differentiate between offering resources to auxiliaries of houses of worship that focus on social services and providing resources directly to congregations. While congregations can encourage their members to volunteer in juvenile prevention programs and CCCs can approach them to solicit their contribution, federal resources should not be directly provided to them.
The importance of respect for the religious freedom of troubled youth cannot be over-emphasized. For example, in PREVENTING CRIME: WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T,
WHAT'S PROMISING: A REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS prepared for the National Institute of Justice by the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Maryland (see http://www.ncjrs.org/works/wholedoc.htm), researchers found that mentoring programs can do as much harm as good, depending on how well they are implemented. While the report found that program effectiveness increases as resources are targeted and communities become directly involved, it said more research is needed on the advantages and disadvantages of mentoring. If the mentoring relationship is strained by pressure to adopt religious beliefs or participate in religious worship its chances of success will be greatly diminished.
In the December 5th meeting of the Coordinating Council you noted that OJJDP will "discourage any sense of proselytizing" in the program. The program needs to do more than "discourage" proselytizing. It needs to prohibit it. In addition your statement went on to note that if juvenile offenders do not become members of churches they are unlikely to succeed in life. We are concerned about OJJDP making judgments about whether or how juvenile offenders become involved with religious congregations. There are non-governmental resources in the religious community that provide youth with opportunities to participate in religious life. It is not appropriate or constitutional for the OJJDP to promote membership in religious organizations.
We hope that the final rules for the program will be much more specific about what Centers for Continuous Capacity can do to involve all organizations in a community without subsidizing religious activity or proselytizing participating youth. With adequate safeguards these Centers could be a real asset for communities with high levels of juvenile crime.
Yours truly,
signed
Kay Guinane
Counsel and Manager
Community Education Center
OMB Watch