John Conyers

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield further?

Mr. CONYERS. If the gentleman would yield further, we persuaded the gentleman about block grants, we persuaded him about matching funds, and now we have to convince him of the wisdom of moving in support of the drug courts from a permissive use to an authorization. It is a small step.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman for refreshing the memories of the members on the committee and the Members in the House because he is absolutely correct. I am hoping that the gentleman from Maryland has persuasively convinced him now to take the next step to create not only the permissive use that was accepted on the gentleman's own amendment, which was convincingly put to the Committee on the Judiciary, but that we carve out this modest sum of money to create an authorization for the same program that the gentleman in his career of police work has so long enforced.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONYERS. I thank the gentleman. His explanation has been thorough and quite convincing. The fact of the matter is that we have permitted this in the bill, and what we are doing is putting a money amount to it.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman and members, this is a measure that we should compliment the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Mfume] for bringing to the crime bill. The record is clear on this one. A study of 4,500 drug court participants between 1989 and 1993 showed that only 11 percent slipped back into criminal activity, which is a phenomenal accomplishment compared to the 60 percent recidivism rate for those who did not participate in the program. Drug courts, which cost only $800 a participant, compared to $25,000 for incarceration, achieved these results through a tough court- supervised program of counseling, drug testing, and daily monitoring. Those who do not comply know the alternative is incarceration, and so it is more than a prevention program. It is really almost an alternative form that is very effective, and with our prisons facing massive overcrowding that has been mentioned constantly here, these courts offer an effective alternative for steering nonviolent first- time offenders away from crime toward a productive future as contributing members of society. This is an important provision of last year's crime bill that I think many would welcome into the 1995 version.

Mr. CONYERS. It is too late now.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Delaware.

Mr. CONYERS. I am sorry you did not put my name on the amendment when you offered it. I did not realize how effective we had been.

Mr. CONYERS. I continue to yield to the gentleman from Delaware.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Delaware.

Mr. CONYERS. Under those circumstances, I think that this is an amendment that we cannot resist.

Mr. CONYERS. Would the gentleman need more time? I am happy to hear that. As a matter of fact, I was waiting for someone to realize that these were our arguments.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I reluctantly accept the amendment.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, we are happy to accept the amendment on this side.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Shays].

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank].

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds to advise the gentleman that the Local Partnership Act was the single most popular program by the cities that was in the crime bill of 1994, and that this is the flexibility that the gentleman from Virginia did not know was there, that would allow people to make these choices. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Scott].

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Meehan].

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Chairman, I want to reassure the gentleman from Virginia that localities will have the opportunity, if that is his major gripe about this, to use the funds the way they want, because it includes the Local Partnership Act, so that that provision is included. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee]. (Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Lofgren].

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, No. 1, these programs are all grant programs that are utterly voluntary. Nobody has to choose them. They are not mandated into them. They are optional programs. They are programs that, incidentally, the Congress, including the Senate, the other body, agreed to in last year's law. So these are not new programs, and that is why if they sound familiar to the gentleman, they are. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Schumer].