What It Says

Under the juvenile crime bill passed by the House:

Offenders as young as 14 would be routinely tried in federal adult courts for violent felonies such as murder, rape, aggravated assault and armed robbery, for serious drug offense and for conspiracy to commit those crimes. To move such a case to juvenile court, the attorney general would have to certify that doing so would be in the best interests of public safety.

Thirteen-year-olds could be transferred to adult courts for those crimes with the approval of the attorney general.

Federal juvenile proceedings generally would be open to the public.

Victims of federal crimes committed by teenagers could not be excluded from the courtroom.

The fingerprints, photographs and court proceedings of teenage offenders would be made available to the public in the same manner as those of adults after a second offense. Current law severely limits the disclosure of juvenile records to the public, and they often are expunged when the juvenile turns 18.

A three-year, $1.5 billion grants program would be created for states that adopt the same kind of changes. To get the money, states would have to try 15-year-olds as adults for serious violent crimes, impose escalating sanctions on teenagers for each criminal act and increase public access to minors’ criminal records.