mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i have worked with gangs at home in conjunction with our police department , and there is a way to start prevention . 
i recognize that the crimes that have been mentioned here this morning are crimes that should be punished . 
i believe if you do the crime , you do the time . 
but i also believe that you can prevent this with young people . 
i dialogued with members of a gang several years ago , shortly after i heard that the people are coming from los angeles to start gangs . 
and in dialoguing with these young people , i first had to understand what they were saying . 
that gang activity has been converted to something positive because i encouraged it . 
i said , stay together but do not do crime stuff , do things positive . 
that is what they have done . 
they have even run people for office . 
you have got to not give up on young people . 
americans deserve a bill that would successfully combat gang activity and violence . 
this bill does fall short of that . 
this bill fails to address the root of the problem . 
even though law enforcement is vital , we must try to prevent gang activities before they occur . 
prevention programs can save many lives and many dollars . 
it is a lot cheaper to prevent all this crime and prevent them going to jail and for them to stay in school . 
of the $ 50 million appropriated in this bill , not one penny goes toward prevention . 
you can call it play . 
you can call it anything you want . 
but in-school and after-school prevention programs successfully teach young people the skills they need to combat peer pressure . 
they target environmental risk factors by teaching young people conflict resolution skills , cultural sensitivity and the negative aspects of gang life , if it is violent . 
these young people want to be a part of something , and it might as well be a positive experience . 
we must stop the violence at the source . 
if we do not put forth that activity , that is when it gravitates to what he just discussed . 
we must give our young people a path to success not just a path to prison . 
