The Connecticut House on Wednesday unanimously passed legislation that would establish a gender responsiveness subcommittee to recommend improvements to the continuum of care for children affected by the criminal legal system.
House Bill 5508 passed on a 139-0 tally, with 12 lawmakers who were absent or did not vote, sending the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee’s recommended legislation to the Senate a week ahead of the General Assembly’s adjournment deadline.
The legislation seeks to require the gender responsiveness subcommittee — which, more broadly, would identify gaps in statute regarding gender response work and develop a framework for maintaining sex trafficking police data — to collaborate with other committees to, among other things, make recommendations addressing specialized treatment in foster care for children experiencing sexual abuse or sex trafficking.
While the committee would work to define what constitutes “gender responsive” and “gender responsive practice,” both recognize that “women have distinct histories, pathways to offending, and experiences in the criminal justice system,” according to the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
The bill comes as the legislature is working to address problems stemming from a now-closed Harwinton group home, primarily serving girls, recently subject to allegations of physical and sexual abuse, a lack of supervision of children and insufficient therapeutic care for children with histories of severe trauma.
The proposal would also update the state’s “reentry success plan” for children released from the state’s custody to ensure the use of “credible messengers” as mentors for a period lasting up to two years and to ensure that the youths have access to job training programs.
The reentry success plan seeks to help youths successfully reintegrate into their communities, while credible messengers are typically people with lived experience in the criminal legal system who have successfully transitioned back into society.
The JJPOC bill was the first to pass the House chamber on Wednesday, and it did so with virtually no debate, despite an indication just moments before from House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, that there was possibly “going to be conversation about it.”
Republicans’ ability to raise questions and offer comments on bills for hours at a time serves as a powerful tool in their arsenal with only a week left in the legislative session. They typically use it to delay the final approval of certain proposals or topics they deem controversial.
As the JJPOC legislation addresses children in the criminal legal system, it serves as a potential avenue for Republicans to reiterate any talking points about their dissatisfaction with crime in Connecticut, even if they ultimately support the proposal. House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said in a Wednesday morning press conference that his caucus was prepared to sit through any of the debate if needed.
“It’s the right issue to advocate and fight for, and if folks want to make it a political issue, that’s their choice,” Rojas said. “We’ll deal with that as it comes.”
But each of the Republicans voted in favor of the proposal, just as many of them did in committee earlier this year, without expressing any reservations.
“One should not be fearful merely because of the title of the bill. I know that the title may cause some problems in the room,” said Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, a ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. “I will assure my colleagues that there is some good stuff in here.”
The bill heads to the Senate next.