State Republicans have made juvenile crime the party’s marquee issue in the months leading up to the current legislative session. This week, Senate GOP leaders released legislation for juvenile and criminal justice reforms.

Almost immediately after last year’s legislative session began, Republicans began a series of news conferences on the issue of juvenile justice reform. The party claimed that the state was in the midst of a spike in crime and that teenagers were taking advantage of a system that would let them repeatedly commit crimes without accountability.

Democrats, such as state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, the Judicial Committee co-chair, and state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, have said the Republican push on crime is meant to spread fear and is for campaign purposes rather than a good-faith legislative initiative. Democrats say the statistics don’t bear out Republican claims.

Democrats also have taken umbrage with a Republican plan because it proposes rolling back the controversial police accountability law in key ways.

On Friday afternoon, the Judiciary Committee voted to raise concepts for bills, some of which were related to the Republican proposal, including “An Act Concerning Juvenile Justice,” “An Act Concerning Various Juveniles and Motor Vehicle Offenses,” “An Act Concerning the Theft of Catalytic Converters” and “An Act Concerning Criminal Justice Policy and Procedure,” among others.

This week Republicans released the draft language for the proposed “An Act Concerning Opportunities for Youths, Housing Reforms and Juvenile and Criminal Justice Reforms.” The draft bill is mostly the same as a proposal outlined by Republicans in October. It proposes programs meant to steer youths away from crime, such as a summer jobs program, and calls for more severe consequences for offenders.

Among these would-be consequences are next-day court for juveniles, allowing police, prosecutors, public defenders and judges to access juvenile records, mandatory nonstop GPS monitoring of juveniles arrested for violent crimes or repeat offenses while they’re awaiting trial, mandatory fingerprinting for juveniles in certain cases, and to expand or make easier the transfer of juvenile cases to adult court.

Democrats already have said they won’t accept the bill as a whole because it attempts to soften the police accountability law. For example, the Republican proposal would bring back qualified immunity for police, and no longer would require officers to intervene when a colleague is using “excessive” or “unreasonable” force, only when using force they deem “illegal.”

Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, said in a statement Tuesday that efforts to curb crime are inherently local.

“Solutions must come with input from our communities, from social workers and experts in the justice system, from juvenile advocates and police, from victims and community leaders,” he said. “That’s why we have been out in our communities, in cities across the state, talking to people who work with juveniles every day.”

Republicans have dismissed questions as to whether they would ever get enough Democratic support to reverse staples of the police accountability law. Winfield’s comments this week in a news conference confirmed Democrats have no interest in revisiting the law passed following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police.

“I am not particularly disposed to making new changes, and I don’t think it directly ties into the conversation we’ve been having about juveniles,” Winfield said of the proposed police accountability rollbacks. “If I’m being honest, we should allow the Police Accountability and Transparency Act to run its course.”

Winfield did say, though, there are places in the proposal where there’s room for agreement between Democrats and Republicans. He mentioned, for example, guidance counselors talking to students about trades, a summer jobs program “that affects communities with a certain level of violence or endangerment,” and expanding a need-based college scholarship program.

“Then there are other things we don’t want to have a conversation about again, particularly things about police accountability and transparency,” Winfield said, adding that the issue already has “been relitigated.”

Winfield also did not favor some of the stricter penalties for juveniles who have committed crimes.

“One of the problems I’ve had with the approach of not only Connecticut but other states is we seem to think the best way to reduce crime is to arrest our way out of it,” Winfield said. “The best way is to determine root causes.”

s.spinella@theday.com