Hartford — After some stops and starts this week, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed a juvenile crime bill. It’s now up to the Senate to call the bill.

The bill passed 129-17, with five representatives absent or not voting. All 17 no votes came from Democrats.

House Bill 5417, which includes measures Republicans have been pushing for since the close of the last session, exposed a rift between Democratic lawmakers. Many on the left criticized the bill for going too far in politically driven “tough on crime” measures criminalizing youth and not getting at the root causes of crime among young people in the state.

Republicans largely supported the bill, but some lamented that it did not go far enough in deterring youth crime through harsher penalties. Both parties agreed the bill did not go far enough on intervention programs and services for crime, but, Democratic supporters noted, such programs and efforts are set to be funded by a projected $25 million in the state budget adjustment.

State Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, and Rep. Joe De la Cruz, D-Groton, both criticized the bill but ultimately voted in favor of it.

De la Cruz told his colleagues not to get “all excited about the headlines” and to understand crime isn’t as dire an issue in the state as Republicans make it out to be. He also pointed out that he is personally familiar with many people who were not able to get a job at Millstone Nuclear Power Station or Electric Boat because of criminal records when they were young.

Nolan, a police officer, noted he has a “huge concern in regards to using GPS (monitoring) in my career.”

“I find GPS electronic devices to not be of any use,” he said on the floor Thursday. “A GPS device does not stop crime. It does not limit the juvenile from doing any other crime.”

Nolan and others argued that reducing youth crime should be about targeting the root issues — societal conditions, poverty, education and other factors — and not about more stringent treatment of youth who commit crimes.

State Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, said she personally deals with crime in her community. “We have been suffering from car thefts, robberies, gun violence, gang violence, for decades. So this is nothing new to us," she said. "But what I do know is that increased policing has not helped.” She added that she recognizes crime is a problem in the state, but, “What is disturbing is that it only matters when it hits a certain demographic. I’ve been living with this my entire life, and think what I have to say should carry some weight in the way we decide to solve the problem.”

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, acknowledged that the bill is not a complete answer but takes positive steps to hold repeat offenders accountable. “For a number of years Republicans have been calling for reforms in this area,” he said.

He added that he was tired of hearing Democrats arguing that Republicans want to put kids in jail. “As a Republican, it’s frustrating to listen to the narrative that we’re trying to incarcerate children,” he said.

According to the Office of Legislative Research’s bill analysis, HB 5417 would allow for "more immediate arraignment and services for juvenile offenders, electronic monitoring in certain circumstances ... expansion of programs serving juveniles and reducing crime, and require the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection to inform the Chief of Police or other appropriate official of the town in which a firearms permit applicant resides if such applicant fails a background check."

The bill would increase the maximum time, from six hours to eight hours, that a juvenile can be held in lockup without a detention order from a judge. The legislation also addresses an issue Republicans have been raising for months, as it extends access to juvenile delinquency case records and proceedings to municipal agency employees and state and municipal law enforcement officials conducting investigations, respectively.

s.spinella@theday.com