[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 637 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 637

 Expressing support for the designation of October 2019 as ``National 
                     Youth Justice Action Month''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 17, 2019

   Mr. Cardenas (for himself and Mr. Trone) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing support for the designation of October 2019 as ``National 
                     Youth Justice Action Month''.

Whereas the historical role of the juvenile court system is to rehabilitate and 
        treat young offenders while holding them accountable and maintaining 
        public safety, and the juvenile court system is therefore better 
        equipped to work with youth than the adult criminal justice system, 
        which is punitive in nature;
Whereas youth are developmentally different from adults, and those differences 
        have been--

    (1) documented by research on the adolescent brain; and

    (2) acknowledged by the Supreme Court of the United States, State 
supreme courts, and many State and Federal laws that prohibit youth under 
the age of 18 from taking on major adult responsibilities such as voting, 
jury duty, and military service;

Whereas youth who are placed under the commitment of the juvenile court system 
        are able to access age-appropriate services and education and remain 
        closer to their families, which reduces the likelihood that those youth 
        will commit offenses in the future;
Whereas, every year in the United States, an estimated 76,000 youth are tried, 
        sentenced, or incarcerated as adults, and most of those youth are 
        prosecuted for nonviolent offenses;
Whereas most laws allowing the prosecution of youth as adults were enacted 
        before the publication of research-based evidence by the Centers for 
        Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Juvenile Justice and 
        Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice demonstrating that 
        prosecuting youth in adult court actually decreases public safety as, on 
        average, youth prosecuted in adult court are 34 percent more likely to 
        commit future crimes than youth retained in the juvenile court system;
Whereas youth of color, youth with disabilities, and youth with mental health 
        issues are disproportionally represented at all stages of the criminal 
        justice system;
Whereas it is harmful to public safety and to young offenders to confine youth 
        in adult jails or prisons where they are significantly more likely to be 
        physically and sexually assaulted and are often placed in solitary 
        confinement;
Whereas youth sentenced as adults receive an adult criminal record that hinders 
        future education and employment opportunities;
Whereas youth who receive extremely long sentences deserve an opportunity to 
        demonstrate their potential to grow and change; and
Whereas, in October, people around the United States participate in Youth 
        Justice Action Month to increase public awareness of the issues facing 
        youth transferred to the adult criminal justice system and to provide 
        people across the United States with an opportunity to develop action-
        oriented events in their communities: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) acknowledges that the collateral consequences normally 
        applied in the adult criminal justice system should not 
        automatically apply to youth arrested for crimes before the age 
        of 18;
            (2) expresses support for the designation of ``National 
        Youth Justice Action Month''; and
            (3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals of 
        National Youth Justice Action Month.
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