[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 988 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 988

Condemning all acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and the use 
       of excessive and militarized force throughout the country.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 1, 2020

Ms. Pressley (for herself, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Judy 
 Chu of California, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Connolly, 
   Mr. Cox of California, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Fudge, Mr. 
    Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. 
Horsford, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. Kelly of 
  Illinois, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Khanna, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
  Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Richmond, Ms. 
Schakowsky, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Trahan, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Watson Coleman, 
  Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Nadler, Mr. 
Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Omar, Ms. Lee 
 of California, Ms. Bass, Ms. Adams, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. 
 Underwood, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, 
 and Mr. Welch) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning all acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and the use 
       of excessive and militarized force throughout the country.

Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive and militarized force are 
        among the most serious ongoing human rights and civil liberties 
        violations in the United States and have led to community 
        destabilization, a decrease in public safety, and the exacerbation of 
        structural inequities;
Whereas the system of policing in America, and its systemic targeting of and use 
        of deadly and brutal force against people of color, particularly Black 
        people, stems from the long legacy of slavery, lynching, Jim Crow laws, 
        and the War on Drugs in the United States and has been perpetuated by 
        violent and harmful law enforcement practices;
Whereas contemporary police practices that employ policing for low level 
        offenses or so called ``broken windows'' policing, as well as expanded 
        and excessively militarized policing, has led to mass criminalization, 
        heightened violence, and mass incarceration that disproportionately 
        impacts Black and Brown people;
Whereas data shows there is a direct correlation between the increased 
        militarization of a police department and corresponding levels of police 
        brutality;
Whereas police use of force is among the leading causes of death for young men 
        of color;
Whereas Black people, including Black women and girls, Native Americans, and 
        Latinos are killed by police at disproportionately higher rates than 
        their White peers;
Whereas people with disabilities and other historically marginalized 
        communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and those 
        experiencing homelessness are significantly more likely to be 
        criminalized and targets of police violence;
Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive force have robbed countless 
        communities of precious lives, have inflicted intergenerational harm and 
        trauma to families, and are intensifying our Nation's mental health 
        crisis;
Whereas police in the United States, through acts of brutality and the use of 
        excessive force, kill far more people than police in other comparable 
        nations and have been historically shielded from accountability;
Whereas the killings of hundreds each year, and the demonstrations that followed 
        have brought sustained national attention to the racially biased police 
        violence against people;
Whereas the House of Representatives finds that the conduct of police officers 
        who engage in racial profiling and excessive force, which can include 
        shootings, brutal beatings, fatal chokings, and any other excessive 
        treatment is a violation of the Constitution of the United States;
Whereas the House of Representatives finds that the rule of law in the United 
        States is undermined when police officers engage in conduct inconsistent 
        with the Constitution of the United States; and
Whereas the House of Representatives has a moral and constitutional obligation 
        to protect the civil rights and liberties of all people from police 
        abuses: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns all acts of brutality, racial profiling, and 
        the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers and 
        calls for the end of militarized policing practices;
            (2) supports strengthening efforts to eliminate instances 
        of excessive use of force, and conduct stringent oversight and 
        independent investigations into instances of police brutality, 
        racial profiling, and excessive use of force, and hold 
        individual law enforcement officers and police departments 
        accountable, including--
                    (A) calling on the Department of Justice to--
                            (i) reinstate its role in investigating 
                        individual instances of police brutality, 
                        violence, and racial profiling, and police 
                        departments that violate civil rights; and
                            (ii) take on a role in filing briefs urging 
                        courts to reconsider decisions that permit 
                        unreasonable and excessive police practices and 
                        establish meaningful oversight of consent 
                        decrees; and
                    (B) establishing independent all-civilian review 
                boards, with the authority to effectively investigate 
                incidents of police misconduct, to ensure meaningful 
                community level oversight, transparency, 
                accountability, and discipline of police officers; and
            (3) calls for the adoption of sound and unbiased law 
        enforcement policies at all levels of government that reduce 
        the disparate impact of police brutality and use of force on 
        Black and Brown people and other historically marginalized 
        communities.
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