[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 93 (Thursday, June 11, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H4168-H4169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased this morning to speak 
about a topic that I really believe there is a strong pathway forward. 
I have said often, as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Crime, 
Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, that as we look at 
the criminal justice system with a myriad of issues that have come to 
our attention from the American public, from asset forfeiture to mens 
rea to a number of issues dealing with police interaction with the 
community, this is a significant moment in America's history.
  We are a nation of laws, and we pride ourselves with understanding 
the very words of the Declaration of Independence that clearly says 
that we all are created equal with certain inalienable rights of life 
and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The beginning words of the 
Constitution say that our Founding Fathers--although imperfect in many 
of the aspects of the Constitution based upon rights not given to women 
and rights not given to African Americans--did say that they formed 
this government to create a more perfect Union.
  Now, in 2015, we have an opportunity, again, as I said, to assess the 
criminal justice system in many ways. Let me cite for you some of the 
challenges that we face. For example, a 16-year-old in New York who was 
arrested for taking a knapsack--he shouldn't have taken a knapsack--was 
thrown into Rikers Island and had a $3,000 bail, which he or his family 
could not pay. He stayed in isolation for 3 years. His case never came 
before the courts. The lawyers obviously were backlogged, whatever 
court-appointed lawyer he might have had. During that time, there was 
abuse, and this youngster suffered. At 19 going on 20, he was finally 
released, no action taken against him. Tragically, 2 weeks after he was 
released, this young man committed suicide.
  We understand the brain does not mature to its fullest before the age 
of 24 or 25, and so when you are dealing with teenagers between 18 and 
24, you are dealing with kids. You are dealing with individuals who 
have yet formulated their full judgment.
  These incidents, along with the cases of Walter Scott and Freddie 
Gray, begin to have us question how we make better our law enforcement. 
As we mourn those who have fallen in duty--and we do, as I have over 
the years--I recognize that we must give skills training and give more 
resources for professional development and change the concept that we 
have forced our law enforcement to be in.
  We have forced the concept of warrior versus guardian. Maybe that 
caused the incident of the gentleman who was in his doorstep in 
suburban Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C. I think the case 
was 3 years ago where the gentleman came to the door. Of course he was 
having a disagreement with the officer who was at the door, but he 
wound up dead in his doorstep. Of course the family settled because 
there was, in essence, an inappropriate use of excessive force and it 
did not have to happen.
  As we work in the Committee on the Judiciary and work with Members, I 
am looking forward to finding a significant moment. We will be 
introducing legislation dealing with police accountability--we hope it 
will draw a number of Members' bipartisan support--using this concept 
of guardian versus warrior, giving the amount of resources for 
training, but also giving the necessary equipment that will be helpful, 
new technology, and a criteria utilized by small departments that will 
allow them to get a rating of having a police force that meets certain 
standards to know how to deal with the elderly, to know how to deal 
with the physically and mentally disabled, how to deal with juveniles, 
how to deal with women. Certainly we know that bad actors and those who 
are tending to do us harm, we are ultimately concerned that we have 
very safe communities.
  I hope that as we confront this that the sheer shrillness of dealing 
with criminal justice will be put aside so that we can studiously get a 
bill to the

[[Page H4169]]

President's desk, we can get a bill about youth offenders that I will 
introduce, a bill about building trust, which means that we don't force 
communities to use police officers as revenue gatherers, so it is not 
about how many we stop on the street or how many we give tickets to to 
provide money to the coffers of our local community. That puts the 
police sometimes in unnecessary confrontational roles when they could 
very well be engaging in warnings or other ways of dealing with the 
community. I would like to enhance PAL, the Police Athletic League, an 
excellent community-based approach to police and children getting to 
know each other. Many things can happen.
  This is a significant moment that captures the constitutional premise 
that we want to create a more perfect Union.

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