[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 183 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7074-S7075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 423--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE DESIGNATION OF 
        OCTOBER 2021 AS ``NATIONAL YOUTH JUSTICE ACTION MONTH''

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 423

       Whereas the historical role of the juvenile court system is 
     to rehabilitate and treat young people 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 
     youths 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 disproportionately represented 
     at all stages of the criminal justice system;
       Whereas it is harmful to public safety and to young people 
     in the legal system to confine youth in adult jails or 
     prisons where they are significantly more likely to be 
     physically and sexually assaulted and 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 need to protect the constitutional rights of 
     youth, establish a minimum age for arresting children, remove 
     youth from adult courts and prisons, and end the practice of 
     sentencing children to life, and de facto life, without 
     parole 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 Senate--
       (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 October 2021 
     as ``National Youth Justice Action Month'';
       (3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals of 
     National Youth Justice Action Month; and
       (4) recognizes the importance of and encourages the Office 
     of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the 
     Department of Justice to fully implement the Juvenile Justice 
     Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-385; 132 Stat. 5123) in a 
     manner in keeping with the spirit and intent of the law.

[[Page S7075]]

  

                          ____________________