United States HRES 1429: Expressing support for the designation of October 2022 as "National Youth Justice Action Month".

Bill Text

IV 
117THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION 
H.  RES.  1429 
Expressing support for the designation of October 2022 as ‘‘National Youth 
Justice Action Month’’. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
OCTOBER11, 2022 
Mr.  C
A
 ́
RDENAS(for  himself,  Mr.  TRONE,  and  Mrs.  SPARTZ)  submitted  the  fol-
lowing  resolution;  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education  and  
Labor 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the designation of October 2022 as 
‘‘National Youth Justice Action Month’’. 
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  juve-
nile  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  
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•HRES  1429  IH  
and  Federal  laws  that  prohibit  youth  under  the  age  of  18  
from  taking  on  major  adult  responsibilities  such  as  vot-
ing, jury duty, and military service; 
Whereas  youth  who  are  placed  under  the  commitment  of  the  
juvenile  court  system  often  do  not  receive  access  to  age-  
appropriate  services  and  education  and  remain  far  from  
their  families,  which  increases  the  likelihood  that  those  
youth will commit offenses in the future; 
Whereas   every   year   in   the   United   States,   an   estimated   
53,000  youths  are  tried,  sentenced,  or  incarcerated  as  
adults,  and  most  of  those  youth  are  prosecuted  for  non-
violent 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  Delin-
quency  Prevention  of  the  Department  of  Justice  dem-
onstrating  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  fu-
ture  crimes  than  youth  retained  in  the  juvenile  court  sys-
tem; 
Whereas  youth  of  color,  youth  with  disabilities,  and  youth  
with   mental   health   issues   are   disproportionately   rep-
resented 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  pris-
ons  where  they  are  significantly  more  likely  to  be  phys-
ically  and  sexually  assaulted  and  often  placed  in  solitary  
confinement; 
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•HRES  1429  IH  
Whereas  youth  sentenced  as  adults  receive  an  adult  criminal  
record  that  hinders  future  education  and  employment  op-
portunities; 
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  partici-
pate  in  Youth  Justice  Action  Month  to  increase  public  
awareness  on  the  need  to  protect  the  constitutional  rights  
of  youth,  establish  a  minimum  age  for  arresting  children,  
remove  youth  from  adult  courts  and  prisons,  end  the  
practice  of  sentencing  children  to  life  imprisonment  with-
out  parole  and  consecutive  sentences  that  amount  to  de  
facto  life  imprisonment  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 House of Representatives— 1
(1)    acknowledges    that    the    collateral    con-2
sequences  normally  applied  in  the  adult  criminal  jus-3
tice  system  should  not  automatically  apply  to  youth  4
arrested for crimes before the age of 18; 5
(2)   expresses   support   for   the   designation   of   6
‘‘National Youth Justice Action Month’’; 7
(3)  recognizes  and  supports  the  goals  and  ideals  8
of National Youth Justice Action Month; and 9
(4)  recognizes  the  importance  of  and  encour-10
ages  the  Office  of  Juvenile  Justice  and  Delinquency  11
Prevention  to  fully  implement  the  Juvenile  Justice  12
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