III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 363 

Designating October 2019 as ‘‘National Youth Justice Action Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 17, 2019 

Mr. SCHUMER (for Ms. HARRIS) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Designating 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 


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•SRES 363 IS 

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 researchbased 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 often placed in solitary confinement; 

Whereas youth sentenced as adults receive an adult criminal 

record that hinders future education and employment opportunities; 


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•SRES 363 IS 

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 actionoriented events in their communities: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) acknowledges that the collateral con3 sequences normally applied in the adult criminal jus4 tice system should not automatically apply to youth 

5 arrested for crimes before the age of 18; 

6 (2) designates October 2019 as ‘‘National 

7 Youth Justice Action Month’’; and 

8 (3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals 

9 of National Youth Justice Action Month. 

Æ 


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