IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1503 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2024 as ‘‘National Youth 

Justice Action Month’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS (for himself, Mr. TRONE, and Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2024 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 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 


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•HRES 1503 IH 

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 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 deserve an opportunity to demonstrate their 

potential to grow and change, and youth who are placed 

under the commitment of the juvenile court system too 

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, in the United States, between 2000 to 2022, there 

was a 75-percent decline in youth incarceration, but troubling disparities remain; 

Whereas youth of color, youth with disabilities, youth with 

mental health challenges, and youth in foster care are 

disproportionately represented at all stages of the juvenile 

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 physVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:47 Sep 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1503.IH HR1503

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•HRES 1503 IH 

ically and sexually assaulted and placed in solitary confinement; 

Whereas youth sentenced as adults receive an adult criminal 

record that hinders future education, housing, and employment opportunities; and 

Whereas, in October, people around the United States participate in Youth Justice Action Month to increase public 

awareness of the impact of the justice system on youth 

and families and to provide people across the United 

States with an opportunity to develop action-oriented 

events in their communities: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

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) expresses support for the designation of 

7 ‘‘National Youth Justice Action Month’’; 

8 (3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals 

9 of National Youth Justice Action Month; and 

10 (4) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Juve11 nile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 

12 1974, as amended by the Juvenile Justice Reform 

13 Act of 2018, and the importance of reauthorization, 

14 funding, and continued implementation of the Act in 


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•HRES 1503 IH 

1 a manner in keeping with the spirit and intent of 

2 the law. 

Æ 


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