I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6456 

To direct the National Institute of Justice to collect, study, and analyze 

data on incidents in which children have been seriously harmed or killed 

by law enforcement officers who were acting in their capacity as law 

enforcement officers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2023 

Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 

BOWMAN, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mrs. 

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 

EVANS, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

IVEY, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KELLY of 

Illinois, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Ms. NORTON, 

Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the National Institute of Justice to collect, study, 

and analyze data on incidents in which children have 

been seriously harmed or killed by law enforcement officers who were acting in their capacity as law enforcement 

officers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Confronting Police Vi3 olence Against Children Act of 2023’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The duty of American law enforcement is to 

7 uphold the law and to serve and protect the public. 

8 (2) Many law enforcement officers are dedi9 cated to public service and perform their duties dili10 gently and responsibly, creating safer communities. 

11 (3) There have been multiple reports in recent 

12 years of children being seriously harmed or killed by 

13 law enforcement officers who were acting in their ca14 pacity as law enforcement officers. 

15 (4) In 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot 

16 and killed by a law enforcement officer in Ohio with17 in seconds of the officer arriving on the scene. 

18 (5) In 2017, 17-year-old Armando Garcia-Muro 

19 was shot and killed by a ricocheting bullet, which 

20 was fired by a law enforcement officer at a dog in 

21 California. 

22 (6) In 2018, 16-year-old Anthony Jacob ‘‘AJ’’ 

23 Weber was shot and killed by a law enforcement of24 ficer in California who fired several shots into his 

25 upper body. 


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1 (7) In 2020, 16-year-old Eric Parsa, who had 

2 autism, died in Louisiana after being restrained face 

3 down on the pavement for over 9 minutes by mul4 tiple law enforcement officers, one of whom put him 

5 in a choke hold, while Parsa was experiencing a 

6 mental health crisis. 

7 (8) In 2020, 13-year-old Linden Cameron, who 

8 has Asperger’s Syndrome, was shot by a law en9 forcement officer in Utah while experiencing a men10 tal health crisis, after his mother dialed 911 for 

11 help. 

12 (9) In 2021, 1-year-old Legend Smalls was shot 

13 in the head by a law enforcement officer in Texas 

14 after the officer opened fire on a suspect who alleg15 edly attempted to steal the vehicle in which Smalls 

16 was seated. 

17 (10) In 2021, 13-year-old Adam Toledo was fa18 tally shot by a law enforcement officer in Illinois 

19 while his hands were in the air. 

20 (11) In 2021, 14-year-old Valentina Orellana21 Peralta was shot and killed by a law enforcement of22 ficer in California. 

23 (12) In 2022, a 13-year-old boy identified as 

24 ‘‘A.G.’’ was shot by a law enforcement officer in IlliVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Nov 28, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456

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1 nois causing a major spinal cord injury while his 

2 hands were in the air. 

3 (13) In 2023, 11-year-old Aderrien Murry was 

4 shot in the chest by a law enforcement officer in 

5 Mississippi after he called the police to his home for 

6 help. 

7 (14) In 2023, 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson 

8 was fatally shot and killed by a law enforcement offi9 cer in Colorado. Jor’Dell Richardson begged to be 

10 taken to the hospital before he died. 

11 (15) Law enforcement officers lack the training 

12 and resources necessary to effectively address issues 

13 of mental health, and these issues may be more ap14 propriately handled with assistance from mental 

15 health experts and social workers. 

16 (16) Reports of incidents in which children are 

17 killed by law enforcement officers erode the trust of 

18 the American people in law enforcement officers and 

19 the agencies and systems they represent, and such 

20 reports therefore undermine the ability of law en21 forcement officers and agencies to carry out their 

22 mission of protecting the public. 

23 (17) A thorough investigation of the cir24 cumstances surrounding incidents of children being 

25 seriously harmed or killed by law enforcement offiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Nov 28, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6456.IH H6456

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1 cers would help policymakers enact policies to ad2 dress these tragic incidents of violence in order to 

3 protect children and improve the effectiveness of law 

4 enforcement. 

5 SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

7 enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Insti8 tute of Justice shall prepare and submit a report to Con9 gress studying incidents in which children were seriously 

10 harmed or killed by Federal, State, Tribal, or local law 

11 enforcement officers who were acting in their official ca12 pacity as law enforcement officers (whether or not the offi13 cer was on duty) during the 15-year period prior to the 

14 date of enactment of this Act. 

15 (b) REQUIRED REVIEW.—In preparing the report re16 quired under this section, the Director shall, at a min17 imum, review and include in the report the following: 

18 (1) Demographic data and analysis pertaining 

19 to— 

20 (A) the age of the victims; 

21 (B) the race and ethnicity of the victims; 

22 (C) the gender of the victims; and 

23 (D) the socioeconomic status of the vic24 tims. 

25 (2) Information and analysis pertaining to— 


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1 (A) whether the officers who were respon2 sible for each incident of serious harm or death 

3 were affiliated with Federal, State, Tribal, or 

4 local law enforcement agencies; 

5 (B) the rank, years of experience, and 

6 amount of training the officers had at the time 

7 of the incidents; 

8 (C) whether the incidents occurred in 

9 urban, suburban, rural, or tribal locations; 

10 (D) the circumstances surrounding the in11 cidents; 

12 (E) the seriousness of the harm suffered 

13 by the victims, including the extent to which the 

14 harm was fatal; 

15 (F) whether the victims had developmental, 

16 physical, or mental disabilities at the time of 

17 the incidents; 

18 (G) whether the victims were experiencing 

19 a mental health crisis at the time of the inci20 dents; 

21 (H) the presence and use of recording de22 vices by the law enforcement officers during the 

23 incidents; 

24 (I) the presence and use of recording de25 vices by bystanders during the incidents; 


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1 (J) whether the incidents involved harm to 

2 or the death of other individuals, including 

3 other law enforcement officers, associates of the 

4 child, or members of the public, and if so, 

5 whose actions directly led to the additional 

6 deaths or harm; 

7 (K) reports of excessive force having been 

8 used by the law enforcement officers prior to 

9 the incidents; 

10 (L) whether the use of force by the law en11 forcement officers was determined to be justi12 fied and proportional, on what basis any such 

13 determination was made, and by whom; and 

14 (M) the consequences faced by the law en15 forcement officers who were responsible for the 

16 harm or death. 

17 (c) REQUIRED CONSULTATION.—In preparing the re18 port required under this section, the Director shall meet 

19 with, and consider any facts and analyses offered by, pros20 ecutors, defense attorneys, family attorneys, judges, med21 ical experts, non-profit organizations, victims service pro22 viders, culturally specific organizations, Federal, State, 

23 Tribal, and local courts, Federal, State, Tribal, and local 

24 law enforcement agencies, State and local elected officials, 


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1 and individuals with academic expertise in the study of 

2 law enforcement. 

3 (d) FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Direc4 tor shall include in the report required under this section 

5 recommendations regarding— 

6 (1) best practices or guidelines for law enforce7 ment agencies to adopt in order to prevent the ex8 cessive use of force by law enforcement officers and 

9 protect children from the excessive use of force; 

10 (2) the best practices to train and equip law en11 forcement officers to handle situations involving chil12 dren, including— 

13 (A) children with physical and mental dis14 abilities; and 

15 (B) children experiencing mental health 

16 crises; 

17 (3) best practices to ensure that children de18 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

19 (2) receive help from qualified professionals who are 

20 equipped to deescalate situations and provide the 

21 proper resources to families; and 

22 (4) Federal legislation to prevent the excessive 

23 use of force by law enforcement officers and protect 

24 children from the excessive use of force. 


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1 (e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘child’’ 

2 means an individual who is under 18 years of age. 

Æ 


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