III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 440 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2023 as ‘‘National Youth 

Justice Action Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 30, 2023 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2023 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 

and Federal laws that prohibit youth under the age of 18 


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•SRES 440 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 often do not receive access to ageappropriate 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 

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 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 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; 


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•SRES 440 IS 

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 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) 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 importance of the continued 

11 implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Delin12 quency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended by the 

13 Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018, in a manner 

14 in keeping with the spirit and intent of the law. 

Æ 


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