III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 423 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2021 as ‘‘National Youth 

Justice Action Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 19, 2021 

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

the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of October 2021 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 423 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 

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 423 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 need to protect the constitutional rights 

of youth, establish a minimum age for arresting children, 

remove youth from adult courts and prisons, and end the 

practice of sentencing children to life, and de facto life, 

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 

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 Oc7 tober 2021 as ‘‘National Youth Justice Action 

8 Month’’; 

9 (3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals 

10 of National Youth Justice Action Month; and 

11 (4) recognizes the importance of and encour12 ages the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 

13 Prevention of the Department of Justice to fully imVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Oct 20, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR423.IS SR423

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•SRES 423 IS 

1 plement the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018 

2 (Public Law 115–385; 132 Stat. 5123) in a manner 

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

Æ 


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