IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 988 

Condemning all acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of 

excessive and militarized force throughout the country. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Ms. PRESSLEY (for herself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. JUDY

CHU of California, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COX of California, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. 

FUDGE, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. 

HAYES, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. JOHNSON of 

Texas, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. POCAN, 

Mr. RASKIN, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. 

TRAHAN, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. MICHAEL F. 

DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. LEE

of California, Ms. BASS, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, 

Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

of New York, and Mr. WELCH) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning all acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and 

the use of excessive and militarized force throughout 

the country. 

Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive and militarized force are among the most serious ongoing human 

rights and civil liberties violations in the United States 

and have led to community destabilization, a decrease in 


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•HRES 988 IH 

public safety, and the exacerbation of structural inequities; 

Whereas the system of policing in America, and its systemic 

targeting of and use of deadly and brutal force against 

people of color, particularly Black people, stems from the 

long legacy of slavery, lynching, Jim Crow laws, and the 

War on Drugs in the United States and has been perpetuated by violent and harmful law enforcement practices; 

Whereas contemporary police practices that employ policing 

for low level offenses or so called ‘‘broken windows’’ policing, as well as expanded and excessively militarized policing, has led to mass criminalization, heightened violence, 

and mass incarceration that disproportionately impacts 

Black and Brown people; 

Whereas data shows there is a direct correlation between the 

increased militarization of a police department and corresponding levels of police brutality; 

Whereas police use of force is among the leading causes of 

death for young men of color; 

Whereas Black people, including Black women and girls, Native Americans, and Latinos are killed by police at disproportionately higher rates than their White peers; 

Whereas people with disabilities and other historically 

marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and those experiencing homelessness 

are significantly more likely to be criminalized and targets of police violence; 

Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive force have 

robbed countless communities of precious lives, have inflicted intergenerational harm and trauma to families, 

and are intensifying our Nation’s mental health crisis; 


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•HRES 988 IH 

Whereas police in the United States, through acts of brutality 

and the use of excessive force, kill far more people than 

police in other comparable nations and have been historically shielded from accountability; 

Whereas the killings of hundreds each year, and the demonstrations that followed have brought sustained national 

attention to the racially biased police violence against 

people; 

Whereas the House of Representatives finds that the conduct 

of police officers who engage in racial profiling and excessive force, which can include shootings, brutal beatings, 

fatal chokings, and any other excessive treatment is a 

violation of the Constitution of the United States; 

Whereas the House of Representatives finds that the rule of 

law in the United States is undermined when police officers engage in conduct inconsistent with the Constitution 

of the United States; and 

Whereas the House of Representatives has a moral and constitutional obligation to protect the civil rights and liberties of all people from police abuses: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns all acts of brutality, racial 

3 profiling, and the use of excessive force by law en4 forcement officers and calls for the end of milita5 rized policing practices; 

6 (2) supports strengthening efforts to eliminate 

7 instances of excessive use of force, and conduct 

8 stringent oversight and independent investigations 


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1 into instances of police brutality, racial profiling, 

2 and excessive use of force, and hold individual law 

3 enforcement officers and police departments ac4 countable, including— 

5 (A) calling on the Department of Justice 

6 to— 

7 (i) reinstate its role in investigating 

8 individual instances of police brutality, vio9 lence, and racial profiling, and police de10 partments that violate civil rights; and 

11 (ii) take on a role in filing briefs urg12 ing courts to reconsider decisions that per13 mit unreasonable and excessive police prac14 tices and establish meaningful oversight of 

15 consent decrees; and 

16 (B) establishing independent all-civilian re17 view boards, with the authority to effectively in18 vestigate incidents of police misconduct, to en19 sure meaningful community level oversight, 

20 transparency, accountability, and discipline of 

21 police officers; and 

22 (3) calls for the adoption of sound and unbiased 

23 law enforcement policies at all levels of government 

24 that reduce the disparate impact of police brutality 


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1 and use of force on Black and Brown people and 

2 other historically marginalized communities. 

Æ 


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