•HRES 1503 IH 
and Federal laws that prohibit youth under the age of 18 
from taking on major adult responsibilities such as vot-
ing, jury duty, and military service; 
Whereas most laws allowing the prosecution of youth as 
adults were enacted before the publication of research- 
based evidence by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delin-
quency Prevention of the Department of Justice dem-
onstrating 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 fu-
ture crimes than youth retained in the juvenile court sys-
tem; 
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 of-
fenses in the future; 
Whereas, in the United States, between 2000 to 2022, there 
was a 75-percent decline in youth incarceration, but trou-
bling 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 pris-
ons where they are significantly more likely to be phys-
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•HRES 1503 IH 
ically and sexually assaulted and placed in solitary con-
finement; 
Whereas youth sentenced as adults receive an adult criminal 
record that hinders future education, housing, and em-
ployment opportunities; and 
Whereas, in October, people around the United States par-
ticipate 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) acknowledges that the collateral con-
sequences normally applied in the adult criminal jus-
tice system should not automatically apply to youth 
arrested for crimes before the age of 18; 
(2) expresses support for the designation of 
‘‘National Youth Justice Action Month’’; 
(3) recognizes and supports the goals and ideals 
of National Youth Justice Action Month; and 
(4) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Juve-
nile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 
1974, as amended by the Juvenile Justice Reform 
Act of 2018, and the importance of reauthorization, 
funding, and continued implementation of the Act in 
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•HRES 1503 IH 
a manner in keeping with the spirit and intent of 
the law. 
Æ 
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