Title: Expressing support for the designation of May 18 as "National Day of Healing".
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This resolution expresses support for designating a National Day of Healing and recognizes community violence as a public health crisis.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 820 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 820

 Expressing support for the designation of May 18 as ``National Day of 
                               Healing''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 23, 2021

 Mr. Bowman (for himself, Ms. Bass, Ms. Bush, and Mr. Rush) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing support for the designation of May 18 as ``National Day of 
                               Healing''.

Whereas violence of all forms represents a public health crisis that demands an 
        immediate, holistic, and healing-focused response from the Federal 
        Government;
Whereas the prevalence of violence has increased significantly during the 
        pandemic with over 1,270,000 violent crimes reported in 2020, including 
        a--

    (1) 29.4-percent increase in the number of murders and nonnegligent 
manslaughters;

    (2) 12.1-percent increase in the number of aggravated assaults; and

    (3) 4.6-percent increase in the number of violent crimes per capita;

Whereas, in the United States, about 12 people are killed with guns for every 
        100,000 United States residents;
Whereas the gun suicide rate in the United States is 10 times that of other 
        high-income countries, and individuals with access to a gun are 3 times 
        as likely to die by suicide, including veterans who are twice as likely 
        to own a gun;
Whereas the majority of gun fatalities in the United States are deaths by 
        suicide (61 percent), and guns are used in just over half of the deaths 
        by suicide in the United States (51 percent);
Whereas just over 1 in 6 people will self-harm during his or her lifetime, on 
        average starting at age 13;
Whereas 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence at 
        the hands of an intimate partner in their lifetimes;
Whereas intimate partner violence has become the pandemic within the pandemic, 
        with the isolation associated with public safety protocols making it 
        more difficult to detect and prevent situations of domestic violence;
Whereas nearly 10 percent of high school students have reported experiencing 
        intimate partner violence in the last year;
Whereas more than 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 4 men have experienced sexual 
        violence involving physical contact during their lifetimes;
Whereas gender-based violence continues to rise as 2020 marked the worst year of 
        violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people on record;
Whereas 15 to 20 percent of college women report experiencing rape or attempted 
        rape during their college careers, and over 50 percent report 
        experiencing some form of unwanted sexual contact;
Whereas racial and ethnic minority women, transgender and gender nonconforming 
        college students, and students with disabilities are at higher risk or 
        report higher levels of assault and harassment;
Whereas 34 percent of college students who experience sexual assault drop out of 
        college;
Whereas nearly 700,000 children experience abuse annually in the United States, 
        with approximately 65 percent of cases involving sexual abuse and 21 
        percent involving physical abuse;
Whereas people with severe mental illnesses are 11 times more likely to be 
        victims of violent crime than the general population;
Whereas exposure to violence can cause significant psychological trauma for 
        individuals and communities;
Whereas a large majority of adults in the United States experience stress 
        associated with mass shootings, and a third of United States adults say 
        that fear of mass shootings stops them from going to certain places and 
        events;
Whereas traumatic experiences, especially adverse childhood experiences, can 
        have lasting negative health implications for individuals, including 
        higher rates of mental health conditions and substance use;
Whereas a total of 68,286 public school children were subject to corporal 
        punishment in the 2017 to 2018 school year, with Black students and 
        students with disabilities disproportionately being corporally punished;
Whereas corporal punishment in schools is ineffective, interferes with learning, 
        and causes injury and trauma;
Whereas cognitive behavioral therapy, especially when focused on trauma 
        specifically, has shown promising results helping individuals heal from 
        exposure to violence;
Whereas communities require the resources necessary to properly heal and recover 
        from the trauma caused by violence;
Whereas unchecked rises in violence create a vicious cycle that entrenches the 
        conditions that cause violence;
Whereas nonviolent, evidence-based, community-based solutions to violence 
        prevention and intervention can effectively promote public safety, with 
        methods including but not limited to--

    (1) violence intervention and prevention programs that help deescalate 
violent situations and work to prevent situations from becoming violent in 
the first place;

    (2) hospital-based violence prevention programs that provide wraparound 
services to victims to help mitigate the risk of reinjury or retaliatory 
violence;

    (3) group violence intervention that uses partnerships between 
community leaders, social service providers, and law enforcement to 
identify high-risk individuals and work with them to avoid violent 
outcomes;

    (4) trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy; and

    (5) replacing exclusionary, punitive discipline practices in schools, 
which perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline, with positive, restorative, 
nonadversarial alternatives;

Whereas a spike in gun violence has widespread negative economic implications 
        for a community, including declining business formation, fewer available 
        jobs, plummeting property values, lower home ownership rates, and 
        declining average credit scores;
Whereas the rise in violence represents a preventable public health crisis that 
        can be combated by sending resources to local communities to address the 
        underlying causes of violence, including but not limited to poverty, 
        housing insecurity, food insecurity, education, and limited access to 
        mental health care; and
Whereas the aftermath of gun violence costs communities $280,000,000,000 
        annually, which could otherwise be used to provide resources and 
        services that address the root causes of violence: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses support for the designation of ``National Day 
        of Healing'';
            (2) calls on the people of the United States and interested 
        groups to commemorate and demonstrate solidarity with families 
        and communities who have lost family and community members to 
        violence to raise awareness about the moral imperative to 
        eliminate community violence of all kinds;
            (3) recognizes that the rise of community violence is a 
        public health crisis that demands a public health response; and
            (4) acknowledges that the Federal Government has a 
        responsibility to execute this public health response across a 
        holistic spectrum of healing, and this response should include 
        trauma-informed mental health care and counseling, school- and 
        campus-based mental health services, hospital-based violence 
        screening and intervention, violence interruption, conflict 
        mediation, restorative measures for conflict resolution, 
        community outreach, other evidence-based, community-led 
        interventions, and targeted research to bring to scale and 
        enhance effectiveness of interventions.
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