Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5053, the Justice for Juveniles Act. This bipartisan bill, which I introduced along with my colleagues Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Reschenthaler, and Mr. Jeffries, would eliminate the administrative exhaustion requirement for incarcerated youth before they may file a lawsuit challenging the conditions of their incarceration. By passing this bill today, the House will advance a measure to correct a manifest wrong currently present in Federal law and continue bipartisan efforts to support incarcerated youth. This bill recognizes the same conclusion that has been embraced by the Supreme Court and experts for decades--that incarcerated young people have different cognitive abilities than adults, that they are less mature, and that they have a higher chance of being assaulted while incarcerated. In recent years, our Nation has finally come to the realization that youth and adults have fundamentally different decisionmaking abilities. The Supreme Court has repeatedly cited adolescents' lack of maturity as a reason why they are not as culpable as adults for their actions or able to recognize either certain consequences or dangers. Yet, in current law, there are no allowances for these differences in cognitive abilities when it comes to addressing deficiencies in conditions of confinement.…”