National Youth Justice Awareness Month, 2015

Proclamation 9339 of September 30, 2015

National Youth Justice Awareness Month, 2015

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

All our Nation's children deserve the chance to fulfill
their greatest potential, and nothing should limit the
scope of their futures. But all too often, our juvenile
and criminal justice systems weigh our young people
down so heavily that they cannot reach their piece of
the American dream. When that happens, America is
deprived of immeasurable possibility. This month, we
rededicate ourselves to preventing youth from entering
the juvenile and criminal justice systems and recommit
to building a country where all our daughters and sons
can grow, flourish, and take our Nation to new and
greater heights.

Involvement in the justice system--even as a minor, and
even if it does not result in a finding of guilt,
delinquency, or conviction--can significantly impede a
person's ability to pursue a higher education, obtain a
loan, find employment, or secure quality housing. Many
who become involved in the juvenile justice system have
experienced foster care or grown up in environments
where violence and drugs were pervasive and
opportunities were absent. Some studies have found that
many youth in juvenile justice facilities have had a
mental or substance use disorder in their young lives.
These children are our Nation's future--yet most of
them were afforded no margin of error after making a
mistake.

Each year, there are more than 1 million arrests of
young people under the age of 18, and the vast majority
of those arrests are for non-violent crimes. Estimates
show that half of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic
males, and nearly 40 percent of white males are
arrested by age 23. Nearly 55,000 individuals under age
21 are being held in juvenile justice facilities across
the United States--a disproportionate number of whom
are young people of color, including tribal youth. The
proportion of detained and incarcerated girls and young
women, often victims of abuse, has also significantly
increased over the past few decades.

In addition to those serving time in juvenile justice
facilities, on any given day, more than 5,000 youth
under age 18 are serving time in adult prisons or local
jails. Nine States prosecute all 17-year-olds as adults
regardless of the crime committed, including two States
that do the same for 16-year-olds; and all States have
transfer laws that allow or require criminal
prosecution of certain youth. This continues despite
studies showing that youth prosecuted in adult courts
are more likely to commit future crimes than similarly
situated youth who are prosecuted for the same offenses
in the juvenile system.

To hold a young person in a State-operated facility can
cost upwards of $100,000 per year per individual. That
money could be better spent--with improved youth and
public safety outcomes--by investing in our children in
ways that help keep them out of the juvenile and
criminal justice systems in the first place, or that
prevent them from penetrating deeper into the system.
As a Nation that draws on the talents and ambitions of
all our people, we must remain focused on providing the
institutional support necessary to stop our youth from
being locked into a cycle from which they cannot
recover or fully take their place as citizens.

My Administration is committed to working with States,
as well as tribal and local jurisdictions, to implement
reforms that reduce recidivism and improve youth
outcomes. Last year, the Department of Justice launched
the Smart on Juvenile Justice initiative to advance
system-wide reforms that improve outcomes, eliminate
disparities, and save money while holding youth
appropriately accountable. These efforts include
emphasizing prevention, promoting cost-effective and
community-based alternatives to confinement, and
sustaining programs that provide job training and
substance use disorder treatment and counseling to
youth in juvenile facilities. The Departments of
Education and Justice are leading efforts to revamp
school discipline policies and support underfunded
schools so that our education system serves as a
pathway to opportunity, rather than a pipeline to
prison. Additionally, the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Department of Justice are
working to build better diversion policies to screen
and treat youth for substance abuse, trauma, and unmet
mental, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Last year, I launched My Brother's Keeper--an
initiative to address persistent opportunity gaps faced
by boys and young men of color and ensure all young
people can reach their inherent potential. As part of
this initiative, we are focused on reducing rates of
violence while improving outcomes for all our youth. I
also launched the Generation Indigenous initiative,
which seeks to improve the lives of Native youth
through new investments and increased engagement so
they can achieve their highest aspirations.

America is a Nation of second chances, and justice
means giving every young person a fair shot--regardless
of what they look like or what zip code they were born
into. The system we created to safeguard this
fundamental ideal must do exactly that. During National
Youth Justice Month, let us recommit to ensuring our
justice system acts not as a means for perpetuating a
cycle of hopelessness, but as a framework for uplifting
our young people with a sense of purpose so they can
contribute to America's success.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim October 2015 as
National Youth Justice Awareness Month. I call upon all
Americans to observe this month by getting involved in
community efforts to support our youth, and by
participating in appropriate ceremonies, activities,
and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and fortieth.