PRINTER'S NO. 985
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
80
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY KINSEY, ROTHMAN, WEBSTER, RYAN, SANCHEZ, KIRKLAND,
HOHENSTEIN, HILL-EVANS, BURGOS, SCHWEYER, SCHLOSSBERG,
MALAGARI, WARREN AND STAMBAUGH, MARCH 18, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, MARCH 18, 2021
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Congress of the United States to pass a
constitutional amendment that provides that neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude may be imposed as a punishment for
a crime.
WHEREAS, Ratified in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States states, "Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction;" and
WHEREAS, The exception clause in the Thirteenth Amendment
created a loophole that has allowed for legal slavery to persist
in the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, After ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment,
states exploited this loophole by enacting laws, now commonly
referred to as "Black Codes," that allowed them to arrest and
imprison African Americans for minor offenses; and
WHEREAS, In addition, states engaged in convict leasing, a
practice where states leased prisoners to private contractors in
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