II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 597 

To ensure the effective administration of criminal justice. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 18, 2013 

Mr. LEAHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To ensure the effective administration of criminal justice. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gideon’s Promise Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUS6 TICE. 

7 (a) STRATEGIC PLANNING.—Section 502 of title I of 

8 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

9 (42 U.S.C. 3752) is amended— 

10 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

11 ‘‘To request a grant’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(6) A comprehensive State-wide plan detailing 

2 how grants received under this section will be used 

3 to improve the administration of the criminal justice 

4 system, which shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be designed in consultation with local 

6 governments, and all segments of the criminal 

7 justice system, including judges, prosecutors, 

8 law enforcement personnel, corrections per9 sonnel, and providers of indigent defense serv10 ices, victim services, juvenile justice delinquency 

11 prevention programs, community corrections, 

12 and reentry services; 

13 ‘‘(B) include a description of how the State 

14 will allocate funding within and among each of 

15 the uses described in subparagraphs (A) 

16 through (G) of section 501(a)(1); 

17 ‘‘(C) describe the process used by the State 

18 for gathering evidence-based data and devel19 oping and using evidence-based and evidence20 gathering approaches in support of funding de21 cisions; and 

22 ‘‘(D) be updated every 5 years, with an23 nual progress reports that— 

24 ‘‘(i) address changing circumstances 

25 in the State, if any; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) describe how the State plans to 

2 adjust funding within and among each of 

3 the uses described in subparagraphs (A) 

4 through (G) of section 501(a)(1); 

5 ‘‘(iii) provide an ongoing assessment 

6 of need; 

7 ‘‘(iv) discuss the accomplishment of 

8 goals identified in any plan previously pre9 pared under this paragraph; and 

10 ‘‘(v) reflect how the plan influenced 

11 funding decisions in the previous year. 

12 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) STRATEGIC PLANNING.—Not later than 90 

14 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

15 the Attorney General shall begin to provide technical 

16 assistance to States and local governments request17 ing support to develop and implement the strategic 

18 plan required under subsection (a)(6). 

19 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL

20 RIGHTS.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

21 enactment of this subsection, the Attorney General 

22 shall begin to provide technical assistance to States 

23 and local governments, including any agent thereof 

24 with responsibility for administration of justice, re25 questing support to meet the obligations established 


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1 by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the 

2 United States, which shall include— 

3 ‘‘(A) public dissemination of practices, 

4 structures, or models for the administration of 

5 justice consistent with the requirements of the 

6 Sixth Amendment; and 

7 ‘‘(B) assistance with adopting and imple8 menting a system for the administration of jus9 tice consistent with the requirements of the 

10 Sixth Amendment. 

11 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 

13 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 to carry 

14 out this subsection.’’. 

15 (b) PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.— 

16 (1) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—It shall be unlawful 

17 for any governmental authority, or any agent there18 of, or any person acting on behalf of a governmental 

19 authority, to engage in a pattern or practice of con20 duct by officials or employees of any governmental 

21 agency with responsibility for the administration of 

22 justice, including the administration of programs or 

23 services that provide appointed counsel to indigent 

24 defendants, that deprives persons of their rights to 

25 assistance of counsel as protected under the Sixth 


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1 Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the 

2 Constitution of the United States. 

3 (2) CIVIL ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

4 Whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause 

5 to believe that a violation of paragraph (1) has oc6 curred, the Attorney General, for or in the name of 

7 the United States, may, in a civil action, obtain ap8 propriate equitable and declaratory relief to elimi9 nate the pattern or practice. 

10 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (2) shall 

11 take effect 2 years after the date of enactment of 

12 this Act. 

Æ 


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