II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3168

To eliminate any limitation on indictment for sexual offenses and make

awards to States to reduce their DNA casework backlogs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 5 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

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

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To eliminate any limitation on indictment for sexual offenses

and make awards to States to reduce their DNA casework backlogs.

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 ‘‘Sexual Assault Pros5 ecution Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. SEXUAL OFFENSE LIMITATION.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 213 of title 18, United

8 States Code, is amended—

9 (1) in section 3283, by striking ‘‘sexual or’’;

10 and
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following:

2 ‘‘§ 3296. Sexual offenses

3 ‘‘An indictment for any offense committed in viola4 tion of chapter 109A of this title may be found at any

5 time without limitation.’’.

6 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

7 The table of sections for chapter 213 of title 18, United

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:

‘‘3296. Sexual offenses.’’.

10 SEC. 3. AWARDS TO STATES TO REDUCE DNA CASEWORK

11 BACKLOG.

12 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days after

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of

15 the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination

16 with the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of

17 Justice Programs of the Department of Justice, and

18 after consultation with representatives of States and

19 private forensic laboratories, shall develop a plan to

20 grant voluntary awards to States to facilitate DNA

21 analysis of all casework evidence of unsolved crimes.

22 (2) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of the plan de23 veloped under paragraph (1) shall be to effectively

24 expedite the analysis of all casework evidence of un25 solved crimes in an efficient and effective manner,
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1 and to provide for the entry of DNA profiles into the

2 combined DNA Indexing System (‘‘CODIS’’).

3 (b) AWARD CRITERIA.—The Federal Bureau of In4 vestigation, in coordination with the Assistant Attorney

5 General of the Office of Justice Programs of the Depart6 ment of Justice, shall develop criteria for the granting of

7 awards under this section including—

8 (1) the applying State’s number of unsolved

9 crimes awaiting DNA analysis; and

10 (2) the applying State’s development of a com11 prehensive plan to collect and analyze DNA evi12 dence.

13 (c) GRANTING OF AWARDS.—The Federal Bureau of

14 Investigation, in coordination with the Assistant Attorney

15 General of the Office of Justice Programs of the Depart16 ment of Justice, shall develop applications for awards to

17 be granted to States under this section, shall consider all

18 applications submitted by States, and shall disburse all

19 awards under this section.

20 (d) AWARD CONDITIONS.—States receiving awards

21 under this section shall—

22 (1) require that each laboratory performing

23 DNA analysis satisfies quality assurance standards

24 and utilizes state-of-the-art DNA testing methods,

25 as set forth by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
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1 in coordination with the Assistant Attorney General

2 of the Office of Justice Programs of the Department

3 of Justice;

4 (2) ensure that each DNA sample collected and

5 analyzed be made available only—

6 (A) to criminal justice agencies for law en7 forcement purposes;

8 (B) in judicial proceedings if otherwise ad9 missible;

10 (C) for criminal defense purposes, to a

11 criminal defendant, who shall have access to

12 samples and analyses performed in connection

13 with any case in which such defendant is

14 charged; or

15 (D) if personally identifiable information is

16 removed, for a population statistics database,

17 for identification research and protocol develop18 ment purposes, or for quality control purposes;

19 and

20 (3) match the award by spending 15 percent of

21 the amount of the award in State funds to facilitate

22 DNA analysis of all casework evidence of unsolved

23 crimes.

24 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

25 are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of
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1 Justice $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001, 2002,

2 2003, and 2004, for awards to be granted under this sec3 tion.

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