I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1976

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 14, 1998

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AN ACT

To increase public awareness of the plight of victims of

crime with developmental disabilities, to collect data to

measure the magnitude of the problem, and to develop

strategies to address the safety and justice needs of

victims of crime with developmental disabilities.

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 ‘‘Crime Victims With

5 Disabilities Awareness Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

3 (1) although research conducted abroad dem4 onstrates that individuals with developmental dis5 abilities are at a 4 to 10 times higher risk of becom6 ing crime victims than those without disabilities,

7 there have been no significant studies on this subject

8 conducted in the United States;

9 (2) in fact, the National Crime Victim’s Survey,

10 conducted annually by the Bureau of Justice Statis11 tics of the Department of Justice, does not specifi12 cally collect data relating to crimes against individ13 uals with developmental disabilities;

14 (3) studies in Canada, Australia, and Great

15 Britain consistently show that victims with develop16 mental disabilities suffer repeated victimization be17 cause so few of the crimes against them are re18 ported, and even when they are, there is sometimes

19 a reluctance by police, prosecutors, and judges to

20 rely on the testimony of a disabled individual, mak21 ing individuals with developmental disabilities a tar22 get for criminal predators;

23 (4) research in the United States needs to be

24 done to—
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1 (A) understand the nature and extent of

2 crimes against individuals with developmental

3 disabilities;

4 (B) describe the manner in which the jus5 tice system responds to crimes against individ6 uals with developmental disabilities; and

7 (C) identify programs, policies, or laws

8 that hold promises for making the justice sys9 tem more responsive to crimes against individ10 uals with developmental disabilities; and

11 (5) the National Academy of Science Committee

12 on Law and Justice of the National Research Coun13 cil is a premier research institution with unique ex14 perience in developing seminal, multidisciplinary

15 studies to establish a strong research base from

16 which to make public policy.

17 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

18 (1) to increase public awareness of the plight of

19 victims of crime who are individuals with develop20 mental disabilities;

21 (2) to collect data to measure the extent of the

22 problem of crimes against individuals with develop23 mental disabilities; and

24 (3) to develop a basis to find new strategies to

25 address the safety and justice needs of victims of
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1 crime who are individuals with developmental dis2 abilities.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY.

4 In this Act, the term ‘‘developmental disability’’ has

5 the meaning given the term in section 102 of the Develop6 mental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (42

7 U.S.C. 6001).

8 SEC. 4. STUDY.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall con10 duct a study to increase knowledge and information about

11 crimes against individuals with developmental disabilities

12 that will be useful in developing new strategies to reduce

13 the incidence of crimes against those individuals.

14 (b) ISSUES ADDRESSED.—The study conducted

15 under this section shall address such issues as—

16 (1) the nature and extent of crimes against in17 dividuals with developmental disabilities;

18 (2) the risk factors associated with victimization

19 of individuals with developmental disabilities;

20 (3) the manner in which the justice system re21 sponds to crimes against individuals with develop22 mental disabilities; and

23 (4) the means by which States may establish

24 and maintain a centralized computer database on
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1 the incidence of crimes against individuals with dis2 abilities within a State.

3 (c) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—In carrying

4 out this section, the Attorney General shall consider con5 tracting with the Committee on Law and Justice of the

6 National Research Council of the National Academy of

7 Sciences to provide research for the study conducted under

8 this section.

9 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall

11 submit to the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate

12 and the House of Representatives a report describing the

13 results of the study conducted under this section.

14 SEC. 5. NATIONAL CRIME VICTIM’S SURVEY.

15 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment

16 of this Act, as part of each National Crime Victim’s Sur17 vey, the Attorney General shall include statistics relating

18 to—

19 (1) the nature of crimes against individuals

20 with developmental disabilities; and

21 (2) the specific characteristics of the victims of

22 those crimes.

Passed the Senate July 13, 1998.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.