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111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 738 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2009 

Received, read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To encourage States to report to the Attorney General certain information regarding the deaths of individuals in 

the custody of law enforcement agencies, and for other 

purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Death in Custody Re3 porting Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STATE INFORMATION REGARDING INDIVIDUALS 

5 WHO DIE IN THE CUSTODY OF LAW ENFORCE6 MENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year after the ex8 piration of the period specified in subsection (c)(1) in 

9 which a State receives funds for a program referred to 

10 in subsection (c)(2), the State shall report to the Attorney 

11 General, on a quarterly basis and pursuant to guidelines 

12 established by the Attorney General, information regard13 ing the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, 

14 or is in the process of being arrested, is en route to be 

15 incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county 

16 jail, State prison, State-run boot camp prison, boot camp 

17 prison that is contracted out by the State, any State or 

18 local contract facility, or other local or State correctional 

19 facility (including any juvenile facility). 

20 (b) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The report required 

21 by this section shall contain information that, at a min22 imum, includes— 

23 (1) the name, gender, race, ethnicity, and age 

24 of the deceased; 

25 (2) the date, time, and location of death; 


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1 (3) the law enforcement agency that detained, 

2 arrested, or was in the process of arresting the de3 ceased; and 

4 (4) a brief description of the circumstances sur5 rounding the death. 

6 (c) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 

7 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 

8 not more than 120 days from the date of enactment 

9 of this Act to comply with subsection (a), except 

10 that— 

11 (A) the Attorney General may grant an ad12 ditional 120 days to a State that is making 

13 good faith efforts to comply with such sub14 section; and 

15 (B) the Attorney General shall waive the 

16 requirements of subsection (a) if compliance 

17 with such subsection by a State would be un18 constitutional under the constitution of such 

19 State. 

20 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any fiscal 

21 year after the expiration of the period specified in 

22 paragraph (1), a State that fails to comply with sub23 section (a), shall, at the discretion of the Attorney 

24 General, be subject to not more than a 10 percent 

25 reduction of the funds that would otherwise be alloVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:27 Dec 18, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H738.RFS H738

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1 cated for that fiscal year to the State under subpart 

2 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

3 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et 

4 seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne 

5 Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assist6 ance Programs, the Local Government Law Enforce7 ment Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me8 morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or other9 wise. 

10 (d) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 

11 program referred to in subsection (c)(2) to a State for fail12 ure to fully comply with subsection (a) shall be reallocated 

13 under that program to States that have not failed to com14 ply with such subsection. 

15 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the terms ‘‘boot 

16 camp prison’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the meaning given those 

17 terms, respectively, in section 901(a) of the Omnibus 

18 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

19 3791(a)). 

20 (f) STUDY AND REPORT OF INFORMATION RELATING

21 TO DEATHS IN CUSTODY.— 

22 (1) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Attorney General 

23 shall carry out a study of the information reported 

24 under subsection (b) and section 3(a) to— 


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1 (A) determine means by which such infor2 mation can be used to reduce the number of 

3 such deaths; and 

4 (B) examine the relationship, if any, be5 tween the number of such deaths and the ac6 tions of management of such jails, prisons, and 

7 other specified facilities relating to such deaths. 

8 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen10 eral shall prepare and submit to Congress a report 

11 that contains the findings of the study required by 

12 paragraph (1). 

13 SEC. 3. FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT DEATH IN CUSTODY 

14 REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year (beginning 

16 after the date that is 120 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act), the head of each Federal law enforce18 ment agency shall submit to the Attorney General a report 

19 (in such form and manner specified by the Attorney Gen20 eral) that contains information regarding the death of any 

21 person who is— 

22 (1) detained, under arrest, or is in the process 

23 of being arrested by any officer of such Federal law 

24 enforcement agency (or by any State or local law en25 forcement officer while participating in and for purVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:27 Dec 18, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H738.RFS H738

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1 poses of a Federal law enforcement operation, task 

2 force, or any other Federal law enforcement capacity 

3 carried out by such Federal law enforcement agen4 cy); or 

5 (2) en route to be incarcerated or detained, or 

6 is incarcerated or detained at— 

7 (A) any facility (including any immigration 

8 or juvenile facility) pursuant to a contract with 

9 such Federal law enforcement agency; 

10 (B) any State or local government facility 

11 used by such Federal law enforcement agency; 

12 or 

13 (C) any Federal correctional facility or 

14 Federal pre-trial detention facility located with15 in the United States. 

16 (b) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Each report required 

17 by this section shall include, at a minimum, the informa18 tion required by section 2(b). 


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1 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.—Information reported 

2 under subsection (a) shall be analyzed and included in the 

3 study and report required by section 2(f). 

Passed the House of Representatives February 4, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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