I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 738 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2009 

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Death in Custody Re5 porting Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATE INFORMATION REGARDING INDIVIDUALS 

2 WHO DIE IN THE CUSTODY OF LAW ENFORCE3 MENT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year after the ex5 piration of the period specified in subsection (c)(1) in 

6 which a State receives funds for a program referred to 

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

8 General, on a quarterly basis and pursuant to guidelines 

9 established by the Attorney General, information regard10 ing the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, 

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

12 incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county 

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

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

15 local contract facility, or other local or State correctional 

16 facility (including any juvenile facility). 

17 (b) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The report required 

18 by this section shall contain information that, at a min19 imum, includes— 

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

21 of the deceased; 

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

23 (3) the law enforcement agency that detained, 

24 arrested, or was in the process of arresting the de25 ceased; and 


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1 (4) a brief description of the circumstances sur2 rounding the death. 

3 (c) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 

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

5 not more than 120 days from the date of enactment 

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

7 that— 

8 (A) the Attorney General may grant an ad9 ditional 120 days to a State that is making 

10 good faith efforts to comply with such sub11 section; and 

12 (B) the Attorney General shall waive the 

13 requirements of subsection (a) if compliance 

14 with such subsection by a State would be un15 constitutional under the constitution of such 

16 State. 

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

18 year after the expiration of the period specified in 

19 paragraph (1), a State that fails to comply with sub20 section (a), shall, at the discretion of the Attorney 

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

22 reduction of the funds that would otherwise be allo23 cated for that fiscal year to the State under subpart 

24 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

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


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1 seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne 

2 Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assist3 ance Programs, the Local Government Law Enforce4 ment Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me5 morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or other6 wise. 

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

8 program referred to in subsection (c)(2) to a State for fail9 ure to fully comply with subsection (a) shall be reallocated 

10 under that program to States that have not failed to com11 ply with such subsection. 

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

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

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

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

16 3791(a)). 

17 (f) STUDY AND REPORT OF INFORMATION RELATING

18 TO DEATHS IN CUSTODY.— 

19 (1) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Attorney General 

20 shall carry out a study of the information reported 

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

22 (A) determine means by which such infor23 mation can be used to reduce the number of 

24 such deaths; and 


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1 (B) examine the relationship, if any, be2 tween the number of such deaths and the ac3 tions of management of such jails, prisons, and 

4 other specified facilities relating to such deaths. 

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

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen7 eral shall prepare and submit to Congress a report 

8 that contains the findings of the study required by 

9 paragraph (1). 

10 SEC. 3. FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT DEATH IN CUSTODY 

11 REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

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

13 after the date that is 120 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act), the head of each Federal law enforce15 ment agency shall submit to the Attorney General a report 

16 (in such form and manner specified by the Attorney Gen17 eral) that contains information regarding the death of any 

18 person who is— 

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

20 of being arrested by any officer of such Federal law 

21 enforcement agency (or by any State or local law en22 forcement officer while participating in and for pur23 poses of a Federal law enforcement operation, task 

24 force, or any other Federal law enforcement capacity 


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1 carried out by such Federal law enforcement agen2 cy); or 

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

4 is incarcerated or detained at— 

5 (A) any facility (including any immigration 

6 or juvenile facility) pursuant to a contract with 

7 such Federal law enforcement agency; 

8 (B) any State or local government facility 

9 used by such Federal law enforcement agency; 

10 or 

11 (C) any Federal correctional facility or 

12 Federal pre-trial detention facility located with13 in the United States. 

14 (b) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Each report required 

15 by this section shall include, at a minimum, the informa16 tion required by section 2(b). 

17 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.—Information reported 

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

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

Æ 


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