I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6214 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

provide incentives to States and units of local government under the 

Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program for providing 

certain services to victims of sexual assault or rape, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 

Mr. NADLER of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to provide incentives to States and units 

of local government under the Edward Byrne Memorial 

Justice Assistance Grant Program for providing certain 

services to victims of sexual assault or rape, 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 ‘‘Justice for Rape Vic5 tims and Improving Use of DNA Evidence Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCENTIVE FUNDS UNDER THE BYRNE GRANT PRO2 GRAM FOR STATES AND UNITS OF LOCAL 

3 GOVERNMENT THAT PROVIDE CERTAIN 

4 SERVICES TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT. 

5 Section 505 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

6 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3754) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(i) INCENTIVE FUNDS FOR PROVIDING CERTAIN

9 SERVICES TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ESTAB10 LISHING RAPE KIT DATABASES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amounts allocated 

12 under this section to a State or unit of local govern13 ment for a fiscal year (beginning with the first fiscal 

14 year that begins at least one year from the date of 

15 the enactment of this subsection) shall be increased 

16 by 10 percent if such State or unit of local govern17 ment provides and certifies in accordance with such 

18 standards as the Attorney General may require, that 

19 the State or unit of local government had in effect, 

20 for the previous fiscal year, each of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) EXAMINATION AND TESTING OF RAPE

22 KIT.—A process to provide to each victim of 

23 sexual assault, with respect to an act of sexual 

24 assault over which the State or unit of local 

25 government has jurisdiction, each of the fol26 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Examination by a qualified sexual 

2 assault nurse examiner to collect a rape kit 

3 from such victim. 

4 ‘‘(ii) Testing of any rape kit collected 

5 from such victim and the furnishing of any 

6 results from such test to the victim not 

7 later than 180 days after the date on 

8 which such testing was requested. 

9 ‘‘(B) RAPE KIT DATABASE.—A database 

10 developed and maintained by such State or unit 

11 of local government related to rape kits col12 lected, in connection with acts of sexual assault 

13 over which the State or unit of local govern14 ment has jurisdiction, from victims of such acts 

15 that complies with the following requirements: 

16 ‘‘(i) The database, for each rape kit 

17 collected from each victim of sexual as18 sault, provides for the following: 

19 ‘‘(I) Identifies such rape kit by a 

20 unique identifying number. 

21 ‘‘(II) The database contains in22 formation on the date and location of 

23 each of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(aa) The act of sexual as2 sault for which such rape kit was 

3 collected. 

4 ‘‘(bb) The medical examina5 tion conducted from which such 

6 rape kit was collected. 

7 ‘‘(cc) The testing of such 

8 rape kit. 

9 ‘‘(III) The database contains in10 formation on the real-time physical lo11 cation of such rape kit, including 

12 street address, locality, and State. 

13 ‘‘(IV) The database contains in14 formation on the results of any test15 ing of such rape kit. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Information contained in the 

17 database, with respect to a rape kit, may 

18 be made available only as follows: 

19 ‘‘(I) On a publically available 

20 Internet site but only to the extent 

21 that such information does not include 

22 any personally identifiable information 

23 (including the name of the victim as24 sociated with a unique identifying 

25 number). 


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1 ‘‘(II) To criminal justice agencies 

2 for law enforcement identification pur3 poses. 

4 ‘‘(III) In judicial proceedings, if 

5 otherwise admissible pursuant to ap6 plicable statutes or rules. 

7 ‘‘(IV) To a physican or nurse 

8 who is treating a victim of sexual as9 sault from whom the rape kit was col10 lected for injuries resulting from the 

11 sexual assault of such victim or with 

12 respect to the collection of such rape 

13 kit, but only insofar as the informa14 tion relates to such treatment. 

15 ‘‘(V) To the victim of sexual as16 sault from whom the rape kit was col17 lected, if the information made avail18 able is limited to information relating 

19 to the rape kit collected from such vic20 tim. 

21 ‘‘(iii) Information contained in such 

22 database shall be searchable by any of the 

23 criteria specified in clause (i), subject to 

24 the availability of such information under 

25 clause (ii). 


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1 ‘‘(iv) Access for purposes of data 

2 entry and editing (including updating) of 

3 such database shall be limited to appro4 priate individuals of a State or local law 

5 enforcement agency. 

6 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) RATABLE REDUCTION FOR INSUFFI8 CIENT FUNDS.—If there are insufficient funds 

9 for a fiscal year to allocate to each State or 

10 unit of local government the amount of incen11 tive funds that such State or unit of local gov12 ernment is otherwise eligible to receive under 

13 this subsection, the Attorney General shall rat14 ably reduce the allotment to all States and 

15 units of local government based on the propor16 tionate share each State or unit of local govern17 ment received under this section (before the ap18 plication of this subsection) for the preceding 

19 fiscal year. 

20 ‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA21 TIONS.—In addition to funds made available 

22 under section 508, there is authorized to be ap23 propriated for incentive funds under this sub24 section such sums as may be necessary for each 

25 of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015. 


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1 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(A) The term ‘sexual assault’ has the 

4 meaning given such term in section 40002(a) of 

5 the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 

6 U.S.C. 13925a(a)). 

7 ‘‘(B) The term ‘victim of sexual assault’ 

8 means an individual who seeks medical treat9 ment or care for an injury sustained as a result 

10 of sexual assault and reports such injury to a 

11 local or State law enforcement officer or agen12 cy. 

13 ‘‘(C) The term ‘rape kit’ means DNA evi14 dence obtained related to sexual assault. 

15 ‘‘(D) The term ‘qualified sexual assault 

16 nurse examiner’ means a nurse that has ob17 tained certification from a hospital, govern18 mental entity, or an appopriate institution of 

19 higher education (as defined in section 102 of 

20 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1002)), for the collection of rape kits from vic22 tims of sexual assault. 

23 ‘‘(E) The term ‘tested’ means, with respect 

24 to a rape kit, that such rape kit has undergone 

25 forensic analysis. 


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1 ‘‘(F) The term ‘unique identifying number’ 

2 means a series of letters, numbers, or a com3 bination thereof, that a law enforcement agency 

4 assigns to a rape kit that— 

5 ‘‘(i) such agency receives in connec6 tion with an act of sexual assault; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) is used in place of the name of 

8 a victim of sexual assault in the database 

9 established under this subsection except if 

10 the person accessing the database is the 

11 victim of sexual assault or a member of a 

12 law enforcement agency.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT ON DNA BACKLOG. 

14 Subsection (g) of section 2 of the DNA Analysis 

15 Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(g)) 

16 is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and 

18 (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively; 

19 (2) by moving subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) 

20 (as so redesignated by paragraph (1) of this section) 

21 two ems to the right; 

22 (3) by striking ‘‘(g) REPORTS TO CONGRESS— 

23 Not’’ and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(g) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not’’; and 


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1 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(2) STUDY AND REPORT TO CONGRESS ON

4 DNA BACKLOG.— 

5 ‘‘(A) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall 

6 conduct a study to determine the extent of the 

7 backlog in the United States relating to the 

8 analysis of DNA samples collected from crime 

9 scenes, victims, suspects, arrestees, and con10 victed offenders. Such study shall determine the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(i) The number of each of the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(I) DNA samples that have 

15 been prepared to be sent to a public 

16 or private crime laboratory for foren17 sic analysis but have not been sent to 

18 such laboratory. 

19 ‘‘(II) Investigations for which 

20 DNA samples described in subclause 

21 (I) have been collected. 

22 ‘‘(III) DNA samples that have 

23 been received by a public or private 

24 crime laboratory for forensic analysis 


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1 but have not yet been tested at such 

2 laboratory. 

3 ‘‘(IV) Investigations for which 

4 DNA samples described in subclause 

5 (III) have been collected. 

6 ‘‘(ii) For each DNA sample and for 

7 each investigation for which such samples 

8 exist, the average duration of the following 

9 periods: 

10 ‘‘(I) The period beginning on the 

11 date that is 30 days after the date 

12 each sample is collected from victims 

13 of sexual assault and ending on the 

14 date each sample is sent to a public or 

15 private crime laboratory to be tested. 

16 ‘‘(II) The period beginning on 

17 the date that is 30 days after the date 

18 each sample is received by a public or 

19 private crime laboratory and ending 

20 on the date each sample is tested at 

21 each such laboratory. 

22 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—Not later than two years 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act and 

24 for each year thereafter, the Attorney General 

25 shall submit to Congress a report containing— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the results of the study conducted 

2 under subparagraph (A); 

3 ‘‘(ii) a statistical analysis of the data 

4 contained in such study, disaggregated by 

5 jurisdiction, criminal offense, type of DNA 

6 evidence tested, if available, and any other 

7 category of information the Attorney Gen8 eral may require; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) recommendations on how to re10 duce— 

11 ‘‘(I) the number of DNA samples 

12 and investigations that are subject to 

13 the conditions described in subpara14 graph (A)(i); and 

15 ‘‘(II) the average duration of the 

16 periods described in subparagraph 

17 (A)(ii). 

18 ‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

19 paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(i) The term ‘DNA sample’ means 

21 evidence containing human DNA collected 

22 by Federal, State, local, or tribal law en23 forcement agencies. 

24 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘investigation’ includes 

25 any investigatory action taken by a FedVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:32 Sep 27, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6214.IH H6214

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1 eral, State, tribal, or local law enforcement 

2 agency relating to an act of sexual assault 

3 after such agency receives a report of such 

4 act. 

5 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘tested’ means, with 

6 respect to a DNA sample that such sample 

7 has undergone forensic analysis.’’. 

Æ 


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