II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 79 

To establish within the United States Marshals Service a short term State 

witness protection program to provide assistance to State and local 

district attorneys to protect their witnesses in homicide and major violent 

crime cases and to provide Federal grants for such protection. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 4, 2007 

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

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish within the United States Marshals Service a 

short term State witness protection program to provide 

assistance to State and local district attorneys to protect 

their witnesses in homicide and major violent crime cases 

and to provide Federal grants for such protection. 

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 ‘‘Witness Security and 

5 Protection Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SHORT TERM STATE WITNESS PROTECTION SEC2 TION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 37 of title 28, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 570. Short Term State Witness Protection Section 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

8 United States Marshals Service a Short Term State Wit9 ness Protection Section which shall provide protection for 

10 witnesses in State and local trials involving homicide or 

11 other major violent crimes pursuant to cooperative agree12 ments with State and local criminal prosecutor’s offices 

13 and the United States attorney for the District of Colum14 bia. 

15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—The Short Term State Witness 

16 Protection Section shall give priority in awarding grants 

17 and providing services to criminal prosecutor’s offices in 

18 States with an average of not less than 100 murders per 

19 year during the 5-year period immediately preceding an 

20 application for protection, as calculated using the latest 

21 available crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of In22 vestigation.’’. 

23 (b) CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The chapter analysis for 

24 chapter 37 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 


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1 by striking the items relating to sections 570 through 576 

2 and inserting the following: 

‘‘570. Short Term State Witness Protection Section.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

5 (1) the term ‘‘eligible prosecutor’s office’’ 

6 means a State or local criminal prosecutor’s office or 

7 the United States attorney for the District of Co8 lumbia that is located in a State with an average of 

9 not less than 100 murders per year during the most 

10 recent 5-year period, as calculated using the latest 

11 available crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of 

12 Investigation; and 

13 (2) the term ‘‘serious violent felony’’ has the 

14 same meaning as in section 3559(c)(2) of title 18, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General is au18 thorized to make grants to eligible prosecutor’s of19 fices for the purpose of providing short term protec20 tion to witnesses in trials involving homicide or seri21 ous violent felony. 

22 (2) ALLOCATION.—Each eligible prosecutor’s 

23 office receiving a grant under this section may ei24 ther— 


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1 (A) use the grant to provide witness pro2 tection; or 

3 (B) pursuant to a cooperative agreement 

4 with the Short Term State Witness Protection 

5 Section of the United States Marshals Service, 

6 credit the grant to the Short Term State Wit7 ness Protection Section to cover the costs to the 

8 section of providing witness protection on behalf 

9 of the eligible prosecutor’s office. 

10 (c) APPLICATION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible prosecutor’s of12 fice desiring a grant under this section shall submit 

13 an application to the Attorney General at such time, 

14 in such manner, and accompanied by such informa15 tion as the Attorney General may reasonably re16 quire. 

17 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

18 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

19 (A) describe the activities for which assist20 ance under this section is sought; and 

21 (B) provide such additional assurances as 

22 the Attorney General determines to be essential 

23 to ensure compliance with the requirements of 

24 this section. 


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1 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $90,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 

4 2010. 

Æ 


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