IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3359 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2022 

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

AN ACT 

To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold 

case murders at the instance of certain persons, 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 ‘‘Homicide Victims’ 

3 Families’ Rights Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CASE FILE REVIEW. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency shall re6 view the case file regarding a cold case murder upon writ7 ten application by one designated person to determine if 

8 a full reinvestigation would result in either the identifica9 tion of probative investigative leads or a likely perpetrator. 

10 (b) REVIEW.—The review under subsection (a) shall 

11 include— 

12 (1) an analysis of what investigative steps or 

13 follow-up steps may have been missed in the initial 

14 investigation; 

15 (2) an assessment of whether witnesses should 

16 be interviewed or reinterviewed; 

17 (3) an examination of physical evidence to see 

18 if all appropriate forensic testing and analysis was 

19 performed in the first instance or if additional test20 ing might produce information relevant to the inves21 tigation; and 

22 (4) an update of the case file using the most 

23 current investigative standards as of the date of the 

24 review to the extent it would help develop probative 

25 leads. 


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1 (c) CERTIFICATION IN LIEU OF REVIEW.—In any 

2 case in which a written application for review has been 

3 received under this Act by the agency, review shall be un4 necessary where the case does not satisfy the criteria for 

5 a cold case murder. In such a case, the head of the agency 

6 shall issue a written certification, with a copy provided to 

7 the designated person that made the application under 

8 subsection (a), stating that final review is not necessary 

9 because all probative investigative leads have been ex10 hausted or that a likely perpetrator will not be identified. 

11 (d) REVIEWER.—A review required under subsection 

12 (a) shall not be conducted by a person who previously in13 vestigated the murder at issue. 

14 (e) ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—The agency shall provide 

15 in writing to the applicant as soon as reasonably pos16 sible— 

17 (1) confirmation of the agency’s receipt of the 

18 application under subsection (a); and 

19 (2) notice of the applicant’s rights under this 

20 Act. 

21 (f) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE22 VIEWS.—Only one case review shall be undertaken at any 

23 one time with respect to the same cold case murder victim. 

24 (g) TIME LIMIT.—Not later than 6 months after the 

25 receipt of the written application submitted pursuant to 


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1 subsection (a), the agency shall conclude its case file re2 view and reach a conclusion about whether or not a full 

3 reinvestigation under section 4 is warranted. 

4 (h) EXTENSIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The agency may extend the 

6 time limit under subsection (g) once for a period of 

7 time not to exceed 6 months if the agency makes a 

8 finding that the number of case files to be reviewed 

9 make it impracticable to comply with such limit 

10 without unreasonably taking resources from other 

11 law enforcement activities. 

12 (2) ACTIONS SUBSEQUENT TO WAIVER.—For 

13 cases for which the time limit in subsection (g) is ex14 tended, the agency shall provide notice and an expla15 nation of its reasoning to one designated person who 

16 filed the written application pursuant to this section. 

17 SEC. 3. APPLICATION. 

18 Each agency shall develop a written application to be 

19 used for designated persons to request a case file review 

20 under section 2. 

21 SEC. 4. FULL REINVESTIGATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The agency shall conduct a full 

23 reinvestigation of the cold case murder at issue if the re24 view of the case file required by section 2 concludes that 


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1 a full reinvestigation of such cold case murder would result 

2 in probative investigative leads. 

3 (b) REINVESTIGATION.—A full reinvestigation shall 

4 include analyzing all evidence regarding the cold case mur5 der at issue for the purpose of developing probative inves6 tigative leads or a likely perpetrator. 

7 (c) REVIEWER.—A reinvestigation required under 

8 subsection (a) shall not be conducted by a person who pre9 viously investigated the murder at issue. 

10 (d) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE11 VIEWS.—Only one full reinvestigation shall be undertaken 

12 at any one time with respect to the same cold case murder 

13 victim. 

14 SEC. 5. CONSULTATION AND UPDATES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The agency shall consult with the 

16 designated person who filed the written application pursu17 ant to section 2 and provide him or her with periodic up18 dates during the case file review and full reinvestigation. 

19 (b) EXPLANATION OF CONCLUSION.—The agency 

20 shall meet with the designated person and discuss the evi21 dence to explain to the designated person who filed the 

22 written application pursuant to section 2 its decision 

23 whether or not to engage in the full reinvestigation pro24 vided for under section 4 at the conclusion of the case 

25 file review. 


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1 SEC. 6. SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS. 

2 (a) CASE FILE REVIEW.—If a review under sub3 section (a) case file regarding a cold case murder is con4 ducted and a conclusion is reached not to conduct a full 

5 reinvestigation, no additional case file review shall be re6 quired to be undertaken under this Act with respect to 

7 that cold case murder for a period of five years, unless 

8 there is newly discovered, materially significant evidence. 

9 An agency may continue an investigation absent a des10 ignated person’s application. 

11 (b) FULL REINVESTIGATION.—If a full reinvestiga12 tion of a cold case murder is completed and a suspect is 

13 not identified at its conclusion, no additional case file re14 view or full reinvestigation shall be undertaken with re15 gard to that cold case murder for a period of five years 

16 beginning on the date of the conclusion of the reinvestiga17 tion, unless there is newly discovered, materially signifi18 cant evidence. 

19 SEC. 7. DATA COLLECTION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 

21 three years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

22 annually thereafter, the Director of the National Institute 

23 of Justice shall publish statistics on the number of cold 

24 case murders. 

25 (b) MANNER OF PUBLICATION.—The statistics pub26 lished pursuant to subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be 


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1 disaggregated by the circumstances of the cold case mur2 der, including the classification of the offense, and by 

3 agency. 

4 SEC. 8. PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE. 

5 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

7 shall promulgate regulations to enforce the right of a des8 ignated person to request a review under this Act and to 

9 ensure compliance by the agency with the obligations de10 scribed in this Act. 

11 (b) PROCEDURES.—The regulations promulgated 

12 under subsection (a) shall— 

13 (1) designate an administrative authority within 

14 the agency to receive and investigate complaints re15 lating to a review initiated under section 2 or a re16 investigation initiated under section 4; 

17 (2) require a course of training for appropriate 

18 employees and officers within the agency regarding 

19 the procedures, responsibilities, and obligations re20 quired under this Act; 

21 (3) contain disciplinary sanctions, which may 

22 include suspension or termination from employment, 

23 for employees of the agency who are shown to have 

24 willfully or wantonly failed to comply with this Act; 


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1 (4) provide a procedure for the resolution of 

2 complaints filed by the designated person concerning 

3 the agency’s handling of a cold case murder inves4 tigation or the case file evaluation; and 

5 (5) provide that the head of the agency, or the 

6 designee thereof, shall be the final arbiter of the 

7 complaint, and that there shall be no judicial review 

8 of the final decision of the head of the agency by a 

9 complainant. 

10 SEC. 9. WITHHOLDING INFORMATION. 

11 Nothing in this Act shall require an agency to provide 

12 information that would endanger the safety of any person, 

13 unreasonably impede an ongoing investigation, violate a 

14 court order, or violate legal obligations regarding privacy. 

15 SEC. 10. MULTIPLE AGENCIES. 

16 In the case that more than one agency conducted the 

17 initial investigation of a cold case murder, each agency 

18 shall coordinate their case file review or full reinvestiga19 tion such that there is only one joint case file review or 

20 full reinvestigation occurring at a time in compliance with 

21 section 2(f) or 4(d), as applicable. 

22 SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY. 

23 This Act applies in the case of any cold case murder 

24 occurring on or after January 1, 1970. 


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1 SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘designated person’’ means an 

4 immediate family member or someone similarly situ5 ated, as defined by the Attorney General. 

6 (2) The term ‘‘immediate family member’’ 

7 means a parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grand8 parent-in-law, sibling, spouse, child, or step-child of 

9 a murder victim. 

10 (3) The term ‘‘victim’’ means a natural person 

11 who died as a result of a cold case murder. 

12 (4) The term ‘‘murder’’ means any criminal of13 fense under section 1111(a) of title 18, United 

14 States Code, or any offense the elements of which 

15 are substantially identical to such section. 

16 (5) The term ‘‘agency’’ means a Federal law 

17 enforcement entity with jurisdiction to engage in the 

18 detection, investigation, or prosecution of a cold case 

19 murder. 

20 (6) The term ‘‘cold case murder’’ means a mur21 der— 

22 (A) committed more than three years prior 

23 to the date of an application by a designated 

24 person under section 2(a); 

25 (B) previously investigated by a Federal 

26 law enforcement entity; 


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1 (C) for which all probative investigative 

2 leads have been exhausted; and 

3 (D) for which no likely perpetrator has 

4 been identified. 

5 SEC. 13. ANNUAL REPORT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each agency shall submit an an7 nual report to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

8 House of Representatives and of the Senate describing ac9 tions taken and results achieved under this Act during the 

10 previous year. 

11 (b) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report described in 

12 subsection (a) shall include— 

13 (1) the number of written applications filed 

14 with the agency pursuant to section 2(a); 

15 (2) the number of extensions granted, and an 

16 explanation of reasons provided under section 2(h); 

17 (3) the number of full reinvestigations initiated 

18 and closed pursuant to section 4; and 

19 (4) statistics and individualized information on 

20 topics that include identified suspects, arrests, 


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1 charges, and convictions for reviews under section 2 

2 and reinvestigations under section 4. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 29, 

2022. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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