IIA
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2181
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 26, 1998
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
AN ACT
To ensure the safety of witnesses and to promote notification
of the interstate relocation of witnesses by States and
localities engaging in that relocation, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Witness Protection and
Interstate Relocation Act of 1997’’.
TITLE 
I—GANG-RELATED 
WIT-
NESS INTIMIDATION AND RE-
TALIATION
SEC. 101. INTERSTATE TRAVEL TO ENGAGE IN WITNESS IN-
TIMIDATION OR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.
Section 1952 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as
subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow-
ing:
‘‘(b) Whoever travels in interstate or foreign com-
merce with intent by bribery, force, intimidation, or
threat, directed against any person, to delay or influence
the testimony of or prevent from testifying a witness in
a State criminal proceeding or by any such means to cause
any person to destroy, alter, or conceal a record, docu-
ment, or other object, with intent to impair the object’s
integrity or availability for use in such a proceeding, and
thereafter engages or endeavors to engage in such con-
duct, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more
than 10 years, or both; and if serious bodily injury (as
defined in section 1365 of this title) results, shall be so
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fined or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both;
and if death results, shall be so fined and imprisoned for
any term of years or for life, or both, and may be sen-
tenced to death.’’.
SEC. 102. CONSPIRACY PENALTY FOR OBSTRUCTION OF
JUSTICE 
OFFENSES 
INVOLVING 
VICTIMS,
WITNESSES, AND INFORMANTS.
Section 1512 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(j) Whoever conspires to commit any offense defined
in this section or section 1513 of this title shall be subject
to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense
the commission of which was the object of the conspir-
acy.’’.
TITLE II—WITNESS RELOCATION
AND SAFETY
SEC. 201. WITNESS RELOCATION SURVEY AND TRAINING
PROGRAM.
(a) SURVEY.—The Attorney General shall survey all
State and selected local witness protection and relocation
programs to determine the extent and nature of such pro-
grams and the training needs of those programs. Not later
than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this sec-
tion, the Attorney General shall report the results of this
survey to Congress.
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(b) TRAINING.—Based on the results of such survey,
the Attorney General shall make available to State and
local law enforcement agencies training to assist those law
enforcement agencies in developing and managing witness
protection and relocation programs.
(c) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsections
(a) and (b) for fiscal year 1998 not to exceed $500,000.
SEC. 202. FEDERAL-STATE COORDINATION AND COOPERA-
TION REGARDING NOTIFICATION OF INTER-
STATE WITNESS RELOCATION.
(a) ATTORNEY GENERAL TO PROMOTE INTERSTATE
COORDINATION.—The Attorney General shall engage in
activities, including the establishment of a model Memo-
randum of Understanding under subsection (b), which
promote coordination among State and local witness inter-
state relocation programs.
(b) MODEL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—
The Attorney General shall establish a model Memoran-
dum of Understanding for States and localities that en-
gage in interstate witness relocation. Such a model Memo-
randum of Understanding shall include a requirement that
notice be provided to the jurisdiction to which the reloca-
tion has been made by the State or local law enforcement
agency that relocates a witness to another State who has
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been arrested for or convicted of a crime of violence as
described in section 16 of title 18, United States Code.
(c) BYRNE GRANT ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney Gen-
eral is authorized to expend up to 10 percent of the total
amount appropriated under section 511 of subpart 2 of
part E of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 for purposes of making grants pursuant to
section 510 of that Act to those jurisdictions that have
interstate witness relocation programs and that have sub-
stantially followed the model Memorandum of Under-
standing.
(d) GUIDELINES AND DETERMINATION OF ELIGI-
BILITY.—The Attorney General shall establish guidelines
relating to the implementation of subsection (c) and shall
determine, consistent with such guidelines, which jurisdic-
tions are eligible for grants under subsection (c).
SEC. 203. BYRNE GRANTS.
Section 501(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph
(25);
(2) by striking the period at the end paragraph
(26) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following: