I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1517 
To require the Governor of a State to submit to the Attorney General 
an annual report on the number of individuals who represented them-
selves in court in criminal matters or juvenile delinquency matters, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2017 
Mr. DEUTCH (for himself and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require the Governor of a State to submit to the Attorney 
General an annual report on the number of individuals 
who represented themselves in court in criminal matters 
or juvenile delinquency matters, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Status of the Sixth 
Amendment Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDING. 
Congress finds that the Sixth Amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States provides that ‘‘In all 
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criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
. . . have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.’’. 
SEC. 3. REPORT ON INDIVIDUALS WHO REPRESENT THEM-
SELVES IN CRIMINAL MATTERS OR JUVENILE 
DELINQUENCY MATTERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 3 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-
nually thereafter, the Governor of each State that receives 
a grant from the Office of Justice Programs shall submit 
to the Attorney General a report which contains, at a min-
imum, the information described in subsection (b)(1) for 
each of the categories described in subsection (b)(2) for 
the previous year for that State. 
(b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.— 
(1) INFORMATION
DESCRIBED.—The informa-
tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 
(A) The number of charges for which an 
individual was prosecuted. 
(B) The number of charges for which a de-
fendant waived his or her right to counsel. 
(C) The number of charges for which a de-
fendant was represented in court by counsel 
who was publicly appointed. 
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(D) The number of charges for which a de-
fendant was represented in court by counsel 
who was not publicly appointed. 
(2) OFFENSE
CATEGORIES
DESCRIBED.—The 
categories of offenses described in this paragraph 
are as follows: 
(A) Criminal offenses for which a term of 
imprisonment of more than one year may be 
imposed. 
(B) Criminal offenses for which a term of 
imprisonment of one year or less may be im-
posed, including misdemeanors, traffic viola-
tions, and violations of municipal ordinances. 
(C) Acts of juvenile delinquency or juvenile 
status offenses for which any term of detention 
may be imposed. 
(c) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The Attorney Gen-
eral shall make the reports required under subsection (a) 
publicly available on the Internet website of the Depart-
ment of Justice. 
Æ 
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