I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4331 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault 
or homicide committed by certain State or local law enforcement officers, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 9, 2017 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CLAY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CUM-
MINGS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty 
for assault or homicide committed by certain State or 
local law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Police Accountability 
Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. ASSAULT OR HOMICIDE BY CERTAIN STATE OR 
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 28. Assault or homicide by certain State or local 
law enforcement officers 
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, being a State or local law 
enforcement officer in a public agency which receives Fed-
eral funding under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the 
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 
U.S.C. 3750 et seq.) engages in any conduct in the line 
of duty that, were the conduct to occur in the special mari-
time and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 
would constitute an offense under section 1111 or 1112 
shall be punished as is provided for that offense under 
such section. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘State or local law enforcement 
officer’ means an employee of a State or local gov-
ernment— 
‘‘(A) who has statutory authority to make 
arrests or apprehensions; 
‘‘(B) who is authorized by the agency of 
the employee to carry firearms; and 
‘‘(C) whose duties are primarily— 
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‘‘(i) engagement in or supervision of 
the prevention, detection, investigation, or 
prosecution of, or the incarceration of any 
person for, any violation of law; or 
‘‘(ii) the protection of Federal, State, 
local, 
or 
foreign 
government 
officials 
against threats to personal safety; and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘State or local government’ 
means the government— 
‘‘(A) of a State, the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other 
territory or possession of the United States; or 
‘‘(B) of a political subdivision of such a 
State, District, Commonwealth, territory or 
possession.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘28. Assault or homicide by certain State or local law enforcement officers.’’. 
Æ 
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