I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4526
To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to establish a Federal
civil right requiring that State laws, and the laws of the District of
Columbia, relating to physical assault, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and
sexual harassment be enforced without regard to the age of the victim.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 26, 1994
Mr. NADLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to
establish a Federal civil right requiring that State laws,
and the laws of the District of Columbia, relating to
physical assault, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual
harassment be enforced without regard to the age of
the victim.
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 ‘‘Children’s Equal Pro-
tection Act of 1994’’.
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Complaints of assault or abuse of children
raised during custody proceedings or under other
circumstances are often not pursued through crimi-
nal investigation and prosecution in the same man-
ner and with the same vigor that similar complaints
against adult victims are pursued.
(2) Complaints are often adjudicated in family
courts ill-equipped to, or jurisdictionally prohibited
from, investigating criminal matters.
(3) The failure by States, territories, and the
District of Columbia to bring their full criminal in-
vestigatory and prosecutorial skills to bear regarding
such complaints regarding alleged child victims
places these alleged child victims at risk of further
harm.
(4) Children are a discrete and insular minor-
ity, within the Supreme Court’s understanding of
the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States.
(5) Because of such status, children have been
deprived of equal and adequate enforcement of the
laws, and particularly those criminal laws prohibit-
ing assault, battery, and torture.
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(6) It would be a violation of the alleged child
victims’ right to equal protection of law if enforce-
ment actions are brought to bear regarding alleged
adult victims but not brought to bear regarding child
victims.
SEC. 3. RIGHT TO PROTECTION; DUTY TO INTERVENE.
The Revised Statutes of the United States are
amended by inserting after section 1979 the following:
SEC. 1979A. RIGHT TO PROTECTION; DUTY TO INTERVENE.
‘‘(a) Where the statutes, ordinances, regulations, cus-
tom, or usage of any State or territory or the District of
Columbia provide for investigation and, where warranted,
criminal prosecution in response to complaints of physical
assault, sexual assault, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment
of citizens or other persons within the jurisdiction thereof,
these ordinances, regulations, customs, and usage shall be
applied without regard to the age of the victim.
‘‘(b) Neither the investigation and determination of
facts for the purpose of awarding guardianship for or cus-
tody of a minor, nor the act of awarding such guardian-
ship or custody shall relieve any State or territory or the
District of Columbia of the duty to investigate and crimi-
nally prosecute valid complaints against child victims in
the same vigorous and timely manner as complaints
against adult victims.
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‘‘(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to per-
mit the public disclosure of any victim’s identity. To the
contrary, to the maximum extent possible, the identity of
all child victims shall be protected in any investigation and
prosecution.
‘‘(d) Every person who, under color of any statute,
ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or
territory or the District of Columbia, fails to provide the
affirmative protection or intervention required pursuant to
subsection (a) to a citizen of the United States or other
person within the jurisdiction thereof shall be liable to the
party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other
proper proceeding for redress. Such protection and inter-
vention as required by law shall not be limited to those
cases in which the injured party is in the physical or con-
structive custody of such person.
‘‘(e) The failure of a State, county, locality, or the
District of Columbia to comply with this section shall act
as an absolute disability to receipt of Federal grants for
law-enforcement purposes as otherwise provided for in
such laws as Congress may from time to time enact.
‘‘SEC. 1979B. RELIEF.
‘‘An injured party under section 1979A may apply
to the court for such relief as the court may grant in its
discretion. Such relief may include injunctive relief, re-
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straining orders, and monetary damages. Such relief may
not include punitive damages. Granting of such relief as
the court may grant does not preclude criminal prosecu-
tion under the laws of a State or the United States. Judg-
ment entered on such action may be considered by the De-
partment of Justice in its determination of whether a
State, locality, or the District of Columbia has met the
requirements of section 1979A.
‘‘SEC. 1979C. ABSTENTION; DENOVO REVIEW.
‘‘The court may not abstain from hearing a case
under section 1979B until the completion of State court
proceedings or exhaustion of State remedies unless the de-
fendant demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that
delay of Federal proceedings will not endanger the injured
party or deprive such party of the protection which is the
subject of the proceeding. In making any determination
in a proceeding under this section, the court may, in its
discretion, review all factual issues de novo, and shall not
be limited by doctrines of res judicata or collateral estop-
pel, except that a final criminal conviction in a State or
Federal court after a fully-litigated trial shall estop any
review of the act or acts underlying such conviction.
‘‘SEC. 1979D. WHO MAY BRING.
‘‘An action under section 1979B may be brought by
the injured party, a guardian ad litem, a class of affected
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individuals, the Attorney General of the United States, or
the attorney general of a State, commonwealth, territory.
A refusal by such attorneys general to prosecute shall not
act as a bar to private action.
‘‘SEC. 1979E. COSTS.
‘‘In any action under section 1979B, the court, in its
discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the
United States or a State, territory or jurisdiction, a rea-
sonable attorney’s fee.’’.
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