Title: Justice Served Act of 2018
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Justice Served Act of 2018
This bill amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to add, as a purpose area under the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, increasing the capacity of prosecutors to address the backlog of violent crime cases involving suspects identified through DNA evidence. The Department of Justice (DOJ) must allocate a specified percentage of grant funds for such purpose, subject to limitations.
Additionally, of amounts made available over FY2019-FY2022 for a DNA analysis and capacity enhancement program and for other forensic activities, DOJ must allocate at least 5% for grants to prosecute cold cases involving violent crime, where suspects have been identified through DNA evidence.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4854 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4854

 To amend the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide 
  additional resources to State and local prosecutors, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 19, 2018

Mr. Carter of Texas (for himself, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. 
  Poe of Texas, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Swalwell of California, 
Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, and Mr. Ratcliffe) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide 
  additional resources to State and local prosecutors, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Justice Served Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. PROSECUTION OF DNA COLD CASES.

    (a) Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.--Section 2 of the DNA 
Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) To increase the capacity of State and local 
        prosecution offices to address the backlog of violent crime 
        cases in which suspects have been identified through DNA 
        evidence.''; and
            (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Allocation of grant awards for prosecutors.--For each 
        fiscal year, not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7 
        percent, of the grant amounts distributed under paragraph (1) 
        shall, if sufficient applications to justify such amounts are 
        received by the Attorney General, be awarded for purposes 
        described in subsection (a)(9), provided that none of the funds 
        required to be distributed under this paragraph shall decrease 
        or otherwise limit the availability of funds required to be 
        awarded to States or units of local government under paragraph 
        (3).''.
    (b) Prosecution of Cold Cases.--Of the amounts made available to 
the Attorney General for a DNA Analysis and capacity enhancement 
program and for other local, State, and Federal forensic activities for 
the purpose described in section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog 
Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701) under the heading ``state and 
local law enforcement assistance'' under the heading ``Office of 
Justice Programs'' under the heading ``DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'' in 
fiscal years 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, not less than 5 percent, but 
not more than 7 percent, of such amounts shall be provided for grants 
for prosecutors to increase the capacity of State and local prosecution 
offices to address cold cases involving violent crime, where suspects 
have been identified through DNA evidence.
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