Title: Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021
This bill establishes a framework for immediate family members of a victim of murder under federal law to request a review of the victim's case file if the murder was committed more than three years prior, all probative investigative leads have been exhausted, and no likely perpetrator has been identified.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3359 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3359

   To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case 
  murders at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 19, 2021

  Mr. Swalwell (for himself and Mr. McCaul) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case 
  murders at the instance of certain persons, 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 ``Homicide Victims' Families' Rights 
Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. CASE FILE REVIEW.

    (a) In General.--An applicable agency shall review the case file 
regarding a cold case murder upon written application by a designated 
person to determine if a full reinvestigation would result in probative 
investigative leads.
    (b) Review.--The case file review shall include--
            (1) an analysis of what investigative steps or follow-up 
        steps may have been missed in the initial investigation;
            (2) an assessment of whether witnesses should be 
        interviewed or reinterviewed;
            (3) an examination of physical evidence to see if all 
        appropriate forensic testing and analysis was performed in the 
        first instance or if additional testing might produce 
        information relevant to the investigation; and
            (4) a modernization of the file to bring it up to current 
        investigative standards to the extent it would help develop 
        probative leads.
    (c) Reviewer.--The person or persons doing the review required by 
subsection (a) shall not have previously investigated the murder at 
issue.
    (d) Acknowledgment.--The applicable agency shall confirm in writing 
receipt of the request provided for under subsection (a).
    (e) Prohibition on Multiple Concurrent Reviews.--Only one case 
review shall be undertaken at any one time with respect to the same 
cold case murder victim.
    (f) Time Limit.--No later than six months after the receipt of the 
written application submitted pursuant to subsection (a), the 
applicable agency shall conclude its case file review and reach a 
conclusion about whether or not a full reinvestigation under section 5 
is warranted.
    (g) Extensions.--
            (1) In general.--The applicable agency may extend the limit 
        in subsection (f) for periods of time not to exceed six months 
        if said agency makes a finding that the number of case files to 
        be reviewed make it impracticable to comply with said limit 
        without unreasonably taking resources from other law 
        enforcement activities.
            (2) Actions subsequent to waiver.--For cases for which the 
        time limit in subsection (f) is extended, the applicable agency 
        shall provide notice and an explanation of its reasoning to the 
        designated person who filed the written application pursuant to 
        this section.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION.

    Each agency shall develop a written application to be used for 
designated persons to request a case file review under section 2.

SEC. 4. NOTICE.

    Each agency shall provide notice of the rights under this Act to 
designated persons as soon as is reasonable after being made aware of a 
murder.

SEC. 5. FULL REINVESTIGATION.

    (a) In General.--The applicable agency shall conduct a full 
reinvestigation of the cold case murder at issue if the review of the 
case file required by section 2 concludes that a full reinvestigation 
of such cold case murder would result in would result in probative 
investigative leads.
    (b) Reinvestigation.--A full reinvestigation shall include 
analyzing all evidence regarding the cold case murder at issue for the 
purpose of developing probative investigative leads as to the 
perpetrator.
    (c) Reviewer.--The person or persons doing the full reinvestigation 
required by subsection (a) shall not have previously investigated the 
murder at issue, except for the case file review pursuant to section 2.
    (d) Prohibition on Multiple Concurrent Reviews.--Only one full 
reinvestigation shall be undertaken at any one time with respect to the 
same cold case murder victim.

SEC. 6. CONSULTATION AND UPDATES.

    (a) In General.--The applicable agency shall consult with the 
designated person who filed the written application pursuant to section 
2 and provide him or her with periodic updates during the case file 
review and full reinvestigation.
    (b) Explanation of Conclusion.--The applicable agency shall meet 
with the designated person and discuss the evidence to explain to the 
designated person who filed the written application pursuant to section 
2 its decision whether or not to engage in the full reinvestigation 
provided for under section 5 at the conclusion of the case file review.

SEC. 7. SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS.

    (a) Case File Review.--If a case file review is done and a 
conclusion is reached not to conduct a full reinvestigation, no 
additional case file review shall be undertaken for a period of five 
years, unless there is newly discovered, materially significant 
evidence.
    (b) Full Reinvestigation.--If a full reinvestigation is done and a 
suspect is not identified at its conclusion, no additional case file 
review or full reinvestigation shall be undertaken for a period of five 
years, unless there is newly discovered, materially significant new 
evidence.

SEC. 8. DATA COLLECTION.

    (a) In General.--Beginning three years after enactment of this Act, 
the National Institute of Justice shall publish annually statistics on 
the number of cold cases.
    (b) Manner of Publication.--The statistics published pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be broken down by the type of crime 
and agency.

SEC. 9. PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE.

    (a) Regulations.--Not later than one year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal agency shall promulgate 
regulations to enforce the rights of designated persons and to ensure 
compliance by responsible officials with the obligations described in 
this Act.
    (b) Procedures.--The regulations promulgated under subsection (a) 
shall--
            (1) designate an administrative authority within the agency 
        to receive and investigate complaints relating to the provision 
        or violation of the rights of designated persons;
            (2) require a course of training for employees and offices 
        of agencies within the agency regarding the rights under this 
        Act;
            (3) contain disciplinary sanctions, including suspension or 
        termination from employment, for employees of the agency who 
        willfully or wantonly fail to comply with this Act;
            (4) establish a process for investigations into the conduct 
        of those no longer employed by the Federal Government when a 
        complaint is filed and a process for referrals of recommended 
        sanctions with respect to such conduct to the appropriate State 
        bar or other licensing body; and
            (5) provide that the head of the agency, or the designee 
        thereof, shall be the final arbiter of the complaint, and that 
        there shall be no judicial review of the final decision of the 
        head of the agency by a complainant.

SEC. 10. WITHHOLDING INFORMATION.

    Nothing in this Act shall require an agency to provide information 
that would endanger the safety of any person, unreasonably impede an 
ongoing investigation, violate a court order, or violate legal 
obligations regarding privacy.

SEC. 11. MULTIPLE AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--If there is more than one possible applicable 
agency, each applicable agency shall coordinate their case file review 
or full reinvestigation such that there is only one joint case file 
review or full reinvestigation occuring at a time in compliance with 
section 2(e) or 5(d) as applicable.
    (b) Bias.--If an immediate family member believes there was bias 
demonstrated in the handling of the initial case, any case file review, 
or any full reinvestigation by any of the possible applicable agencies, 
said family member may communicate that concern to the Attorney 
General. The Attorney General shall review the allegations made by the 
immediate family member to determine if, in the interest of justice, 
another agency should conduct the case file review or full 
reinvestigate, as applicable.

SEC. 12. APPLICABILITY.

    This Act applies in the case of any murder occurring on or after 
January 1, 1970.

SEC. 13. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``designated person'' means an immediate 
        family member or someone similarly situated as defined by the 
        Department of Justice.
            (2) The term ``immediate family member'' means a parent, 
        parent-in-law, grandparent, grandparent-in-law, sibling, 
        spouse, child, or step-child of a murder victim.
            (3) The term ``victim'' means a natural person who died as 
        a result of a murder.
            (4) The term ``murder'' means any criminal offense under 
        section 1111(a) of title 18, United States Code, or any offense 
        the elements of which are substantially identical to such 
        section.
            (5) The term ``agency'' means a Federal law enforcement 
        entity that is engaged in the detection, investigation, or 
        prosecution of murder under Federal law.
            (6) The term ``applicable agency'' means an agency that is 
        investigating or had investigated the murder of a victim.
            (7) The term ``cold case'' means a violent crime under 
        Federal law committed more than three years prior, for which 
        all probative investigative leads have been exhausted, and for 
        which no likely perpetrator has been identified.
            (8) The term ``cold case murder'' means a murder committed 
        more than three years prior, for which all probative 
        investigative leads have been exhausted, and for which no 
        likely perpetrator has been identified.

SEC. 14. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Each applicable agency shall submit an annual 
report to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee 
on the Judiciary describing actions taken and results achieved under 
this Act during such year.
    (b) Report Described.--The report described in the preceding 
subsection shall include the number of written applications filed 
pursuant to section 2, the number of extensions granted and an 
explanation of reasons provided under section 2(g), the number of full 
reinvestigations initiated and closed pursuant to section 5, the number 
of suspects identified, arrested, charged, and convicted for the cold 
case murder investigated under the Act.
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