[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4883 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4883

To provide justice for crime victims' families, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2006

Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Schiff) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide justice for crime victims' families, 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 for Crime Victims' Families 
Act''.

SEC. 2. STUDY OF MEASURES NEEDED TO INCREASE SUCCESS OF HOMICIDE 
              INVESTIGATIONS.

    Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the Senate a report outlining what measures are needed to 
increase the success of Federal, State, and local homicide 
investigations. The report shall include an examination of--
            (1) the benefits of increasing training and resources for 
        investigators, with respect to investigative techniques, best 
        practices, and forensic services;
            (2) the existence of any uniformity among State and local 
        jurisdictions in the measurement of homicide rates and 
        clearance of homicide cases;
            (3) the coordination in the sharing of information among 
        Federal, State, and local law enforcement and coroners and 
        medical examiners; and
            (4) the sources of funding that are in existence on the 
        date of the enactment of this Act for State and local criminal 
        investigators of homicide.

SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED FOR SOLVING HOMICIDES INVOLVING MISSING 
              PERSONS AND UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN REMAINS.

    Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the Senate a report to evaluate measures to improve the 
ability of Federal, State, and local criminal investigators of homicide 
to solve homicides involving missing persons and unidentified human 
remains. The report shall include an examination of--
            (1) measures to expand national criminal records databases 
        with accurate information relating to missing persons and 
        unidentified human remains;
            (2) the collection of DNA samples from potential ``high-
        risk'' missing persons;
            (3) the benefits of increasing access to national criminal 
        records databases for medical examiners and coroners;
            (4) any improvement in the performance of postmortem 
        examinations, autopsies, and reporting procedures of 
        unidentified persons or remains;
            (5) any coordination between the National Center for 
        Missing Children and the National Center for Missing Adults;
            (6) website postings (or other uses of the Internet) of 
        information of identifiable information such as physical 
        features and characteristics, clothing, and photographs of 
        missing persons and unidentified human remains; and
            (7) any improvement with respect to--
                    (A) the collection of DNA information for missing 
                persons and unidentified human remains; and
                    (B) entering such information into the Combined DNA 
                Index System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 
                national criminal records databases.
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