110 HR 7227 IH: Death in Custody Reporting Act of
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-09-29
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Death in Custody Reporting Act of
2008
.
2.State information
regarding individuals who die in the custody of law enforcement
(a)For each fiscal year
after the expiration of the period specified in
subsection (c)(1) in which a State
receives funds for a program referred to in
subsection (c)(2), the State shall report
to the Attorney General, on a quarterly basis and pursuant to guidelines
established by the Attorney General, information regarding the death of any
person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being arrested,
is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county
jail, State prison, State-run boot camp prison, boot camp prison that is
contracted out by the State, any State or local contract facility, or other
local or State correctional facility (including any juvenile facility).
(b)The report required by this section shall contain
information that, at a minimum, includes—
(1)the name, gender,
race, ethnicity, and age of the deceased;
(2)the date, time,
and location of death;
(3)the law enforcement agency that detained,
arrested, or was in the process of arresting the deceased; and
(4)a
brief description of the circumstances surrounding the death.
(c)Compliance and
Ineligibility
(1)Each State shall have not more than 120 days from the date
of enactment of this Act to comply with
subsection (a), except that—
(A)the Attorney
General may grant an additional 120 days to a State that is making good faith
efforts to comply with such subsection; and
(B)the Attorney General shall waive the
requirements of
subsection (a) if compliance with such
subsection by a State would be unconstitutional under the constitution of such
State.
(2)For any fiscal year
after the expiration of the period specified in
paragraph (1), a State that fails to
comply with
subsection (a), shall, at the discretion of
the Attorney General, be subject to not more than a 10 percent reduction of the
funds that would otherwise be allocated for that fiscal year to the State 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.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne
Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Programs, the Local
Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant Program, or otherwise.
(d)Amounts not allocated under a program
referred to in subsection (c)(2) to a State for failure to fully comply with
subsection (a) shall be reallocated under
that program to States that have not failed to comply with such
subsection.
(e)In
this section the terms boot camp prison and State
have the meaning given those terms, respectively, in section 901(a) of the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3791(a)).
(f)Study of
information relating to deaths in custody
(1)The Attorney General
shall carry out a study of the information reported under subsection (b) and
section 102(b) to—
(A)determine means by which such information
can be used to reduce the number of such deaths; and
(B)examine the relationship, if any, between
the number of such deaths and the actions of management of such jails, prisons,
and other specified facilities relating to such deaths.
(2)Not later than 2 years after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall prepare and submit to
Congress a report that contains the findings of the study required by paragraph
(1).
3.Federal reporting
requirement
(a)For each fiscal year, the Attorney General shall collect
information regarding the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, or
is in the process of being arrested by Federal authorities, is en route to be
incarcerated or detained, or is incarcerated or detained at any facility
pursuant to a contract with the federal government (including any immigration
or juvenile facility), any State or local government facility used by a Federal
agency, and any Federal correctional facility or Federal pre-trial detention
facility.
(b)The report required by this section shall include, at a
minimum, the information required by section 2(b).
(c)Information
gathered pursuant to subsection (a) shall be analyzed and included in the study
required by section 2(f).