[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 340 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                    September 24, 2007.
Whereas there are more than 100,000 active missing person cases on any given 
        day;
Whereas every year tens of thousands of people vanish under suspicious 
        circumstances;
Whereas there are more than 40,000 sets of human remains held in the property 
        rooms of medical examiners, coroners, and police departments across the 
        country that cannot be identified by conventional means;
Whereas of such 40,000 sets of human remains, only six thousand sets of human 
        remains have been entered into the National Crime Information Center 
        (NCIC) and fewer have been entered into other Federal databases such as 
        the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCap) or the Integrated 
        Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), or the National 
        Missing Persons DNA Database;
Whereas many cities and counties continue to bury or cremate unidentified human 
        remains without any attempt to collect DNA and many laboratories are 
        unable to perform timely DNA analysis of human remains, especially when 
        they are old or are degraded;
Whereas such victims and their families have been without a voice for far too 
        long: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) is committed to giving victims involved in missing persons cases 
        and unidentified human remains cases a voice;
            (2) supports that such voice should be heard by--
                    (A) continuing Federal funding for DNA testing and the 
                Combined DNA Index System;
                    (B) supporting greater cooperation between local, State, and 
                Federal law enforcement;
                    (C) providing more comprehensive training and education for 
                the more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies involved in 
                missing persons cases and unidentified human remains cases;
                    (D) providing medical examiners and coroners with greater 
                accessibility into Federal databases to upload and compare 
                evidence so that such victims ultimately may be located and 
                identified and returned to their loved ones where they belong; 
                and
                    (E) working to raise awareness among victim service 
                providers and the general public about the use of DNA and the 
                Combined DNA Index System to identify the unidentified dead; and
            (3) directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit an 
        enrolled copy of this resolution to the Office for Victims of Crime and 
        the National Institute for Justice in the Department of Justice.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.