[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 597 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 597

      To ensure the effective administration of criminal justice.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2013

   Mr. Leahy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To ensure the effective administration of criminal justice.

    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 ``Gideon's Promise Act''.

SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

    (a) Strategic Planning.--Section 502 of title I of the Omnibus 
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3752) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``To request 
        a grant''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) A comprehensive State-wide plan detailing how grants 
        received under this section will be used to improve the 
        administration of the criminal justice system, which shall--
                    ``(A) be designed in consultation with local 
                governments, and all segments of the criminal justice 
                system, including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement 
                personnel, corrections personnel, and providers of 
                indigent defense services, victim services, juvenile 
                justice delinquency prevention programs, community 
                corrections, and reentry services;
                    ``(B) include a description of how the State will 
                allocate funding within and among each of the uses 
                described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) of section 
                501(a)(1);
                    ``(C) describe the process used by the State for 
                gathering evidence-based data and developing and using 
                evidence-based and evidence-gathering approaches in 
                support of funding decisions; and
                    ``(D) be updated every 5 years, with annual 
                progress reports that--
                            ``(i) address changing circumstances in the 
                        State, if any;
                            ``(ii) describe how the State plans to 
                        adjust funding within and among each of the 
                        uses described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) 
                        of section 501(a)(1);
                            ``(iii) provide an ongoing assessment of 
                        need;
                            ``(iv) discuss the accomplishment of goals 
                        identified in any plan previously prepared 
                        under this paragraph; and
                            ``(v) reflect how the plan influenced 
                        funding decisions in the previous year.
    ``(b) Technical Assistance.--
            ``(1) Strategic planning.--Not later than 90 days after the 
        date of enactment of this subsection, the Attorney General 
        shall begin to provide technical assistance to States and local 
        governments requesting support to develop and implement the 
        strategic plan required under subsection (a)(6).
            ``(2) Protection of constitutional rights.--Not later than 
        90 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
        Attorney General shall begin to provide technical assistance to 
        States and local governments, including any agent thereof with 
        responsibility for administration of justice, requesting 
        support to meet the obligations established by the Sixth 
        Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall 
        include--
                    ``(A) public dissemination of practices, 
                structures, or models for the administration of justice 
                consistent with the requirements of the Sixth 
                Amendment; and
                    ``(B) assistance with adopting and implementing a 
                system for the administration of justice consistent 
                with the requirements of the Sixth Amendment.
            ``(3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 
        through 2018 to carry out this subsection.''.
    (b) Protection of Constitutional Rights.--
            (1) Unlawful conduct.--It shall be unlawful for any 
        governmental authority, or any agent thereof, or any person 
        acting on behalf of a governmental authority, to engage in a 
        pattern or practice of conduct by officials or employees of any 
        governmental agency with responsibility for the administration 
        of justice, including the administration of programs or 
        services that provide appointed counsel to indigent defendants, 
        that deprives persons of their rights to assistance of counsel 
        as protected under the Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment 
        to the Constitution of the United States.
            (2) Civil action by attorney general.--Whenever the 
        Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that a 
        violation of paragraph (1) has occurred, the Attorney General, 
        for or in the name of the United States, may, in a civil 
        action, obtain appropriate equitable and declaratory relief to 
        eliminate the pattern or practice.
            (3) Effective date.--Paragraph (2) shall take effect 2 
        years after the date of enactment of this Act.
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