[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 30 (Monday, July 29, 1996)]
[Pages 1304-1305]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Criminal Child Support Enforcement

July 21, 1996

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Subject: Criminal Child Support Enforcement

    I am proud of the progress we have made over the last 3 years in 
addressing the problem of child support enforcement.
    While State and local agencies have and must have primary 
responsibility for child support enforcement, the Federal Government has 
a crucially important role to play. One aspect of that role involves 
bringing prosecutions under the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992, 
which for the first time created a Federal criminal offense for 
interstate cases, where persons willfully fail to pay child support for 
their child who lives in another State.
    The Department of Justice, working through the local United States 
Attorneys' offices, has brought child support cases across the Nation to 
get the message out that a per- 

[[Page 1305]]

son who willfully avoids child support payments for a child in another 
State runs a grave risk of Federal prosecution. Each U.S. Attorney's 
office has a child support coordinator; the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation has committed its resources; the Department of Justice has 
authorized the Department of Health and Human Services' Inspector 
General to investigate these cases.
    But these important measures are not enough.
    The Department of Justice, working with the Department of Health and 
Human Services and the States, must pursue all available measures to 
punish those who have tried to evade their child support obligations.
    Therefore, I direct you to take the following important steps to 
strengthen our child support enforcement efforts.
    First, I direct you to convene a task force consisting of Federal, 
State, and local prosecutors, the Department of Health and Human 
Services, and the State agencies responsible for child support 
enforcement to enhance criminal prosecution of child support debtors. 
You should consider:
    <bullet>
            measures to improve the process of referring appropriate 
            cases for Federal, State, or local criminal enforcement;
    <bullet>
            the adequacy of all applicable Federal and State laws;
    <bullet>
            the availability and appropriate allocation of resources; 
            and
    <bullet>
            ways to coordinate Federal, State, and local efforts to make 
            enforcement most effective.
    Second, I direct you to review the sentences that have been imposed 
upon those convicted under the Child Support Recovery Act, including 
restitution orders, incarceration, and community service, with the goal 
of identifying novel and effective sentencing options, and send guidance 
to Federal prosecutors setting forth factors to consider when seeking 
sentencing orders from courts.
    Third, I direct you to draft legislation to amend the Child Support 
Recovery Act to establish a felony offense for a person who willfully 
fails to pay child support for a child in another State where there has 
been an egregious failure to meet child support obligations.
    Fourth, I direct you, as part of your effort to enforce criminal 
laws, to cooperate with the Department of Health and Human Services to 
place on their Internet child support page the names of persons who have 
been indicted under Federal law for willfully failing to pay child 
support and have fled in an attempt to escape criminal prosecution.
    Finally, I direct you to report back to me within 90 days on the 
actions you have taken to fulfill this directive.
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: This memorandum was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on July 22.