USC Chapter 405

USC Chapter 405
in effect

34 U.S.C. § 40501 Program authorized

(a) In general(1) Grants authorizedThe Attorney General may award grants to eligible entities described in paragraph (2) to enable the eligible entities to improve the transportation, processing, identification, and reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains, including migrants. (2) Eligible entitiesEligible entities described in this paragraph are the following:(A) States and units of local government. (B) Accredited, publicly funded, Combined DNA Index System (commonly known as “CODIS”) forensic laboratories, which demonstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA typing and uploading biological family DNA reference samples, including samples from foreign nationals, into CODIS, subject to the protocols for inclusion of such forensic DNA profiles into CODIS, and the privacy protections required under section 40502(c) of this title. (C) Medical examiners offices. (D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology laboratories. (E) Accredited, publicly funded crime laboratories. (F) Publicly funded university forensic anthropology laboratories. (G) Nonprofit organizations that have working collaborative agreements with State and county forensic offices, including medical examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace, for entry of data into CODIS or the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (commonly known as “NamUs”), or both.

34 U.S.C. § 40502 Eligibility

(a) ApplicationTo be eligible to receive a grant award under this chapter, an entity described in section 40501 of this title shall submit an application at such time and in such form as the Attorney General may reasonably require. (b) ContentsEach such application shall include assurances that the applicant shall, to the greatest extent possible—(1) report to the National Crime Information Center and, when possible, to law enforcement authorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction regarding every deceased unidentified person, regardless of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction; (2) enter a complete profile of such unidentified person in compliance with the guidelines established by the Department of Justice for the National Crime Information Center Missing and Unidentified Persons File, including dental records, DNA records, x-rays, and fingerprints, if available; (3) enter the National Crime Information Center number or other appropriate number assigned to the unidentified person on the death certificate of each such unidentified person; (4) retain all such records pertaining to unidentified persons until a person is identified; and (5) collect and report information to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidentified remains. (c) Privacy protections for biological family reference samples(1) In generalAny suspected biological family DNA reference samples received from citizens of the United States or foreign nationals and uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System (commonly referred to as “CODIS”) by an accredited, publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded a grant under this section may be used only for identifying missing persons and unidentified remains. (2) Limitation on useAny biological family DNA reference samples from citizens of the United States or foreign nationals entered into CODIS for purposes of identifying missing persons and unidentified remains may not be disclosed to a Federal or State law enforcement agency for law enforcement purposes.

34 U.S.C. § 40503 Use of funds

An applicant receiving a grant award under this chapter may use such funds to— (1) pay for the costs incurred during or after fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, identification, and reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains, including migrants; (2) establish and expand programs developed to improve the reporting of unidentified persons in accordance with the assurances provided in the application submitted pursuant to section 40502(b) of this title; (3) hire and maintain additional DNA case analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, forensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, needed to support such identification programs; and (4) procure and maintain state of the art multi-modal, multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing and analytical equipment.

34 U.S.C. § 40504 Grants for the assistance of organizations to find missing adults

(a) In generalThe Attorney General may make grants to public agencies or nonprofit private organizations, or combinations thereof, for programs—(1) to assist law enforcement and families in locating missing adults; (2) to maintain a national, interconnected database for the purpose of tracking missing adults who are determined by law enforcement to be endangered due to age, diminished mental capacity, or the circumstances of disappearance, when foul play is suspected or circumstances are unknown; (3) to maintain statistical information of adults reported as missing; (4) to provide informational resources and referrals to families of missing adults; (5) to assist in public notification and victim advocacy related to missing adults; and (6) to establish and maintain a national clearinghouse for missing adults. (b) RegulationsThe Attorney General may make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out this title.11 See References in Text note below.

34 U.S.C. § 40505 Reporting on National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) Program

Not later than 18 months after December 31, 2020, and every year thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of Congress regarding— (1) the number of unidentified person cases processed; (2) CODIS associations and identifications; (3) the number of anthropology cases processed; (4) the number of suspected border crossing cases and associations made; (5) the number of trials supported with expert testimony; (6) the number of students trained and professions of those students; and (7) the turnaround time and backlog.

34 U.S.C. § 40506 Authorization of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

(a) In generalThe Attorney General,11 So in original. The comma probably should not appear. shall maintain the “National Missing and Unidentified Persons System” or “NamUs”, consistent with the following:(1) The NamUs shall be a national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States administered by the National Institute of Justice and managed through an agreement with an eligible entity. (2) The NamUs shall coordinate or provide—(A) online database technology which serves as a national information clearinghouse to help expedite case associations and resolutions; (B) various free-of-charge forensic services to aid in the identification of missing persons and unidentified remains; (C) investigative support for criminal justice efforts to help missing and unidentified person case resolutions; (D) technical assistance for family members of missing persons; (E) assistance and training by coordinating State and local service providers in order to support individuals and families impacted by the loss or disappearance of a loved one; and (F) training and outreach from NamUs subject matter experts, including assistance with planning and facilitating Missing Person Day events across the country. (b) Permissible use of funds(1) In generalThe permissible use of funds awarded under this section for the implementation and maintenance of the agreement created in subparagraph (a)(1) include the use of funds—(A) to hire additional personnel to provide case support and perform other core NamUs functions; (B) to develop new technologies to facilitate timely data entry into the relevant data bases; (C) to conduct contracting activities relevant to core NamUs services; (D) to provide forensic analyses to support the identification of missing and unidentified persons, to include, but not limited to DNA typing, forensic odontology, fingerprint examination, and forensic anthropology; (E) to train State, local, and Tribal law enforcement personnel and forensic medicine service providers to use NamUs resources and best practices for the investigation of missing and unidentified person cases; (F) to assist States in providing information to the NCIC database, the NamUs database, or any future database system for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases; (G) to report to law enforcement authorities in the jurisdiction in which the remains were found information on every deceased, unidentified person, regardless of age; (H) to participate in Missing Person Days and other events to directly support family members of the missing with NamUs case entries and DNA collections; (I) to provide assistance and training by coordinating State and local service providers in order to support individuals and families; (J) to conduct data analytics and research projects for the purpose of enhancing knowledge, best practices, and training related to missing and unidentified person cases, as well as developing NamUs system enhancements; (K) to create and maintain a secure, online, nationwide critical incident response tool for professionals that will connect law enforcement, medico-legal and emergency management professionals, as well as victims and families during a critical incident; and (L) for other purposes consistent with the goals of this section. (c) Amendments to the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require reports of missing children to NamUs(1), (2) Omitted (3) Effective dateThe amendments made by this subsection shall apply with respect to reports made before, on, or after December 27, 2022.

34 U.S.C. § 40507 Information sharing

(a) Access to NCICNot later than 1 year after December 27, 2022, the Attorney General shall, in accordance with this section, provide access to the NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Files to the National Institute of Justice or its designee administering the NamUs program as a grantee or contractor, for the purpose of reviewing missing and unidentified person records in NCIC for case validation and NamUs data reconciliation. (b) Electronic data sharingNot later than 6 months after December 27, 2022, the Attorney General shall, in accordance with this section, have completed an assessment of the NCIC and NamUs system architectures and governing statutes, policies, and procedures and provide a proposed plan for the secure and automatic data transmission of missing and unidentified person records that are reported to and entered into the NCIC database, with the following criteria, to be electronically transmitted to the NamUs system.(1) Missing Person cases with an MNP (Missing Person) code of CA (Child Abduction) or AA (Amber Alert) within 72 hours of entry into NCIC; (2) Missing Person cases with an MNP code EME (Endangered) or EMI (Involuntary) within 30 days of entry into NCIC; (3) All other Missing Person cases that have been active (non-cancelled) in NCIC for 180 days; (4) Unidentified person cases that have been active (non-cancelled) in NCIC for 60 days; (5) Once case data are transmitted to NamUs, cases are marked as such within NCIC, and any updates to such cases will be transmitted to NamUs within 24 hours. (c) Rules on confidentiality(1) In generalNot later than 1 year after December 27, 2022, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of the FBI, shall promulgate rules pursuant to notice and comment that specify the information the Attorney General may allow NamUs to access from the NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person files or be transmitted from the NCIC database to the NamUs databases for purposes of this Act. Such rules shall—(A) provide for the protection of confidential, private, and law enforcement sensitive information contained in the NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person files; and (B) specify the circumstances in which access to portions of information in the Missing Person and Unidentified Person files may be withheld from the NamUs databases.

34 U.S.C. § 40508 Report to Congress

(a) In generalNot later than 1 year after December 27, 2022, and biennially thereafter, 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 describing the status of the NCIC database and NamUs databases. (b) ContentsThe report required by subsection (a) shall describe, to the extent available, information on the process of information sharing between the NCIC database and NamUs databases.

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