§40101 Reporting child abuse crime information

Summary

States must send or index child-abuse crime records in the national criminal history background check system. A State’s criminal justice agency can meet this by reporting or indexing all felony and serious misdemeanor arrests and case outcomes. Within 180 days after December 20, 1993, the Attorney General must review each State’s record system, set a timetable for online reporting, create reporting rules about format and accuracy, and tell each State the results. Each timetable must require that by 5 years after December 20, 1993 a State has at least 80 percent of final dispositions for identifiable child-abuse cases with activity in the past 5 years, keep at least an 80 percent reporting rate for such cases, and work toward 100 percent reporting using audits and notices. State agencies must work closely with the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse. The Attorney General must publish yearly child-abuse crime statistics that do not identify victims or alleged offenders and, as money allows, a yearly report on each State’s reporting progress. Within 180 days after December 20, 1993, the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention must start a study of convicted child-abuse offenders to find the percent with multiple child-abuse convictions, the percent convicted in more than one State, and how often child abuse leads to convictions for other crimes. The Administrator must send a report on the study to the Chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees no later than 2 years after December 20, 1993.