PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Eligible agencies must apply for a grant when and how the Attorney General asks. The application must promise that, as much as possible, the agency will report every unidentified dead person found in its area to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and local law enforcement; enter a full NCIC missing/unidentified person profile using Justice Department guidelines (including dental, DNA, x-rays, and fingerprints when available); put the NCIC or other assigned number on the death certificate; keep all related records until the person is identified; and send missing-persons and unidentified-remains information to NamUs. Any suspected family DNA reference samples from U.S. citizens or foreign nationals that an accredited, publicly funded CODIS forensic lab (that received a grant) uploads into CODIS may only be used to identify missing people and unidentified remains. Those family DNA samples cannot be shared with federal or state law enforcement for law enforcement purposes. Definitions: NCIC — national crime database; CODIS — national DNA index; NamUs — national missing and unidentified persons system.

Title 34, §40502

Navy, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Application

To 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)Contents

Each 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 general

Any 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 use

Any 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.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 14662 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Amendments

2020—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–277, § 2(a)(2)(A), substituted “an entity described in section 40501 of this title” for “a State”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–277, § 2(a)(2)(B)(i), substituted “applicant” for “State” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 116–277, § 2(a)(2)(B)(ii), added par. (1) and struck out former par. (1) which read as follows: “report to the National Crime Information Center and when possible, to law

Enforcement

authorities throughout the State regarding every deceased unidentified person, regardless of age, found in the State’s jurisdiction;”. Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 116–277, § 2(a)(2)(B)(iii)–(v), added par. (5). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 116–277, § 2(a)(2)(C), added subsec. (c).

§40502 Eligibility