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Contents : ALB10876 S.L.C. 112TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. ll To establish an Office of Forensic Science and a Forensic Science Board to strengthen and promote confidence in the criminal justice system by ensuring consistency and scientific validity in forensic testing and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES llllllllll llllllllll introduced the following bill which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To establish an Office of Forensic Science and a Forensic Science Board to strengthen and promote confidence in the criminal justice system by ensuring consistency and scientific validity in forensic testing and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE TABLE OF CONTENTS. (a) SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the 5 Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Reform Act of 6 2011 . ALB10876 S.L.C. 2 1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS. The table of contents for 2 this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. Sec. 3. Purpose. TITLE I STRUCTURE AND OVERSIGHT Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. 101. 102. 103. 104. Office of Forensic Science. Forensic Science Board. Committees. Authorization of appropriations. TITLE II ACCREDITATION OF FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORIES Sec. 201. Accreditation of forensic science laboratories. Sec. 202. Standards for accreditation and certificates of laboratory accreditation. Sec. 203. Administration and enforcement of accreditation program. TITLE III CERTIFICATION OF FORENSIC SCIENCE PERSONNEL Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. 301. 302. 303. 304. 305. Definitions. Certification of forensic science personnel. Standards for certification. Administration and review of certification program. Grants and technical assistance. TITLE IV RESEARCH Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. 401. 402. 403. 404. Research strategy and priorities. Research grants. Oversight and review. Public-private collaboration. TITLE V STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES Sec. 501. Development of standards and best practices. Sec. 502. Establishment and dissemination of standards and best practices. Sec. 503. Review and oversight. TITLE VI ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE OFFICE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE AND THE FORENSIC SCIENCE BOARD Sec. 601. Forensic science training and education for judges attorneys and law enforcement personnel. Sec. 602. Educational programs in the forensic sciences. Sec. 603. Medical-legal death examination. Sec. 604. Inter-governmental coordination. Sec. 605. Anonymous reporting. Sec. 606. Interoperability of databases and technologies. Sec. 607. Code of ethics. ALB10876 S.L.C. 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. In this Act (1) the term Board means the Forensic Science Board established under section 102(a) (2) the term Committee means a committee established under section 103(a)(2) (3) the term Deputy Director means the Deputy Director of the Office (4) the term Director means the Director of the Office 11 (5) the term forensic science discipline shall 12 have the meaning given that term by the Director in 13 accordance with section 102(h) 14 (6) the term forensic science laboratory shall 15 have the meaning given that term by the Director in 16 accordance with section 201(c) 17 (7) the term Office means the Office of Fo- 18 rensic Science established under section 101(a) and 19 (8) the term relevant personnel shall have the 20 meaning given that term by the Director in accord- 21 ance with section 301(b). 22 23 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to strengthen and promote 24 confidence in the criminal justice system by promoting 25 best practices and ensuring consistency scientific validity 26 and accuracy with respect to forensic testing analysis ALB10876 S.L.C. 4 1 identification and comparisons the results of which may 2 be interpreted presented or otherwise used during the 3 course of a criminal investigation or prosecution. 4 5 6 7 TITLE I STRUCTURE AND OVERSIGHT SEC. 101. OFFICE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE. (a) IN GENERAL. There is established an Office of 8 Forensic Science within the Office of the Deputy Attorney 9 General in the Department of Justice. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 (b) OFFICERS AND STAFF. (1) IN GENERAL. The Office shall include (A) a Director who shall be appointed by the Attorney General (B) a Deputy Director who shall be (i) an employee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 17 (ii) selected by the Director of the Na- 18 tional Institute of Standards and Tech- 19 nology and 20 (iii) detailed to the Office on a reim- 21 bursable basis 22 (C) such additional staff detailed from the 23 National Institute of Standards and Technology 24 as the Deputy Director in consultation

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