Authorization of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

34 U.S.C. § 40506

• Title: 34 — Crime Control and Law Enforcement
• Chapter: 405 — REPORTING OF UNIDENTIFIED AND MISSING PERSONS

Text

(a) In general
The Attorney General,1 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
The 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
The amendments made by this subsection shall apply with respect to reports made before, on, or after December 27, 2022.

History

(Pub. L. 117–327, §2, Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4454.)

Editorial Notes

Editorial Notes

References in Text
For the amendments made by this subsection, referred to in subsec. (c)(3), see Codification note below.

Codification
Section is comprised of section 2 of Pub. L. 117–327. Subsec. (c)(1) and (2) of section 2 of Pub. L. 117–327 amended sections 41307 and 41308 of this title, respectively.
Section was enacted as part of Billy's Law, also known as the Help Find the Missing Act, and not as part of Jennifer's Law which comprises this chapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Definitions
"In this Act [see section 1 of Pub. L. 117–327, set out as a Short Title of 2022 Amendment note under section 10101 of this title]:
"(1) Authorized agency.—The term 'authorized agency' means a Government agency with an originating agency identification (ORI) number and that is a criminal justice agency, as defined in section 20.3 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.
"(2) FBI.—The term 'FBI' means the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"(3) Forensic medicine service provider.—The term 'forensic medicine service provider' means a State or unit of local government forensic medicine service provider having not fewer than 1 part-time or full-time employed forensic pathologist, or forensic pathologist under contract, who conducts medicolegal death investigations, including examinations of human remains, and who provides reports or opinion testimony with respect to such activity in courts of law within the United States.
"(4) Forensic science service provider.—The term 'forensic science service provider' means a State or unit of local government agency having not fewer than 1 full-time analyst who examines physical evidence in criminal or investigative matters and provides reports or opinion testimony with respect to such evidence in courts in the United States.
"(5) Namus databases.—The term 'NamUs databases' means the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System Missing Persons database and National Missing and Unidentified Persons System Unidentified Decedents database maintained by the National Institute of Justice of the Department of Justice, which serves as a clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases.
"(6) NCIC database.—The term 'NCIC database' means the National Crime Information Center Missing Person File and National Crime Information Center Unidentified Person File of the National Crime Information Center database of the FBI, established pursuant to section 534 of title 28, United States Code.
"(7) Qualifying law enforcement agency defined.—The term 'qualifying law enforcement agency' means a State, local, or Tribal law enforcement agency.
"(8) State.—The term 'State' means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands."