US Codex
Bill
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Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Reform Act

S. 2177 · 113th Congress · Mar 27, 2014 · Lineage

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 scientific validity, reliability, and accuracy in forensic testing, and for other purposes.

Section 1 Short title; table of contents

(a)
Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Reform Act”.
(b)
Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 2 Definitions

In this Act:
(1)
Board— The term Board means the Forensic Science Board established under section 102(a).
(2)
Committee— The term Committee means a committee established under section 103(a)(2).
(3)
Director— The term Director means the Director of the Office.
(4)
Forensic science discipline— The term forensic science discipline shall have the meaning given that term by the Director in accordance with section 102(h).
(5)
Forensic science laboratory— The term forensic science laboratory shall have the meaning given that term by the Director in accordance with section 201(c).
(6)
NIST— The term NIST means the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(7)
Office— The term Office means the Office of Forensic Science established under section 101(a).
(8)
Relevant personnel— The term relevant personnel shall have the meaning given that term by the Director in accordance with section 301(b).

Sec. 3 Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to strengthen and promote confidence in the criminal justice system by promoting standards and best practices and ensuring scientific validity, reliability, and accuracy with respect to forensic testing, analysis, identification, and comparisons, the results of which may be interpreted, presented, or otherwise used during the course of a criminal investigation or criminal court proceeding.