US Codex
Pub. L.
Notes

Title III — Crime Risk Reduction Enhancements

115th Congress · Approved Oct 9, 2018 · 132 Stat. 3650

TITLE III Crime Risk Reduction Enhancements

SEC. 301. Independent Review of Volunteer Death.

Section 5 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2504), as amended by section 101 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

“(p)

(1) Not later than 10 days after receiving notification of the death of a volunteer, the President shall provide a briefing to the Inspector General of the Peace Corps that includes—

“(A)

(i) the available facts and circumstances surrounding the death of the volunteer, including a preliminary timeline of the events immediately preceding the death of the volunteer, subsequent actions taken by the Peace Corps, and any information available to the Peace Corps reflecting on the cause or root cause of the death of the volunteer; and

“(ii) a description of any steps the Peace Corps plans to take to inquire further into the cause or root cause of the death of the volunteer, including the anticipated date of the completion of such inquiry; or

“(B) an explanation of why the Peace Corps has determined that no further inquiry into the cause or root cause of the death of the volunteer is necessary, including—

“(i) a description of the steps the Peace Corps took to determine further inquiry was not necessary; and

“(ii) the basis for such determination.

“(2) If the Peace Corps has performed or engaged another entity to perform a root cause analysis or similar report that describes the cause or root cause of a volunteer death, the President shall provide the Inspector General of the Peace Corps with—

“(A) a copy of all information provided to such entity at the time such information is provided to such entity or used by the Peace Corps to perform the analysis;

“(B) a copy of any report or study received from the entity or used by the Peace Corps to perform the analysis; and

“(C) any supporting documentation upon which the Peace Corps or such entity relied to make its determination, including the volunteer’s complete medical record, as soon as such information is available to the Peace Corps.

“(3) If a volunteer dies, the Peace Corps shall take reasonable measures, in accordance with local laws, to preserve any information or material, in any medium or format, that may be relevant to determining the cause or root cause of the death of the volunteer, including personal effects, medication, and other tangible items belonging to the volunteer, as long as such measures do not interfere with the legal procedures of the host country if the government of the host country is exercising jurisdiction over the investigation of such death. The Inspector General of the Peace Corps shall be provided an opportunity to inspect such items before their final disposition.

“(4) Consistent with the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), the Inspector General of the Peace Corps may independently review the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of a volunteer and the actions taken by the Peace Corps in responding to such incident.

“(5) For the purposes of undertaking a review under this section, an officer or employee of the United States or a member of the Armed Forces may be detailed to the Inspector General of the Peace Corps from another department of the United States Government on a nonreimbursable basis, as jointly agreed to by the Inspector General and the detailing department, for a period not to exceed 1 year. This paragraph may not be construed to limit or modify any other source of authority for reimbursable or nonreimbursable details. A nonreimbursable detail made under this section may not be considered an augmentation of the appropriations of the Peace Corps.

“(6) Upon request, the Peace Corps may make available necessary funds to the Inspector General of the Peace Corps for reviews conducted by the Inspector General under this section. The request shall be limited to costs relating to hiring, procuring, or otherwise obtaining medical-related experts or expert services, and associated travel.

“(7) The undertaking of a review under this section may not be considered a transfer of program operating responsibilities to the Inspector General of the Peace Corps.”

SEC. 302. Additional Disclosures to Applicants for Enrollment as Volunteers.

Section 8A of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2507a(d)) is amended—
(1)
by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

“(d) Information Regarding Crimes and Risks.—

“(1) In general.—Each applicant for enrollment as a volunteer shall be provided, with respect to each country in which the applicant may be invited to serve, with specific, aggregated, and easily accessible information regarding crimes against and risks to volunteers, including—

“(A) an overview of past crimes against volunteers in such country, including statistics regarding unreported crime collected through anonymous surveys;

“(B) the current early termination rate of volunteers serving in such country;

“(C) health risks prevalent in such country;

“(D) the nature and frequency of sexual harassment reported by volunteers serving in such country;

“(E) the extent and types of services provided by the Peace Corps to volunteers serving in such country, including access to medical care, counseling services, and assistance from the Office of Victim Advocacy; and

“(F) the level of satisfaction reported by volunteers serving in such country.

“(2) Option to timely decline.—Upon receiving information described in paragraph (1), the applicant shall have the option to change the country of consideration and identify a substitute country.”

; and

(2)
in subsection (f)(2)(B)(iii), by striking “ victim advocates” and inserting “ Victim’s Advocates,”.

SEC. 303. Additional Protections Against Sexual Misconduct.

Section 8B(a) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2507b(a)) is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (3)—
(A)
by striking “ SARLs” and inserting “ any employee of the Peace Corps”;
(B)
by striking “ Victim Advocate” and inserting “ Victim’s Advocate”; and
(C)
by inserting “ and require the Peace Corps to designate the staff at each post who shall be responsible for providing the services described in subsection (c)” before the semicolon at the end;
(2)
in paragraph (5), by striking “ and” at the end;
(3)
in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(4)
by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:

“(7) maintains a record documenting the resignation of any employee or volunteer of the Peace Corps who resigns before a determination has been made regarding an alleged violation of the sexual misconduct policy or other serious policy violations;

“(8) takes into account the record maintained under paragraph (7) before such employee or volunteer is hired, enrolled, or otherwise invited to work with the Peace Corps;

“(9) provides orientation or information regarding the awareness and prevention of sexual assault and sexual harassment to—

“(A) Peace Corps-selected host families; and

“(B) a designated person of authority at the volunteer’s initial workplace; and

“(10) ensures, to the extent practicable and appropriate, that any assault on, or any harm or injury to, a volunteer that is committed by any member of a host family or any national of a host country that was assigned by the Peace Corps to facilitate volunteer work is—

“(A) documented in an appropriate site history file and in the global tracking and recording system established pursuant to section 8H(c); and

“(B) taken into account with respect to determinations regarding placements of future volunteers at such post and the provision of any funds or other benefit by the Peace Corps.”

SEC. 304. Extension of the Office of Victim Advocacy.

Section 8C of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2507c) is amended—
(1)
by striking “ victim advocate” each place it appears and inserting “ Victim’s Advocate”;
(2)
by striking “ victim advocates” each place it occurs and inserting “ Victim’s Advocates”; and
(3)
by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:

“(e) The Director of the Peace Corps shall include the head of the Office of Victim Advocacy in agency-wide policymaking processes in the same manner and to the same extent as the directors or associate directors of other offices within the Peace Corps.”

SEC. 305. Reform and Extension of the Sexual Assault Advisory Council.

Section 8D of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2507d) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (b)—
(A)
by striking “ not less than 8 individuals selected by the President, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section,” and inserting “ not fewer than 8 and not more than 14 individuals selected by the President”; and
(B)
by inserting after the first sentence the following new sentence: “ At least one member should be licensed in the field of mental health and have prior experience working as a counselor or therapist providing mental health care to survivors of sexual assault in a victim services agency or organization.”; and
(2)
in subsection (c)—
(A)
by inserting “ and implemented” after “ sexual assault policy developed”; and
(B)
by adding at the end the following new sentence: “ To carry out this subsection, the Council may conduct case reviews and is authorized to have access, including through interviews, to current and former volunteers (to the extent that such volunteers provide the Peace Corps express consent to be interviewed by the Council), to volunteer surveys under section 8E, to all data collected from restricted reporting, and to any other information necessary to conduct case reviews, except that the Council may not have access to any personally identifying information associated with such surveys, data, or information.”; and
(3)
in subsection (g), by striking “ 2018” and inserting “ 2023”.

SEC. 306. Definitions.

Section 26 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2522) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (1), (6), (2), (3), (8), (7), and (5), respectively, by arranging such redesignated paragraphs in numerical order, and by moving such paragraphs 2 ems to the right;
(2)
in paragraph (1), as redesignated, by striking “ (1)” and inserting the following:

“(1) ”

; and

(3)
by inserting after paragraph (3), as redesignated, the following:

“(4) The term ‘medical officer’ means a physician, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, or registered nurse with the professional qualifications, expertise, and abilities consistent with the needs of the Peace Corps and the post to which he or she is assigned, as determined by the Director of the Peace Corps.”