---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 12242"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "12242"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/12242"
units:
  - "Subtitle I — Comprehensive Acts"
  - "Chapter 121 — Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
  - "Subchapter II — Crime Prevention"
  - "Part G — Family Unity Demonstration Project"
---

# §12242. Definitions


In this part—

“child” means a person who is less than 7 years of age.

“community correctional facility” means a residential facility that—

(A) is used only for eligible offenders and their children under 7 years of age;

(B) is not within the confines of a jail or prison;

(C) houses no more than 50 prisoners in addition to their children; and

(D) provides to inmates and their children—

(i) a safe, stable, environment for children;

(ii) pediatric and adult medical care consistent with medical standards for correctional facilities;

(iii) programs to improve the stability of the parent-child relationship, including educating parents regarding—

(I) child development; and

(II) household management;

(iv) alcoholism and drug addiction [treatment](/usc/34/11103.md?p=15) for prisoners; and

(v) programs and support [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) to help inmates—

(I) to improve and maintain mental and physical health, including access to counseling;

(II) to obtain adequate housing upon release from [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) incarceration;

(III) to obtain suitable education, employment, or training for employment; and

(IV) to obtain suitable child care.

“eligible offender” means a primary caretaker parent who—

(A) has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 7 years or is awaiting sentencing for a conviction punishable by such a term of imprisonment; and

(B) has not engaged in conduct that—

(i) knowingly resulted in death or serious bodily injury;

(ii) is a felony for a [crime of violence](/usc/34/60102.md?p=1) against a person; or

(iii) constitutes child neglect or mental, physical, or sexual abuse of a child.

“primary caretaker parent” means—

(A) a parent who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, and safety of a child prior to incarceration; or

(B) a woman who has given birth to a child after or while awaiting her sentencing hearing and who expresses a willingness to assume responsibility for the housing, health, and safety of that child,

a parent who, in the best interest of a child, has arranged for the temporary care of the child in the home of a relative or other responsible adult shall not for that reason be excluded from the category “primary caretaker”.

“[State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7)” means a [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7), the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–322, title III, § 31903, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1893.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 13882 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.