H.R. 8547 — 'Directly Impacted Child Rehab and Safety Act

This section amends federal juvenile delinquency provisions in 18 U.S.C. §§5031, 5032, 5039, and 1111 as follows: (1) in the definition of "juvenile" in §5031, establishes a minimum age of 12 years (previously no minimum, applying to any person under 18); (2) in §5032 on transfers to adult criminal prosecution, raises the presumptive transfer age to 16 (from 15), with 13 substituted for certain violent crimes (previously 13 substituted for 15); eliminates mandatory transfer for juveniles alleged to have committed certain felonies after age 16 with a prior qualifying offense; adds transfer hearing factors including prior adverse childhood experiences, childhood trauma, child welfare involvement, rehabilitative potential within the juvenile system, and the child's best interest; replaces "leadership role" with "level of participation in the offense"; eliminates the factor weighing in favor of transfer for leadership in criminal organizations involving controlled substances or firearms; and applies gender-neutral language; (3) in §5039 on commitment, permits placement in a prison (previously prohibited regular contact with adults convicted of crimes or awaiting trial); and (4) in §1111 on murder, limits liability for persons under 18 at the time of a listed offense causing death to those who intentionally or knowingly caused the death or, if not the actual killer, aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, solicited, requested, or assisted the killer with intent to kill (with others sentenced for their committed or attempted crime).

This section directs the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the Department of Justice to publish, not later than one year after enactment of this Act and for each calendar year thereafter, a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of children under 18 years of age subject to federal adjudication, prosecution, and incarceration. The review must include (1) numbers of children adjudicated delinquent, transferred to district court for criminal prosecution, or convicted in district court, along with offenses, average age at offense commission, age at adjudication or conviction, and demographics (i.e., race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, gender, sex, and gender identity); (2) for children in federal custody, numbers detained, housed, or incarcerated more than 100 miles from the jurisdiction of adjudication or conviction and lengths of time or sentences ordered; and (3) for persons currently incarcerated in federal custody for crimes committed as children, numbers, demographics (including current age and age at offense), distances from jurisdiction of adjudication or conviction (>100 miles), offenses, and sentences.

This section establishes authority under SSA §436(d) for the Secretary to award competitive grants jointly to state child welfare and juvenile justice agencies—from funds available under §436(a) after reservations under §436(b) and before state allotments under SSA §433—to enhance collaboration in collecting data and developing practices, policies, and protocols for children excluded from juvenile adjudication by age (under age 12 or over age 15), child survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, dual status youth (i.e., in both foster care and juvenile justice systems), and crossover children (i.e., crossing between those systems). Grants last 2-5 fiscal years (extendable by up to 2 additional years), require applications detailing a leadership collaboration group, child identification/risk assessment methods, screening/assessment/services/data-sharing procedures, and local/tribal involvement, and must supplement—not supplant—other state expenditures.