McCaul, Swalwell reintroduce the Homicide Victims’ Families Rights Act 'to give families tools to work with law enforcement to pursue justice'

U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Houston) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) recently presented the bipartisan Homicide Victims’ Families Rights Act to amplify resources for families who seek justice for their loved ones who became victims of a homicide.

"Today, I reintroduce the Homicide Victims Families Rights Act. As a father & former federal prosecutor, it seems unimaginable to go without answers to why a loved one was taken," McCaul said. "This legislation is important to give families tools to work with law enforcement to pursue justice." 

The Homicide Victims’ Families Rights Act, or House Resolution 8466, is "to provide for a system for reviewing case files of cold case murders at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes." The legislation would give relatives of homicide victims under federal law the right to have their loved one’s case file reviewed once the case has gone cold after three years.

The measures will also be used as a model for individual states to begin implementing similar tools. If an investigator deemed the suggestions to be strong enough to create potential leads, he would commit to re-conducting the investigation.

“Almost 30 years have passed since the unspeakable and brutal murders of four teenage girls at a local yogurt shop in Austin,” McCaul said. “To this day, we do not know who is responsible. As a father of five and a former federal prosecutor, it seems unimaginable to go without an answer as to why a loved one was taken so suddenly. That is why this legislation is so important – to give these Austin families – and others like them – the tools to work with law enforcement to pursue justice on behalf of their loved one.”

According to the Murder Accountability Project’s FBI data accumulation, successful homicide conviction rates have dropped from 90% in 1965 to 65% in 2018, counting the 250,000 American murder victims who have never received justice. McCaul and Swalwell are both former prosecutors, with McCaul serving as a federal prosecutor and a Texas deputy attorney general while Swalwell, a current member of the House Judiciary Committee, was an Alameda County (Calif.) deputy district attorney.

“As a former prosecutor, I saw first-hand the unimaginable tragedy of losing a loved one to homicide,” Swalwell said. “Accountability is crucial to begin the healing process and to get justice, and when families miss out on that opportunity, it is a massive failure of our systems. We must do more to give those families—who have already been through so much—the closure they deserve.” 

McCaul and Swalwell created the bill last year alongside federal prosecutors and former U.S. Department of Justice Senior Attorney Glenn Kirschner and Katharine Manning, who specializes in related matters. The proposal is also supported by the Homicide Family Advocates, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Murder Accountability Project, Parents of Murdered Children, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the National Organization for Victim Assistance and Ryan Backmann, survivor and current advocate.